Museum Mondays

Tomb sculpture

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

November, 2019

 

Music Director Updates, Part XXX

 Some new reports:

• Marin Alsop becomes principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, I believe succeeding Nathalie Stutzmann.
• Simon Rattle becomes principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharonic.
• John Storgards will becomes chief conductor of the Turku Philharmonic.

Open positions:

• Phoenix Symphony
• Cleveland Orchestra, as of June, 2027.
• Paris Opera is currently without a music director.
• Nashville Symphony, when Giancarlo Guerrero leaves.
• Deutsche Oper Berlin, when Donald Runnicles leaves.
• Hallé Orchestra, when Mark Elder leaves.
• Rottedam Philharmonic, when Lahav Shani leaves.
• Los Angeles Philharmonic, as of 2026-27, when Gustavo Dudamel leaves for NY.
• Sarasota Orchestra, following the death of Bramwell Tovey.
• Seattle Symphony, following Thomas Dausgaard's abrupt departure in January, 2022.
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Riccardo Muti left at the end of 2022-23.
• Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: open in 2024 when Louis Langree steps down.
• Hong Kong Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
• Oakland Symphony, owing to the death of Michael Morgan in August, 2021.
• Teatro Regio Turin: Open now with departure of Gianandrea Noseda. The Teatro Regio has not named a new music director.
• Minnesota Opera: Michael Christie has left. MO has not named a new music director. 
• Marin Symphony, at the end of 2022-23.
• Vienna Staatsoper, when Philippe Jordan leaves at the end of 2025.

Conductors looking for jobs (that is, as of the near future, or now, they do not have a posting). The big mystery, to me, is why an orchestra hasn't snapped up Susanna Mälkki. Slightly lesser mystery: Henrik Nanasi, whose superb Cosi fan tutte is still lingering in my ears.

• Tito Muñoz 
• Andrey Boreyko
• Osmo Vänskä
• Susanna Mälkki, who left the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of 2022-23.
• MGT (apparently does not want a full-time job, as of early 2022)
• Miguel Harth-Bedoya (seems settled in at Baylor)
• Lionel Bringuier
• Sian Edwards
• Ingo Metzmacher
• Jac van Steen
• Mark Wigglesworth
• Peter Oundjian
• Ilan Volkov
• Aleksandr Markovic
• Lothar Koenigs
• Henrik Nanasi
• Philippe Jordan, eventually
• Franz Welser-Möst, eventually

And closed:

• Update and correction: San Francisco Chamber Orchestra was unable to hire Cosette Justo Valdés. Instead, Jory Fankuchen, a violinist in the orchestra, has been named Principal Conductor and will lead this season's programs.
• Indianapolis Symphony hires Jun Markel, effective September 1, 2024.
• Andris Nelsons renewed his contract with the Boston Symphony. He's now on an evergreen rolling contract, which will continue as long as he and the orchestra are happy with each other. MTT had one of these at SFS.
• Shanghai Symphony, with the appointment of Long Yu.
• Virginia Symphony, with the appointment of Eric Jacobsen.
• Warsaw Philharmonic, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
• Bern Symphony, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
• Berlin State Opera, with the appointment of Christian Thielemann.
• Dresden Philharmonic, with the appointment of Donald Runnicles.
• New York Philharmonic, with the appointment of Gustavo Dudamel. Note that Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024 and there will be a two-season gap before Dudamel arrives.
• Helsinki Philharmonic: Jukka-Pekka Saraste to succeed Susanna Mälkki.
• Staatskapelle Dresden, with the appointment of Daniele Gatti.
• Seoul Philharmonic appoints Jaap van Zweden.
• Royal Opera appoints Jakub Hrůša to succeed Antonio Pappano in September, 2025.

 

Friday Photo

Tosca & Daughters

Storefront, Chelsea, London

November, 2019

 

Ozawa Update

After the question arose elsewhere, I asked San Francisco Symphony about Seiji Ozawa's appearances with SFS after he stepped down as music director. Here's the answer:

After the 1976-77 season, Ozawa conducted:

• January 11-14, 1978 – Tchaikovsky Swan Lake
• January 18-21, 1978 – Brahms Symphony No. 3 & Roger Sessions When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
• November 9, 1986 – Pension Fund Concert – Ravel’s La Valse, Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, and Kei Anjo’s Who-ei for Erh-hu and Orchestra
• February 23, 1993 – Pension Fund Concert – Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety
• October 29, 2001 – Pension Fund Concert – Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and Berlioz Symphonie fantastique  

Ozawa also came to Davies Symphony Hall with the BSO twice (March 12, 1981 and February 13, 1996) and Saito Kinen Orchestra once (January 7, 2001).

Museum Mondays

Effigy

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

November, 2019

 

Seiji Ozawa

Seiji Ozawa

Photo courtesy of Boston Symphony Orchestra

Seiji Ozawa, former music director of the Toronto Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Boston Symphony Orchestra, has died of heart failure at 88. He had been in poor health for about 14 years.

He led the BSO for 29 years. I lived in the Boston area for five of those years and saw him conduct only once or twice. (It was a major schlep to get from Waltham to Symphony Hall; I spent a lot of time in evening rehearsals, and there were many, many free concerts at Brandeis. In retrospect, if I'd had any sense, I would have coordinated my flute lessons, in Brookline, with the Friday matinees.)

As I understand it, the length of his tenure in Boston eventually became a problem; conflicts with the orchestra, etc. I wasn't there and wasn't paying a lot of attention, but I do remember the relief when he finally resigned and James Levine became the music director. That....ultimately didn't work out either, between Levine's health and divided attention.

Ozawa was the music director of SFS in the 1970s, and my sense is that locally, people regard him as having used the position as a springboard to a bigger and better appointment, which the BSO certainly was, at the time. Today, well, the Big Five are the Big Seven and numerous other U.S. orchestras (Seattle, Minnesota, Buffalo, and more) play on an extremely high level.

I've now read two different obituaries, at WBUR, Boston, and the NY Times, and gosh, there are outright errors in the obits and the same two omissions.

• Typo in a Times photo caption, "Ozawar". (Could happen anywhere; now fixed.)
• "Big Five" interpreted to mean "five greatest orchestras in the world", in the WBUR obit. (Still not fixed.)
• Neither mentions survivors! It's pro-forma in an obit to say "Information on survivors was not immediately available" or "The Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland, which announced the death, did not release any information about survivors." (Times obit now includes survivors.)
• Neither - and this is amazing from James R. Oestreich at the Times, in what must have been an advance obit - mentions that Ozawa conducted the world premiere of Olivier Messiaen's sole opera, St. Francois d'Assise. 
• Was it a sprained or broken finger that made him turn to conducting?

FWIW, I also feel like the Times could have had more to say about the issues with Ozawa in Boston.

• BSO Press Release
• James R. Oestreich, NY Times (gift link)
• Tim Page, Washington Post (gift link; superb obituary)
• Richard Dyer, Boston Globe
• Andrea Shea, WBUR
• Metropolitan Opera remembers Ozawa 

Friday Photo

Early morning

Oakland Laurel District

January, 2024

 

Changes in the San Francisco Symphony Bassoon Section

Davies Symphony Hall

January, 2024

Lit in blue the weekend of MTT's Mahler 5 concerts

About ten days ago, I noticed that SFS had an audition notice posted for principal bassoon, and I reached the obvious conclusion that this meant Stephen Paulson would be retiring.

Not so fast: I check it again, and now there is a note saying the following:

After a distinguished 48-year career as the Symphony’s Principal Bassoon, Stephen Paulson will be stepping into the Associate Principal role beginning with the 2024-25 Season.

So...I guess that means that Steven Dibner, currently the associate principal, is retiring, Paulson is stepping into that spot, and hence there's a need for a new principal.

With a tenure going back 48 years, I think that Paulson is the longest-serving member of the orchestra. A look around the musician page turned up a few players who joined between 1980 and 1984; as I've mentioned, the orchestra is very much in the midst of a generational change. 

 

Raehann Bryce-Davis in Recital

Raehann Bryce-Davis | Credit: Isamar Chabot

 

Mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis gave a spectacular recital about ten days ago at Herbst. My review is on the formal side and missed out in one area: I'd actually wanted to mention what she and pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers were wearing after the intermission, because Bryce-Davis's fiancé Allen Virgo designed both outfits and they were spectacular. But, I also didn't manage to grab a curtain call photo. The only disappointing thing about the recital was the turnout; the audience was tiny. This might have been because of Michael Tilson Thomas's valedictory Mahler 5 down the block, but I know there are plenty of opera folks who didn't turn out for this wonderful recital.

• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV
• Patrick Vaz, The Reverberate Hills

Museum Mondays

Mirrored Artwork

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

October, 2019

 

Upcoming Volti Concert

Volti, which is among the Bay Area's best small choruses, specializes in new and recent music and commissions new work on a regular basis. The last time I saw them, in fact, they performed commissioned works by Pamela Z and Carolyn Shaw. They have a long history of performing music composed by women and people of color, unlike various other musical institutions.

They've got an intriguing program later this month, including a world premiere by Jens Ibsen, whose Drowned in Light was premiered by the SF Symphony in November under their Emerging Black Composers program. 

Details:

Volti Presents From the Depths to the Ecstatic
Friday, February 23, 8:00 PM at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose Street, Berkeley
Saturday, February 24, 8:00 PM at Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco

Titled From the Depths to the Ecstatic, the program explores historical concepts of spirituality, largely from the writings of female medieval mystics, as expressed by contemporary composers. 

Robert Geary, Volti’s Founding Artistic Director, conducts.

In his new work De Profundis, Jens Ibsen sets Psalm 130, “Out of the depths I have cried unto thee, O Lord.” Volti will also sing an earlier Ibsen work, How god comes to the soul, with text by the medieval mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg. 

Also on the program:

Ecstatic Meditations – Aaron Jay Kernis’s spectacular settings of four texts, also from Mechthildof Magdeburg, in Jane Hirshfield’s translation.

All Shall Be Well – Joanna Marsh sets text from “Revelations of Divine Love” by another medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich – believed to be the earliest surviving English-language writings by a woman.

Into Being – Ingrid Stölzel’s setting of the Sanskrit Mantra “So ham ham sa.”

Sohbet of the Rare Small Bird – Forrest Pierce sets Sufi reflections on spiritual teaching and learning, from ancient Persian texts.

Natural History – Emma O’Halloran meditates on the thousands of species discovered by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and described in his book “The Malay Peninsula.”

Tickets range in price from $15 to $50 and can be purchased online through www/VoltiSF.org or at the door. 

Jukka-Pekka Saraste at San Francisco Symphony

 

Davies Symphony Hall

When Herbert Blomstedt, age 96, took a fall fairly recently, his doctors advised him to limit his upcoming travel, which meant that orchestras on two continents needed to find substitutes for concerts he had planned to conduct. One of Blomstedt's engagements was with San Francisco Symphony, where he was music director for a decade and where he holds the title of Conductor Laureate. (MTT is the Music Director Laureate, if you're wondering.) He is loved in San Francisco, for his excellent conducting, humanity, and astounding longevity, so of course there was disappointment that he wouldn't be conducting this season.

SFS hired the Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste to take over Blomstedt's program. Both of the planned works were retained; you would expect any major-league conductor to have Schubert 6 and Beethoven 7 in their repertory. Saraste is that, having held a number of important posts, and having recently succeeded Susanna Mälkki at the Helsinki Philharmonic.

I was not happy with what I heard. I found Saraste's interpretations on the dull side. The orchestral sound was blocky and undifferentiated, lacking sonic clarity without a compensating sense of warmth. Sometimes the winds and brass would be too prominent when all they were doing was providing background rhythmic punctuation. Transitions stumbled and didn't help the listener with the works' structure. 

The dullness and lack of sonic differentiation were big problems in the Beethoven, where there's so much thematic repetition - everything sounded the same. Interpretively, there wasn't much wit or grace. Saraste's tempos were on the quick side, but that wasn't a problem in and of itself; we've heard some mighty fast Beethoven from Esa-Pekka Salonen, and, well, he can make that work, and has, in the 2nd, 3rd, and oh, right, 7th symphonies.

Everything I'm saying here applies about equally to the Schubert and the Beethoven. See Joshua Kosman's reviews of last night and a program in 1997, which I link to below. I'm curious what the SFCV reviewer thought.

Elsewhere:

• Joshua Kosman, Chronicle. 
• [SFCV link to follow]

Previously:

• Me, writing about Salonen's LvB 7th
• Joshua Kosman on Saraste's 1997 performances at SFS. This is an excellent description of what I heard last night: "The slow introduction to the first movement moved in herky-jerky chunks; the orchestral balances, in the two outer movements especially, seemed calculated for maximum weight and minimum detail...Beethoven's fluid melodies, meanwhile -- again most regrettably in the outer movements -- were casually dispatched, as though they were merely decorative gold braid atop a Sherman tank. Only Saraste's zesty reading of the scherzo proved convincing."

Tattling: Toward the end of the Beethoven scherzo - say, maybe a minute or 90 seconds before the end - a phone went off in the row behind me. And went off and went off and went off. It was playing...piano music? I turned around and looked at the person whose phone it obviously was. The patron next to me did the same. The woman sitting next to the guilty party gestured to him and I think maybe tapped him a couple of times. She must have been an intimate because eventually she started rifling through his pockets. Eventually, she found the phone and silenced it, but only after the scherzo had ended and the last movement had begun. This episode was unnerving and unpleasant, because of the interruption and because of its length. There's a reason that SFS has polite announcements before every concert asking audience members to silence all electronic devices. (For the last two weeks, flutist and principal piccolo Cathy Payne has been the orchestra member whose recorded announcement is used.)

I do not care how you dress. I support applause between movements. I hope that you won't wear perfume. And I deeply wish that you would silence your phone/pager/other potentially noisy electronic device before the concert starts and at the end of intermission, if you've turned it back on.=-=

Friday Photo

Salad, plate, can

San Francisco, CA

September, 2023

 

MTT Lovefest

Michael Tilson Thomas

Davies Symphony Hall, SF

January 26, 2024

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Michael Tilson Thomas conducted Mahler's 5th symphony with the San Francisco Symphony last week, 50 years, more or less, after his first concert with the orchestra, in which he conducted Mahler's 9th. The concert represented a full circle, a mission completed, an acknowledgement of where MTT and SFS are right now.

As I expect anyone reading this knows, MTT was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2021, and the following year he disclosed that it's glioblastoma multiform, an aggressive tumor with a poor prognosis. That he's still here and still conducting is a marvel. SFS has announced that these are his last subscription concerts, leaving open the possibility of a spontaneous addition to the schedule in the future, if MTT remains able to conduct.

The concert was very much a lovefest and tribute to MTT, as much as it was a concert that he led. The audience gave him a standing ovation when he came on stage and a standing ovation at the end of the concert. In the right-hand terrace, a couple of fellows in rainbow garb unfurled a handmade sign saying "We Love MTT". 

Damn right we do. This 50-year relationship, which included many guest appearances before, and a few after, his amazing 25 years as music director, has been an incredibly fruitful one. His leadership did a great deal to make the orchestra what it is today, building on the work of Herbert Blomstedt to make it one of the country's and world's great orchestras.

The Mahler I heard on Friday night wasn't the best I've heard from MTT - the symphony was on the slow side, could have used more tension, and had loose ensemble at points - but it didn't matter. We were there for Michael Tilson Thomas, and so glad to hear Mahler from him, very possibly for the last time.

• Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle; a most beautiful tribute
• Rebecca Wishnia, SFCV
• John Rockwell, FT (paywalled)

 

Museum Mondays

Assyrian sculpture, detail

Metropolitan Museum of Art

February, 2018

 

Friday Photo

New Mexico Sky, Moon, and Clouds

August, 2019

 

Even More Music Director Updates

 Some new reports:

• Jun Märkel becomes music director of the Indianapolis Symphony, effective September 1, 2024. He has been their artistic advisor since 2021. His predecessor was Krzysztof Urbański.
• Andris Nelsons renewed his contract with the Boston Symphony. He's now on an everygreen rolling contract, which will continue as long as he and the orchestra are happy with each other. MTT had one of these at SFS.

Open positions:

• Phoenix Symphony
• Cleveland Orchestra, as of June, 2027.
• Paris Opera is currently without a music director.
• Nashville Symphony, when Giancarlo Guerrero leaves.
• Deutsche Oper Berlin, when Donald Runnicles leaves.
• Hallé Orchestra, when Mark Elder leaves.
• Rottedam Philharmonic, when Lahav Shani leaves.
• Los Angeles Philharmonic, as of 2026-27, when Gustavo Dudamel leaves for NY.
• Indianapolis Symphony, where Jun Märkel is artistic advisor.
• Sarasota Orchestra, following the death of Bramwell Tovey.
• Seattle Symphony, following Thomas Dausgaard's abrupt departure in January, 2022.
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Riccardo Muti left at the end of 2022-23.
• Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: open in 2024 when Louis Langree steps down.
• Hong Kong Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
• Oakland Symphony, owing to the death of Michael Morgan in August, 2021.
• Teatro Regio Turin: Open now with departure of Gianandrea Noseda. The Teatro Regio has not named a new music director.
• Minnesota Opera: Michael Christie has left. MO has not named a new music director. 
• Marin Symphony, at the end of 2022-23.
• Vienna Staatsoper, when Philippe Jordan leaves at the end of 2025.

Conductors looking for jobs (that is, as of the near future, or now, they do not have a posting). The big mystery, to me, is why an orchestra hasn't snapped up Susanna Mälkki. Slightly lesser mystery: Henrik Nanasi, whose superb Cosi fan tutte is still lingering in my ears.

• Tito Muñoz 
• Andrey Boreyko
• Osmo Vänskä
• Susanna Mälkki, who left the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of 2022-23.
• MGT (apparently does not want a full-time job, as of early 2022)
• Miguel Harth-Bedoya (seems settled in at Baylor)
• Lionel Bringuier
• Sian Edwards
• Ingo Metzmacher
• Jac van Steen
• Mark Wigglesworth
• Peter Oundjian
• Ilan Volkov
• Aleksandr Markovic
• Lothar Koenigs
• Henrik Nanasi
• Philippe Jordan, eventually
• Franz Welser-Möst, eventually

And closed:

• Update and correction: San Francisco Chamber Orchestra was unable to hire Cosette Justo Valdés. Instead, Jory Fankuchen, a violinist in the orchestra, has been named Principal Conductor and will lead this season's programs.
• Shanghai Symphony, with the appointment of Long Yu.
• Virginia Symphony, with the appointment of Eric Jacobsen.
• Warsaw Philharmonic, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
• Bern Symphony, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
• Berlin State Opera, with the appointment of Christian Thielemann.
• Dresden Philharmonic, with the appointment of Donald Runnicles.
• New York Philharmonic, with the appointment of Gustavo Dudamel. Note that Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024 and there will be a two-season gap before Dudamel arrives.
• Helsinki Philharmonic: Jukka-Pekka Saraste to succeed Susanna Mälkki.
• Staatskapelle Dresden, with the appointment of Daniele Gatti.
• Seoul Philharmonic appoints Jaap van Zweden.
• Royal Opera appoints Jakub Hrůša to succeed Antonio Pappano in September, 2025.

The VPO at Cal Performances

Cal Performances has done a pre-announcement of one item on the 2024-25 schedule: the Vienna Philharmonic will be back, this time conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, whom, as well all know, hasn't got enough to do as music director of both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera. At least it's not Christian Thielemann, who led the worst concert I have ever heard from an orchestra and conductor of their respective statures.

The programming for their concerts, though - WTF. The most recent work is Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben, composed in 1898. Nothing from the 20th century, let alone the 21st century. Not to mention that it's all by white guys sorta like the orchestra, all of them dead.

Vienna Philharmonic                                                                               Zellerbach Hall
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor                                   Bancroft Way at Dana Street
Yefim Bronfman, piano                                                                                  Berkeley, CA 

Program: 

Wednesday, March 5, 2025 7:30pm 
Mozart/Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, Jupiter
Mahler/Symphony No. 1 in D major

Thursday, March 6, 2025 7:30pm
Schubert/Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D 417, Tragic
Dvořák/Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, From the New World

Friday, March 7, 2025 8pm
Cal Performances’ 2025 Gala
Beethoven/Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
                 Yefim Bronfman, piano
R. Strauss/Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40

One way to look at it: In March, 2025, I get to hear Beethoven 3rd piano concerto for the fourth time in four years, with a pianist I have already heard play it, and the Dvorak "New World" symphony for the fourth time in four years, but it'll be YN-S and the VPO rather than [conductor] and SFS. So yay?

More Music Director Updates

Some new reports:

• Franz Welser-Möst leaves the Cleveland Orchestra at the end of his current contract, which concludes in June, 2027. Oussama Zahr's review of their NYC concerts is....interesting.
• Krzysztof Urbański becomes artistic director of the Warsaw Philharmonic, succeeding Andrei Boreyko, in mid-2025.
• Tito Muñoz leaves the Phoenix Symphony at the end of this season.

Open positions:

• Phoenix Symphony
• Cleveland Orchestra, as of June, 2027.
• Paris Opera is currently without a music director.
• Nashville Symphony, when Giancarlo Guerrero leaves.
• Deutsche Oper Berlin, when Donald Runnicles leaves.
• Hallé Orchestra, when Mark Elder leaves.
• Rottedam Philharmonic, when Lahav Shani leaves.
• Los Angeles Philharmonic, as of 2026-27, when Gustavo Dudamel leaves for NY.
• Indianapolis Symphony, where Jun Märkel is artistic advisor.
• Sarasota Orchestra, following the death of Bramwell Tovey.
• Seattle Symphony, following Thomas Dausgaard's abrupt departure in January, 2022.
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Riccardo Muti left at the end of 2022-23.
• Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: open in 2024 when Louis Langree steps down.
• Hong Kong Philharmonic, when Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024.
• Oakland Symphony, owing to the death of Michael Morgan in August, 2021.
• Teatro Regio Turin: Open now with departure of Gianandrea Noseda. The Teatro Regio has not named a new music director.
• Minnesota Opera: Michael Christie has left. MO has not named a new music director. 
• Marin Symphony, at the end of 2022-23.
• Vienna Staatsoper, when Philippe Jordan leaves at the end of 2025.

Conductors looking for jobs (that is, as of the near future, or now, they do not have a posting). The big mystery, to me, is why an orchestra hasn't snapped up Susanna Mälkki. Slightly lesser mystery: Henrik Nanasi, whose superb Cosi fan tutte is still lingering in my ears.

• Osmo Vänskä
• Susanna Mälkki, who left the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of 2022-23.
• MGT (apparently does not want a full-time job, as of early 2022)
• Miguel Harth-Bedoya (seems settled in at Baylor)
• Lionel Bringuier
• Sian Edwards
• Ingo Metzmacher
• Jac van Steen
• Mark Wigglesworth
• Peter Oundjian
• Ilan Volkov
• Aleksandr Markovic
• Lothar Koenigs
• Henrik Nanasi
• Philippe Jordan, eventually

And closed:

• Update and correction: San Francisco Chamber Orchestra was unable to hire Cosette Justo Valdés. Instead, Jory Fankuchen, a violinist in the orchestra, has been named Principal Conductor and will lead this season's programs.
• Shanghai Symphony, with the appointment of Long Yu.
• Virginia Symphony, with the appointment of Eric Jacobsen.
• Bern Symphony, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
• Berlin State Opera, with the appointment of Christian Thielemann.
• Dresden Philharmonic, with the appointment of Donald Runnicles.
• New York Philharmonic, with the appointment of Gustavo Dudamel. Note that Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024 and there will be a two-season gap before Dudamel arrives.
• Helsinki Philharmonic: Jukka-Pekka Saraste to succeed Susanna Mälkki.
• Staatskapelle Dresden, with the appointment of Daniele Gatti.
• Seoul Philharmonic appoints Jaap van Zweden.
• Royal Opera appoints Jakub Hrůša to succeed Antonio Pappano in September, 2025.

Dalia Stasevska at SFS

Dalia Stasevska

Photo by Veikko Kähkönen, courtesy of San Francisco Symphony

Dalia Stasevska took over last week's SFS program, one of two that Michael Tilson withdrew from. (Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the other, which is in a couple of weeks.) I was extremely enthusiastic about her, and like pianist Seong-Jin Cho a lot. Reviews:

• Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle. Total agreement about looking forward to hearing how many strings she has in her bow. 
• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV. I really should have mentioned that this was also the third recent go-round for the Beethoven: Yefim Bronfman with Salonen season before last (I think) on the program with the Kongsberg Variations and Bruce Liu, subbing for Hillary Hahn on Rafael Payare's program last year. Liu played it like late Mozart, a defensible approach; Bronfman with great depth and profundity, looking forward.
• DB at Kalimac's corner

San Francisco Opera Season Announcement Date

War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Well, this is a little bit of a head-scratcher: for many years, the San Francisco Opera season announcement has been made in the second or third week of January, whether there was a press conference or just an email announcement, or, during the pandemic, a livestream. I think that the last press conference was in January, 2017; in attendance were John Adams and Peter Sellars, because of Girls of the Golden West, and Francesca Zambello, because of the June, 2018 Ring.

Today, I got an email saying that the announcement will be made on February 20, about four weeks from now. I don't know whether this indicates a permanent change in the announcement date, or if something about the 2024-25 season is still up in the air, whether it's casting for a particular opera, or decisions being made about which operas are on the schedule, or decision over when each opera will be seen during the season. Or even some combination of those possibilities! You know: "We can do six performances of mumphy-ump with Tenor A and Soprano A, followed by 3 with Tenor B and Soprano B, OR we can split those roles up among a different number of singers, but Baritone A can't sing on dates 1, 2, and 3...."

 

Museum Mondays

Slightly creepy overdressed doll on.a fainting couch?

International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM

August, 2019

 

Friday Photo

 

Three trees

Grand Ave., Oakland, CA

Lake Merritt in the background

Peter Schickele

Awwwww: composer Peter Schickele, better known to the general public as his alter-ego P.D.Q. Bach, has died at 88. 

• The New York Times honors him with an appropriately hilarious obituary by Margalit Fox.
• The Washington Post has a more sober obit by Allan Kozinn.
• Joshua Kosman remembers Schickele in the SF Chronicle. I'm mildly surprised that he didn't mention Mozart's "A Musical Joke", K. 522, as an example of a work that depends on knowing how a classical era work should go.

Van Zweden Takes the Fifth

 

Davies Symphony Hall

Jaap van Zweden, the outgoing music director the NY Philharmonic, was the guest conductor last week at San Francisco Symphony.

I heard JvZ live only once before, at the Chicago Symphony in November, 2016. At that concert, he conducted the instrumental version of the Prelude and Liebestodt fromWagner's Tristan und Isolde, Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music, and the Brahms Requiem, the big piece on the program. I don't seem to have written a blog post about it, and it was months before I blogged about the primary reason I was in Chicago, performances at Lyric Opera of Berlioz's Les Troyens. 

I do remember not really liking anything on the program. The Wagner was stodgy, the Mozart had little sparkle, the Brahms was at best okay. The orchestra's ensemble wasn't great; nothing seemed to hang together.

My other experience with van Zweden was reviewing the first two installments of his concert performances, with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, of Wagner's Der Ring des Niebelungen. I though the casting a very mixed bag (Matthias Goerne as Wotan? Petra Lang as Brünnhilde??); I thought the orchestra had a poor sense of style; I thought the conducting off in various ways. I was not at all surprised to learn that he'd never conducted a staged Wagner opera. They lack drama, and I disliked them enough that I declined to review Siegfried and Götterdämmergung. (Those reviews were published in Leitmotiv, the journal of the Northern California Wagner Society; if you'd like copies, let me know.)

All of this throat-clearing is prefatory to saying that did my best to go into Thursday's performance with an open mind, because you never know when you're about to see a great performance. Performers can surprise you!

And indeed, I was very, very pleasantly surprised by van Zweden's account of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. It was colorful, flexibly conducted, well paced, and with plenty of drama. It was an excellent performance and I have no complaints about it. I wasn't taking notes, and I also haven't got a lot of details to provide about it.

On the other hand, wow, the other big 5 on the program, the one by Beethoven? Ooof. I didn't like it at all, although I'll note that nearly everyone else in the audience gave it a standing ovation.

What didn't I like? Well, the whole darned thing sounded grayish, without a lot of color; the tempos, while not in Norrington territory, were fast and did not work well, because van Zweden trampled on a lot of fermatas and rests and did not give the music room to breathe or space for the fermatas and rests to make their various structural points. The gorgeous second movement came off as perfunctory and without nuance. There was little mystery in the initial statement of the scherzo, or in its ghost, which returns in the last movement.

It was not anywhere near as bad as the truly dreadful Schubert Great C Major Symphony that Manfred Honeck conducted last year, which was super-fast for its own sake and consequently lost all detail. It just wasn't really good, and the Shostakovich showed what van Zweden is capable of. I don't know if the Beethoven just got the short end of the rehearsal time stick, or what. 

I was also reminded that I missed the last performance of Beethoven's 5th, two years ago during the Omircron COVID surge. I believe that it was on a program with the Nielsen Fifth, a quirky and fabulous symphony, and that Herbert Blomstedt conducted it. I turned in my ticket, which I deeply, deeply regret.

Elsewhere:

• Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle, is more enthused about the Beethoven than I am. I agree completely about principal flute Yubeen Kim, who has a gorgeous sound that he can vary at will.
• Rebecca Wishnia, SFCV
• DB at Kalimac

Previously:

• Alex Ross, TNY, on van Zweden's appointment. Note the remarks in both New Yorker articles about Salonen, for whose presence in SF I am grateful, however long his tenure here might be.
• Alex Ross, TNY, on various issues around the NYPO's search for a music director, including a review of a JvZ concert that included Beethoven's Fifth.
• Zachary Woolfe reviews the same concert in the NY Times (gift link)