The San Francisco Symphony is closing out its season this weekend with three performances of Mahler's gargantuan
Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection." These are also the final performances of the orchestra with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, who declined to extend his contract after the Symphony Board of Directors completely alienated him with their penny-wise, pound-foolish fiscal austerity. So Friday evening's performance was both an extraordinary artistic triumph that people will be referencing for years to come and a bittersweet farewell between the conductor and an adoring audience.
The Symphony Board also proposed to radically cut compensation last year for the brilliant Symphony Chorus under the direction of Jenny Wong, but thankfully an anonymous donor came through recently with a $1 million gift to make sure the ensemble had a halfway decent contract. They sounded gorgeous tonight, slowly, softly and then powerfully taking us to heaven in the final movement.
The two soloists were mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and soprano Heidi Stober, both in beautiful voice.
The entire performance was Esa-Pekka Salonen at his best and most illuminating, and the hall radiated a communal joy among performers and audience. Thanks above all to
writer Lisa Hirsch who offered a last-minute ticket when her date could not make it. And for a wonderful piece on Thursday's performance,
click here for Patrick Vaz's take.
I went to rehearsal Thursday morning and sat in first row right in front of the two harpists. WOW!! Music was magical and it was good to see facial expressions on musicians and conductor. Lucky you to get a ticket--very pricey. Symphony seems very elitist with no inexpensive tickets (unlike the opera across the street).which has both very cheap tickets and even cheaper standing room.
ReplyDeleteDear Elsa: The Symphony's "surge pricing" when there is a lot of demand can get obscene. I wasn't even going to attend, but thanks to Lisa, I stumbled into a ticket.
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