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One More For the Road: Notes From the S.F. Symphony Fall Tour

Lisa Petrie on September 27, 2010

Following the San Francisco Symphony’s annual fall gala on Sept. 7, the musicians packed their instruments and headed overseas with Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas for a five-concert tour of Switzerland and Italy. For the orchestra, it was not only a chance to perform first-rate repertoire, including the Mahler works they recently recorded, but a chance to connect with European audiences and gain a bit of cultural perspective on their craft — perspective that involved good food as well as beautiful concert halls and appreciative crowds.

First stop was the prestigious Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, where they performed alongside the likes of Claudio Abbado and his festival orchestra, and with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. S.F. Symphony’s Sept. 11 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Copland’s Organ Symphony with guest soloist Paul Jacobs was praised all round. Jonathan Rhodes wrote: “The audience was rapt throughout; at the end the cheers rang out over Lake Lucerne and way into the mountains.” In fact, a little bird told us there were five ovations.

In Lucerne, SFCV received a preconcert report from organist Paul Jacobs:

I arrived in Lucerne on Wednesday and began my introduction to the instrument that afternoon. The local organist was able to meet me at the concert hall and demonstrate some of the facets of this wonderful organ, and I began the process of registration. Copland, rightly, indicates the dynamics, but the organist has to use his or her judgment in establishing and selecting the various stops. The organ I will be performing on has entirely mechanical action, which gives a very subtle control of the palettes. Each instrument is unique, and is embedded in the very architecture of the hall. So it is important to have this time to rehearse.

The organ and organ repertoire can be an unknown, even to those who are familiar with classical music. So for many people, hearing this work [Copland’s Organ Symphony] will be a first. I hope the audience enjoys getting to know the piece, and is as moved by it as I am. Aside from its context in musical history, the primary event is always to move the heart. I look forward to performing it here in Lucerne and back in San Francisco as well.

Bob Ward travels with three horns, and was reminded of the history of his horn by the Swiss Alps:

The horn is a signaling instrument, and you get a great view back through time here in the Alps. The antique horns you sometimes see are a neat window onto the past.

I have to say that the audience here at Lucerne is so quiet and attentive to the music, that you absolutely notice it when you are on the stage. I felt the orchestra really rose to the occasion, and we were committed to the presentation in a very energetic way.

It is wonderful to play the Mahler [works] here in Europe, and our spring tour will be even more demanding. We are performing Mahler [Symphonies] 2, 6, and 9, so I will be rehearsing quite a bit. As for this tour, well, it was great to play last night and celebrate after the concert at dinner up in the mountains, with the rest of the horn section. We have a favorite Italian restaurant here in Lucerne.

Next, it was on to Italy for concerts in Milan and Turin. The Milanese, who hadn’t had the orchestra in town for 23 years, were every bit as enthusiastic. Paolo Gallarati wrote, in La Stampa,

The gleaming brass sound that the Americans cultivate with such panache has a brilliance that owes something to the playing styles developed in jazz; the sound of the woodwind — flutes, clarinets, oboes — has a halogen-like clarity; the percussion trill, adding more glitter, or else rumble away, opening dark ravines in partnership with the cellos and basses. In the middle, the violins and violas sing, with a single voice. Conductor Tilson Thomas seems like the guardian of these sounds: more than putting his own personal stamp on the interpretation, he brings out his orchestra’s riches. And the audience greeted him with pounding applause.

And Gian Carlo Benzing, in La Corriere della Sera, added, “... Tilson Thomas should consider himself to have a debt to pay here in Milan; but please don’t let him wait another 20 years before he shows us the beauty he is capable of.” In Italy, the players also discovered wonderful and appreciative audiences — as well as, of course, memorable museums and more great shopping and food. Katie Kadarauch, Assistant Principal Viola, took in as much of Milan as she could in a short time, writing:

Touring with the SFS means the world to me. While we [the orchestra] embody our own culture, history, and musicianship when we perform abroad, we seem to soak up everything around us and that comes out in our performances. There is always some intangible feeling in the air when we’re abroad: a feeling which comes from the beauty of land, culture, great food and beautiful concert halls. Performing under this spell enables us to view the rest of the world in a very unique and heartfelt way, all while experiencing the clarity of the music-making we are doing.

Jessica Valeri, fourth horn, could have used a few more days in the Lombard capital, commenting:

This was my first European tour with the SFS, and what really struck me was the reception we received by the audiences, especially in Lucerne. Maybe we got a little help from the backstage espresso machine at KKL, but the orchestra had some truly energetic performances there, and the audience really responded! A non-musical highlight was the gelato shop in Milan that was found by fellow orchestra member Nanci Severance. It was called Bianco Latte, and in an unsuccessful but delicious effort to sample every flavor, I visited twice a day.

And Ward went straight to one of the great palaces of music in Italy:

Being in Europe is such a treat for me — the attentive and appreciative audiences, the speedy and reliable trains, the history on display on every street corner. One of the highlights was a visit to La Scala’s museum — old instruments, paintings of artists famous and forgotten, and a peek into the hall where so many memorable Opera performances have been heard. A restaurant with a huge basket of fresh porcini mushrooms on display capped off a great day in Milan.