The San Francisco Symphony's 2015-16 season ends this week with performances of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection . Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas leads the massive musical event with the orchestra, SFS Chorus, soprano Karina Gauvin, and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor making a joyful noise in Davies Symphony Hall. It is a fitting way to end both the season and Pride Month.
There is a special resonance to this week's programming of the Resurrection. Once before, another of the composer's works was planned long before world events made the performances appear so appropriately well-timed. Following the horror of September 11, a searching and ferocious rendition of the Sixth Symphony remains etched in memory for the depth of feeling and catharsis it allowed. The Second Symphony is a triumphant journey from darkness into light. It may be just what we need in these days after Orlando.
MTT has also been on the podium for the last two weeks at DSH. His characteristic energy and musical sensitivity have produced some notable late-season programs. Always exciting with Stravinsky, Fearless Leader can also share some amazing (and amusing) anecdotes about the great composer. He actually knew him! A charming and convincingly dance-worthy Scenes de ballet opened the bill two weeks ago that included a wildly kaleidoscopic Petrushka and, for a jolly encore, Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant, composed for George Balanchine and the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus. Unsurprisingly, MTT had a good story to introduce it.
The concert also brought baritone Thomas Hampson (the original barihunk) onstage to sing John Adams' setting of Walt Whitman's The Wound Dresser. Written at a time when Adams was grieving the loss of his father to Alzheimer's and responding to friends in San Francisco traumatized by AIDS, the somber and exquisitely tender work packs a quiet and deeply emotional punch. There wasn't a dry eye around as the intensely focused soloist declaimed the final gut-wrenching words, "Many a soldier's kiss dwells on these bearded lips." Adams himself was in attendance. We hope the warmth of the ovation expressed our sincere gratitude and awareness of his remarkable work.
Last week brought the first North American performances of German composer Jorg Widmann's outstanding Trauermarsch for Piano and Orchestra (2014), co-commissioned by the SFS, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Toronto Symphony, with the support of the Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for New Works of Music. Soloist Yefim Bronfman was the perfect choice to convincingly punctuate and develop Widmann's "large-scale, slow funeral march-movement." Strong Mahlerian themes and even some percussive hints of Stravinsky add depth to the twisting score, but the overall sound is original and distinctive. The audience response was cautiously enthusiastic. Trauermarsch is a piece that aggressively demands attention, and deserves repeated hearings.
The concert opened with another highly spatial performance. Quirky and marvelous C.P.E. Bach got the plush treatment for his engaging Symphony in D Major, Wq 183.1 (1776). If you think Johann Sebastian's son should sound authentically leaner, MTT showed how much he can benefit from the big sound of a modern orchestra.
The evening ended with a slightly affected reading of the Brahms First Symphony that still managed to build to a rich and satisfying finish. MTT has always shown a fine understanding of Brahms. He heroically worked himself hard, alongside his committed players.