# San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall, April 27, 2024

[Gustavo Gimeno](https://gustavogimeno.com/) conducts the [San Francisco Symphony](https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2023-24/INSPIRATIONS-FILM-CLASSICAL) in INSPIRATIONS: FILM/CLASSICAL featuring Jonathan Vinocour  
[Davies Symphony Hall](http://www.sfsymphony.org)  
[201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=201+Van+Ness,+San+Francisco,+CA+94102+USA&hl=en)  
7:30 PM, Saturday, April 27, 2024

[[2024-04-25|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2024|Up to the 2024 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2024#April_events|Up to the 2024 event list!]] ☸ [[:2024:2024-05:2024-05-02|On to the next event!]]

## Set One

[7:35 PM] {lights down; house announcements; applause for entrance of the concertmaster; tuning; applause for entrance of GG}

### Shostakovich: Funeral March from The Great Citizen

01. [7:37 PM] Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975): Funeral March from _The Great Citizen_, opus 55 (1939) (San Francisco premiere)  
[7:44 PM] {work ends; applause}  
[7:45 PM] {pause to rearrange things onstage for the next work}  
[7:46 PM] {tuning}  
[7:47 PM] {applause for entrance of JV & GG}

### Walton: Viola Concerto

William Walton \(1902–1983): Viola Concerto (1929)

01. [7:47 PM] Andante comodo
02. [7:56 PM] Scherzo and trio: vivo con moto preciso
03. [8:00 PM] Allegro moderato  
[8:13 PM] {work ends; applause for JV, GG & the SFS}  
[8:15 PM] {set ends}

## Set Two: Prokofiev: Symphony No. 3

[8:35 PM] {lights down, tuning}  
[8:35 PM] {applause for GG}  
[8:36 PM] {GG: greetings and remarks about the program}

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953): Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 44 (1928)

01. [8:37 PM] Moderato
02. [8:51 PM] Andante
03. [8:57 PM] Allegro agitato — Allegretto
04. [9:05 PM] Andante mosso — Allegro moderato  
[9:12 PM] {work ends; applause for GG & SFS}  
[9:15 PM] {show ends}

## Performers

### San Francisco Symphony

[San Francisco Symphony](http://www.sfsymphony.org)

* [Esa-Pekka Salonen](http://www.esapekkasalonen.com/): music director;
* symphony members vary by program;
 see [the current list](https://sfsymphony.encoreplus.app/posts/111500/the-orchestra4).

### Special Guests

* [Gustavo Gimeno](https://gustavogimeno.com/): conductor;
* Jonathan Vinocour: violin.

## Notes

I think tonight was another bait-and-switch programming effort: while the show title, 'INSPIRATIONS: FILM/CLASSICAL' is printed in ALL CAPS across my paper ticket (and in the SFS event URL), there's not a peep about that theme in the updated web page or program notes. Ah well: marketing gimmicks got me again!

I liked the Shostakovich opener tonight the best: it had a very cinematic feel, plenty of variety over it's short duration, and wrapped up without going on too long. And that leads directly into why the other two works weren't my top choice: in both pieces, I found myself lost in my thoughts instead of paying attention to the music: both of them rambled about just a bit too much to maintain my attention. Which isn't to say that I disliked them, only that they seemed a bit over-stuffed. Of those two, I preferred the more sedate and romantic Walton concerto to the histrionic excess of Prokofiev's Symphony.

Special mention and kudos to Jonathan Vinocour for playing his solo part from memory. What a champ! It's always impressive to listen to someone who *really* knows what they're doing!

Looking into the back-story of the latter, I stumbled sideways through the Internet onto this brief [summary](https://mrdivis.yolasite.com/resources/Agrippa's%20feminism.pdf) of  Agrippa's interesting epistle of 1529, _Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex_. The pdf was a nice teaser, but it's hard to imagine how the argument needs 141 pages to be completed!

[Program Notes](https://sfsymphony.encoreplus.app/posts/153548/gimeno-conducts-shostakovich-prokofiev-program-notes) or {{:2024:2024-04:20240427pn.pdf|program notes}}

{{tag>music San_Francisco_Symphony Gustavo_Gimeno Jonathan_Vinocour Davies_Symphony_Hall }}

[[2024-04-25|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2024|Up to the 2024 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2024#April_events|Up to the 2024 event list!]] ☸ [[:2024:2024-05:2024-05-02|On to the next event!]]