The Bridge to Nowhere runs from the newly built Center for
Clinical Sciences Research building (and home of my favorite lunch spot,
run by the folks who own Lutticken's Deli in Menlo Park) to the Beckman
Center for Molecular Biology. As you can see, aside from the stylistic
clash between the metal bridge and the concrete building, there seems to
be something missing on the Beckman side.
I took the 4:40 Caltrain from Stanford up to the Caltrain terminus
at 4th and King in San Francisco, where I switched over to the Muni's N-line
and rode on under Market Street until I reached Van Ness.
Conveniently, my mom was working in her office at 101 Van Ness, so
it was on my way up to Davies Symphony Hall. While I waited for her to
come out, I caught a couple pictures of the fog drifting in, lit up in
pinks and reds by the sunset. Once she arrived, we walked over to a cafe
off Grove Street for sandwiches and a glass of wine before the show.
Tonight's program at the symphony was:
Luigi Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria Cherubini (1760-1842): Symphony
in D major
-
Luciano Berio (b.1925): Requies
- - -
Richard Georg Strauss (1864-1949):
Aus Italien, Opus 16
I liked the Berio piece, as it wasn't nearly as spiky as I'd been expecting
from past experience listening to his works, but mom thought it sounded
like an extended orchestral tune-up.
Here's a link to a review of the show by Joshua Kosman at the San
Francisco Chronicle: The Symphony Has
An Italian Adventure.
Davies Symphony Hall has these goofy Plexiglas acoustic tiles that
are supposed to reflect the sound better into the expensive box seats below
us (we sat in the much more reasonably priced mezzanine seats). I liked
the reflected image of the symphony that the tiles produced, thus the first
picture at left. Unfortunately, with the digital camera auto-setting it's
shutter speed for an exposure of 1/6 second, all of my photos of the symphony
are pretty over-exposed; two of the less terrible ones are up on the left.
After the show, mom took off for home in a taxi. I stopped to take
a picture of Davies Symphony Hall from the far side of Van Ness, then walked
over to the Civic Center BART station. A short wait, a short train ride,
and then hugs and hellos for Ting, who drove down the hill to pick me up
at Rockridge BART.
|
