For the past two weeks the San Francisco Symphony has been keeping the lights on at Davies Symphony Hall with concerts featuring noted guest conductors, one making an impressive and overdue debut, and visits with excellent vocal and instrumental soloists. Both programs were weighted with familiar symphonic works, varied by a few infrequently heard shorter pieces and highlighted with the first SFS performances of Shostakovich's dark and yearning song cycle, "Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti," Opus 145a (1974).
Expectations were upended by the results. The biggest success turned out to be a surprising and smashing interpretation last week of Tchaikovsky's mighty warhorse Symphony No. 5 in E minor. Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Manfred Honeck won the most extended standing ovation of the season in his remarkable local debut.
The palest impression was made by Veronika Eberle playing Schumann's lovely, but ultimately unmemorable Violin Concerto in D minor. Her introduction to SFS listeners left no doubt of her capabilities, but did little to excite much enthusiasm.
Conductor Roberto Abbado, nephew of the late great Claudio Abbado, returned to DSH to lead the orchestra in Busoni's richly scored Music from "Turandot" Suite (1905). He also framed Eberle's proficient rendition of the Schumann Concerto and rounded everything off with a tight reading of Mendelssohn's endearing Symphony No. 3 in A minor, "Scotch" (or "Scottish," as it has later been more correctly dubbed). It was a good, solid and uninspiring bill.
Roberto Abbado is really better-known conducting opera, and his uncle's glowing recorded version of the Third set the standard for that old chestnut many years ago. His version was fine, too, and the orchestra played beautifully, but it is a shame Roberto's latest appearance, supported by the Louise M. Davies Guest Conductor Fund, couldn't have offered more adventurous fare. He has premiered a number of works by contemporary composers, including Americans Ned Rorem and Charles Wuorinen. Why not sneak them into the mix? The audience was already happy with the Schumann, and San Francisco audiences are usually game for something different.
Last week's bill certainly offered a special event, featuring German bass-baritone Matthias Goerne in Shostakovich's troubled setting of Michelangelo Buonarroti's ponderous verses, translated into Russian and presented in DSH with English supertitles. This is late Shostakovich, and it illuminates our understanding of his mood late in life. He still had some hope left, but he was weary after a lifetime of struggle. His masterful way with orchestration makes performance of the orchestral version preferable to the piano edition, but it also adds a challenge for the singer.
Goerne is adept at lieder singing; his Schubert "Winterreise" at SF Opera Lab in March 2016 proved his soulful understanding. He also has a big enough voice to fill Davies Hall without amplification. His ability to characterize the text and remain audible was a great help in following the long and generally somber verses.
If the cycle moved with a gloomy tread, conductor Honeck seized every opportunity to light up the dark corners with orchestra members' collaboration. Shostakovich was always a man of the theatre, even in his most despairing scores. His innate sense of drama was also well-served by Goerne's textured interpretation. By the time Buonarroti's words were finally translated into English, only a multilingual listener could judge their impact. Honeck and Goerne made sure we got the essence.
Honeck left us standing and cheering with his commanding Tchaikovsky Fifth. Cleaning up performance traditions that have sentimentalized the elegant work, the new face at DSH had the orchestra playing like a gloriously tuned machine. There was no lack of warmth, and the romantic aspects of the beloved music were always apparent, but wow, the many virtuoso pages were simply overpowering. Everyone likes big and loud, and standing ovations are commonplace; this was a genuine cause for cheers. If Honeck had to wait too long for his SFS debut (also sponsored by the Louise M. Davies Guest Fund), he definitely ensured a return invitation.
June highlights
As the SFS enters June and San Francisco's Pride Month, there are a number of enticing events that might interest our out-of-town visitors and local listeners as well. Guest conductors Susanna Malkki and Vasily Petrenko (who has backtracked on his ill-advised comments on women conductors) will start the month.
Malkki has already proven her mastery at DSH, and she will partner this time with pianist Garrick Ohlsson for the delightful Beethoven Concerto No. 1. She finishes the night with Stravinsky's savagely exciting "The Rite of Spring."
Petrenko follows her with superstar violinist Joshua Bell pairing up for Lalo's "Symphonie espagnole." Petrenko gets in touch with his Russian roots with Rachmaninoff's gorgeous Symphony No. 1.
Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas returns just in time for Pride Week with "Music for a Modern Age," the clunky re-titling of what used to be called "American Mavericks." Just because the new name seems pitched to new listeners doesn't mean the menu isn't filled with delicious and rare American fare. The concert is studded with Charles Ives, Lou Harrison and George Antheil, and the West Coast premiere of MTT's own composition, "Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind." Mezzo-soprano Measha Brueggergosman will be the soloist. Whatever we're calling it these days, MTT always make a blast with offbeat American music.
The season closes at the end of June with a personal favorite, Berlioz's exquisitely subtle and passionate "Romeo et Juliette." Joining the orchestra and Ragnar Bohlin's wonderful SFS Chorus are tenor Nicholas Phan, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni. Talk about luxury casting! Thankfully, the performances will be recorded live for the organization's SFS Media label.