San Francisco Symphony & Chorus at Davies Symphony Hall, January 26, 2023

San Francisco Symphony presents Michael Tilson Thomas, conducting the San Francisco Symphony & Chorus, with featured soloist, Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:30 PM, Thursday, January 26, 2023

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2023 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2023 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[7:35 PM] {last minute noodling; lights down; announcements; JYT & MTT out; standing ovation for MTT}

1. [7:38 PM] Claude Debussy (1862–1918): Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune (1894)
   [7:48 PM] {segment ends}

[7:51 PM] {concert tuning; entrance of the SFS Women's Chorus}
[7:53 PM] {entrance of CM, JYT, & MTT}

Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992): Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine (1944), featuring Jean-Yves Thibaudet: piano; and Cynthia Millar: ondes Martenot.

1. [7:54 PM] Antienne de la Conversation intérieure (Antiphon of the Inward Conversation: God present in us. . .)
2. [8:05 PM] Séquence du Verbe. Cantique Divin (Sequence of the Word, Divine Canticle: God present in himself. . .)
3. [8:12 PM] Psalmodie de l'Ubiquité par amour (Psalmody of Ubiquity through Love: God present in all things. . .)
   [8:27 PM] {set ends; multiple ovations}
   [8:30 PM] {set break!}

[8:49 PM] {lights down; concert tuning; JYT & MTT out}

Claude Debussy (1862–1918): Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra (1890), featuring Jean-Yves Thibaudet: piano; performed from Debussy's revised 1968 score.

1. [8:51 PM] Andante ma non troppo
2. [8:58 PM] Lento e molto espressivo »
3. [9:07 PM] Allegro
   [9:14 PM] {work ends; applause; pause to rearrange things onstage}

[9:18 PM] {concert tuning}
[9:19 PM] {entrance of MTT}

1. [9:19 PM] Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959): Chôros No. 10: Rasga o coração (Tear the Heart) (1926)
   [9:31 PM] {work ends; long stretch of applause for MTT & performers}
   [9:34 PM] {show ends}

San Francisco Symphony & Chorus

• Grant Gershon: choral director;
• Cynthia Millar: ondes Martenot;
• Esa-Pekka Salonen: conductor, music director;
• Michael Tilson Thomas: conductor;
• performers vary by program.

• Jean-Yves Thibaudet: piano.

I found tonight's show much more interesting and satisfying than last night. I'm sure part of that was due to better seating (4th row center tonight, yay! Lots closer than 4th row of the side tier at Zellerbach), but the variety and novelty of sound also played a big part: it kept me thinking about what I was listening to, instead of passively absorbing the music as it passed by ever-so-faintly (last night).

And that's a good reason to keep going out: you won't catch the brass ring if you never reach for it!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Program Notes

Richard Ginell posted a review of the LA Philharmonic performance of this program a few weeks earlier in January.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2023 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2023 event list! ☸ On to the next event!