San Francisco Symphony presents Charles Dutoit conducting Fauré’s Requiem
2014-05-29
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA
8:00 PM, Thursday, May 29, 2014

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Poulenc: Litanies of the Black Virgin
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Fauré: Requiem

[8:00 PM lights down, announcements]

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (1899-1963): Gloria (1960)
featuring Susanna Phillips
Program Notes

1. [8:03 PM] Gloria in excelsis Deo (G major)
2. [8:05 PM] Laudamus te (C major)
3. [8:08 PM] Domine Deus, Rex caelestis (B minor)
4. [8:13 PM] Domine Fili unigenite (G major)
5. [8:14 PM] Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (B-flat minor)
6. [8:21 PM] Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (G major)
   [work ends ~8:28 PM]

[8:30 PM, long pause to rearrange the stage a bit, waiting while they pull extra chairs off into the basement; 8:38 PM ready to go again]

Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky (1882-1971): Symphony of Psalms (1930)
Program Notes

1. [8:39 PM] Prelude
2. [8:42 PM] Double Fugue in C minor
3. [8:49 PM] Alleluia
   [set ends ~9:02 PM]

[9:20 PM waiting as the orchestra files in to refill the stage]

Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845-1924): Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 (1900)
featuring Susanna Phillips & Hanno Müller-Brachmann
Program Notes

1. [9:23 PM] Introït et Kyrie (D minor)
2. [9:31 PM] Offertoire (B minor)
3. [9:41 PM] Sanctus (E-flat major)
4. [9:44 PM] Pie Jesu (B-flat major)
5. [9:48 PM] Agnus Dei et Lux Aeterna (F major)
6. [9:55 PM] Libera Me (D minor)
7. [10:00 PM] In Paradisum (D major)
   [show ends 10:04 PM, applause until ~10:06 PM]

San Francisco Symphony

• Jonathan Dimmock: organ;
• Charles Dutoit: conductor;
• Hanno Müller-Brachmann: bass-baritone vox;
• Susanna Phillips: soprano vox;
• symphony members vary by program, see the current list.

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

• Ragnar Bolin: director;
• performers vary by program

The first piece tonight was rather interesting – quite French to my ears, in terms of the lush tonality and stretched out vowels. Interesting, if not something I need to hear again soon. The soloist, soprano Susanna Phillips, made an excellent impression on me; I really enjoyed her part in the spotlight.

Ooh, and now I am distracted to see not one, but two grand pianos have been lifted onto stage for the next work. And the violin section is empty! Time for a second look at those program notes! Turns out that Stravinsky's strange concepts about sonority explained the mysterious stage configuration. But of course!

So as an intellectual exercise in auditory possibilities, the Symphony of Psalms was pretty darn cool. Lots of strange tone colors and interesting writing for the bassoons. Chorally, I found the piece to be a bit less exciting, mostly because of the smeary, indistinct enunciation of the chorus, which made it darn near impossible to follow the text. I was also a bit disappointed that the Alleluia section was mostly quite sedate – I expected something more spirited nor the expressions of praise. Might be interesting to hear that one again, if only to become better acquainted with the full range of Stravinsky's compositional oeuvre.

The Fauré work that closed the evening was another I'll stuff into the “interesting for one listen” group – although I enjoyed it, it didn't really grab my attention enough to register as a work I'd like to hear again soon. Perhaps being relatively calm and meditative is a bad thing in that respect? I really enjoyed the contributions from Jonathan Dimmock on the organ – perhaps this is due to Fauré's background as an organist? – and I was surprised that Susanna Phillips part consisted of hardly more than a few lines of the fourth movement, Pie Jesu. Not that I'm complaining, as I thought she delivered them quite well, but it seemed odd to me that she spent way more time as stage decoration than anything else. Hanno Müller-Brachmann got a much more generous solo in the sixth movement, Libera Me, and while I'm not usually all that enthusiastic about classical male vocals, I liked his segment enough that I'll be on the lookout for his work in the future!

Lisa Houston wrote a very nice promo/biography article about Susanna Phillips for SFCV.

Stephen Smoliar seemed to run hot and cold on the event in writing his review for the Examiner.

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