San Francisco Symphony presents Esa-Pekka Salonen, conducting the San Francisco Symphony
2015-04-30
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA
2:00 PM, Thursday, April 30, 2015

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• Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
• Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx
• Stravinsky: The Firebird

[2:00 PM lights down, announcements]

Maurice Ravel: Ma mère l'Oye (Mother Goose Suite), 1911

1. [2:02 PM] Pavane de la belle au bois dormant (Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty)
2. [2:m PM] Petit Poucet (Tom Thumb)
3. [2:08 PM] Les entretiens de la belle et de la bête (Conversations of Beauty & the Beast)
4. [2:11 PM] Laideronnette, impératrice des Pagodes (Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas)
5. [2:16 PM] Le jardin féerique (the Enchanted Garden)
   [set ends 2:20 PM; all off after a minute or so; back for tuning ~2:25 PM]

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx (2011)

1. [2:26 PM] (opus)
   [set ends 2:45 PM]

[3:06 PM tuning, lights down]

Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird, (1910)

1. [3:m PM] Introduction
2. [3:m PM] Kaschei's Enchanted Garden
3. [3:m PM] Appearance of the Firebird, Pursued by Ivan Tsarevich
4. [3:m PM] Dance of the Firebird
5. [3:m PM] Ivan Tsarevich Captures the Firebird
6. [3:m PM] Supplication of the Firebird
7. [3:27 PM] Appearance of the Thirteen Enchanted Princesses
8. [3:m PM] Game of the Princesses with the Golden Apples
9. [3:m PM] Sudden Appearance of Ivan Tsarevich
10. [3:m PM] Khorovod of the Princesses
11. [3:m PM] Daybreak
12. [3:m PM] Magic Carillon: Appearance of Kashchei's Guardian Monsters; Capture of Ivan Tsarevich
13. [3:m PM] Arrival of Kashchei; Dialogue between Ivan Tsarevich and Kashchei; Intercession of the Princesses
14. [3:m PM] Intervention of the Firebird
15. [3:m PM] Dance of Kashchei's Retinue under the Firebird's Spell
16. [3:m PM] Infernal Dance of all Kashchei's Subjects
17. [3:m PM] Lullaby of the Firebird
18. [3:m PM] Death of Kashchei
19. [4:m PM] Collapse of Kashchei's Palace and Dissolution of all Enchantments; General Rejoicing
    [show ends 4:m PM]

• Esa-Pekka Salonen: conductor;
• Michael Tilson Thomas: music director;
• symphony members vary by program, see the current list.

Great show, full of very expressive music: presumably the program was chosen by EPS to emphasize the lush, romantic sound of these works, as the fit together like parts of a designer outfit cut from the same cloth. And it was great fun to watch EPS conducting as he danced and whittled, signaling here or there for some small effect or bit of emphasis.

I selected this program in order to hear Nyx, and I'm happy to report that it was far more interesting to experience in concert than by the pale imitation of a YouTube video.

And while the Firebird Suite was dandy listening, I couldn't help but imagine how much more interesting it would be to see the ballet – guess I need to keep a look out for that, as I don't recall having seen it before. Anyways, the symphony did a bang up job. The music was delicate and delightfully light when called for, joyfully and full of jolly energy in the chase and dance scenes, and dark and scary during the late sections when the sorcerer and his demons would have been onstage during a ballet. As I said right off: great fun!

Stephen Smoliar seems to agree – his review for the Examiner is unusually positive!

Somehow I managed to disable my time-keeping script, so I can't offer much info about the duration of the sections of the second half. I can relate that I had a devil of a time trying to follow the music from the sparse program notes outlining key characteristics of the work!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!