On a program featuring a McArthur genius/blogger and the promise of ecstasy, it's the unassuming Finnish symphonic tone poem which proved to be the wonderful surprise of the evening. David Robertson, aka. Mr Orli Shaham, returned to conduct the SF Symphony in Tchaikovsky second piano concerto (this program repeats tonight). The first piano concerto is a mainstay of the repertoire, while the second is the ugly little duckling. The reason why? It is long, and impossibly difficult. We tip our hat for Stephen Hough for tackling it for us. Unfortunately, they did not quite pull it off: Call us hard to please, but you could hear the sweat going into playing those harrowing technical passages, and Hough seemed stiff, never embracing the musicality of the more melodic moments. We hoped for a more cohesive interpretation, more grace, but we were let down in between the reckless cadenzas which punctuate the piece. Hough emphasizes the beat by accentuating the note which kicks off the bar, which should make him a pleasure to keep in sync with, but sounds a bit rigid in Tchaikovsky. more ›

Hilary Hahn has been a celebrated violinist for so long, you'd forget she hasn't even turned 30! We (as in our favorite philistine) caught her last time around when she was playing the Korngold violin concerto, and loved her. She's back in a more familiar piece, the Tchaikovsky concerto in D major, starting tomorrow night. How's that for some perfectly festive holidays! more ›