Gil Shaham and the SF Symphony

MTT again picked up the microphone to emphasize the "importance of notes" for these two composers, which is why we assume they went through the trouble of writing them down. MTT likes to speak about Berg much more, this time he had the orchestra highlight the different themes of the concerto. Gil Shaham participated in the educational effort with good grace. The violinist seemed winded tight, with a forced intensity which would have him jumping on Oprah's couch if he were Tom Cruise. Nonetheless, his playing was rich and forceful. He breezed through a treacherous cadenza where he bows with his right hand and plays at the same time both fingerings and pizzicato notes with the left (the main melodic motives is on the open strings, so you can play it with only one finger). Or he effortlessly projected some eerie harmonics. We were shocked he needed the score though, we were convinced all violinists would know the Berg in and out. Despite the brilliant performance, the whole concerto seemed oddly muted to us, as if MTT would not take the dynamics all the way to their extremes (especially in the explosion of the 2nd movement), and the pace was elegiac, when we could handle a bit more vivaciousness in the first movement.

The Schubert Mass is an expansive work, with four soloists to supplement the chorus. Laura Aikin came back, joined this time by a mezzo, two tenors, and bass Jeremy Galyon, a former Adler fellow from the SF Opera. Their parts were tiny, though, and we command them for sitting through for almost one hour with their game face on, without fidgeting nervously. We could not do it. The chorus does most of the heavy lifting, and deserves most of the acclaim. Chorus director Ragnar Bohlin (interviewed by us here) is doing a magnificent job shaping its sound. Again, we found the approach a bit restrained, but finely crafted nonetheless.