Tetzlaff Plays Ligeti

The San Francisco Symphony started the year with the irreplaceable Meredith above helping out subscribers in the lobby...



...while I tried to explain to the couple above why that Saturday evening's performance of the 1993 Violin Concerto by György Ligeti was such a big deal.



The soloist was the German violinist Christian Tetzlaff above, who gave one of those performances that are instantly legendary, and the final, fifth movement included a fabulous cadenza riffing on musical themes from the preceding four movements that was written by Tetzlaff himself. Everybody who was anybody loved it, including Janos and Lisa and Axel.



The following afternoon, between inaugurations, I saw Tetzlaff rushing down the sidewalk towards me on Hayes Street, possibly to pick up an espresso before another performance at the 2PM Sunday matinee. The only proper response seemed to be the Wayne and Garth "We Are Not Worthy" bow from the waist with both arms outstretched, and Tetzlaff burst into laughter. "Saw you last night, it was awesome," I told him, and it was.