Gustavo Gimeno conducts the San Francisco Symphony in INSPIRATIONS: FILM/CLASSICAL featuring Jonathan Vinocour
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:30 PM, Saturday, April 27, 2024

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[7:35 PM] {lights down; house announcements; applause for entrance of the concertmaster; tuning; applause for entrance of GG}

1. [7:37 PM] Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975): Funeral March from The Great Citizen, opus 55 (1939) (San Francisco premiere)
   [7:44 PM] {work ends; applause}
   [7:45 PM] {pause to rearrange things onstage for the next work}
   [7:46 PM] {tuning}
   [7:47 PM] {applause for entrance of JV & GG}

William Walton (1902–1983): Viola Concerto (1929)

1. [7:47 PM] Andante comodo
2. [7:56 PM] Scherzo and trio: vivo con moto preciso
3. [8:00 PM] Allegro moderato
   [8:13 PM] {work ends; applause for JV, GG & the SFS}
   [8:15 PM] {set ends}

[8:35 PM] {lights down, tuning}
[8:35 PM] {applause for GG}
[8:36 PM] {GG: greetings and remarks about the program}

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953): Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 44 (1928)

1. [8:37 PM] Moderato
2. [8:51 PM] Andante
3. [8:57 PM] Allegro agitato — Allegretto
4. [9:05 PM] Andante mosso — Allegro moderato
   [9:12 PM] {work ends; applause for GG & SFS}
   [9:15 PM] {show ends}

San Francisco Symphony

• Esa-Pekka Salonen: music director;
• symphony members vary by program; see the current list.

• Gustavo Gimeno: conductor;
• Jonathan Vinocour: violin.

I think tonight was another bait-and-switch programming effort: while the show title, 'INSPIRATIONS: FILM/CLASSICAL' is printed in ALL CAPS across my paper ticket (and in the SFS event URL), there's not a peep about that theme in the updated web page or program notes. Ah well: marketing gimmicks got me again!

I liked the Shostakovich opener tonight the best: it had a very cinematic feel, plenty of variety over it's short duration, and wrapped up without going on too long. And that leads directly into why the other two works weren't my top choice: in both pieces, I found myself lost in my thoughts instead of paying attention to the music: both of them rambled about just a bit too much to maintain my attention. Which isn't to say that I disliked them, only that they seemed a bit over-stuffed. Of those two, I preferred the more sedate and romantic Walton concerto to the histrionic excess of Prokofiev's Symphony.

Special mention and kudos to Jonathan Vinocour for playing his solo part from memory. What a champ! It's always impressive to listen to someone who really knows what they're doing!

Looking into the back-story of the latter, I stumbled sideways through the Internet onto this brief summary of Agrippa's interesting epistle of 1529, Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex. The pdf was a nice teaser, but it's hard to imagine how the argument needs 141 pages to be completed!

Program Notes or program notes

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!