# San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall, September 13, 2018

[Michael Tilson Thomas](http://www.michaeltilsonthomas.com/) leads the [San Francisco Symphony](http://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2018-19/MTT-Conducts-Pianist-Yuja-Wang-Appalachian-Spring.aspx) in performance with featured soloists [Abigail Washburn](http://www.abigailwashburn.com/) and [Yuja Wang](http://www.yujawang.com/)  
[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)  
8:00 PM, Thursday, September 13, 2018

[[2018-09-12|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2018|Up to the 2018 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2018#September_events|Up to the 2018 event list!]] ☸ [[2018-09-14|On to the next event!]]

## Tentative Program

* Castiglioni: _Inverno in-ver_ [with video]
* Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand
* Copland: _Appalachian Spring_

## Set One

[8:00 PM lights down, tuning; pause; 8:03 PM MTT enters, introduces AW]

### Introduction: Fire and Ice

01. [8:06 PM] _Come All You Coal Miners_ Abigail Washburn, solo a capella
02. [8:09 PM] _And Am I Born to Die?_ arr. Monk, Abigail Washburn, vox, with SFS  
[section ends 8:14 PM; long pause to get things together for the next segment]

### Castiglioni: Inverno in-ver

[8:21 PM MTT introduces the next work]

Niccolò Castiglioni (1932–1996): _Inverno in-ver_ (1973/78), 11 music poems for small orchestra; SFS premiere, featuring lighting by Luke Kritzeck & video by Clyde Scott

[Score](https://issuu.com/casaricordi/docs/13210700_castiglioni_inverno_inver)

01. [8:25 PM] _Fiori di Ghiaccio (Flowers of Ice)_
02. [8:28 PM] _Il Ruscello (The Stream)_
03. [8:29 PM] _Danza Invernale (Winter Dance)_
04. [8:32 PM] _Salterello_
05. [8:33 PM] _La Brina (the Frost)_
06. [8:36 PM] _Il Lago Ghiacciato (the Frozen Lake)_
07. [8:38 PM] _Nenia Prima (Memorial I)_
08. [8:39 PM] _Nenia Seconda (Memorial II)_
09. [8:40 PM] _Silenzio (Silence)_
10. [8:42 PM] _Un Vecchio Adagio (An Old Adagio)_
11. [8:45 PM] _Il Rumore non fa Bene. Il Bene non fa Rumore (Noise does no good. The good makes no noise)_  
[set ends 8:47 PM; pause to reset the stage for the next segment]

[Program notes](http://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Program-Notes/Castiglioni-Inverno-in-ver.aspx)

### Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand

[9:02 PM tuning; applause for entrance of MTT and Yuja]

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937): Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand (1930)

01. [9:03 PM] _Lento_
02. [9:21 PM] _Allegro_  
[work ends 9:22 PM; a few trips back and forth for applause, then our treat]  
   
**Yuja solo piano Encore**
03. [9:23 PM] Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847): Allegro leggiero, Op. 67, No. 2, from _Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words)_ (1843–45)  
[done by 9:25 PM; more wild applause; set ends 9:26 PM]

[Program notes for Ravel](http://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Program-Notes/Ravel-Concerto-in-D-major.aspx)

## Set Two: Copland: Appalachian Spring

[9:45 PM lights down, tuning; 9:46 PM introduction by MTT]

Aaron Copland (1900–1990): _Appalachian Spring_ (1944/1954/completed by David Newman, 2014)

01. [9:50 PM] Very slowly
02. [9:54 PM] Allegro
03. [9:57 PM] Moderato
04. [10:01 PM] Fast
05. [10:05 PM] Subito Allegro (Still faster)
06. [10:09 PM] Very slowly
07. [10:11 PM] Doppio Movimento. Five variations on _Simple Gifts_
08. [10:21 PM] Moderato - Coda  
[show ends 10:25 PM]

[Program notes](http://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Program-Notes/Copland-Appalachian-Spring.aspx)

## Performers

### San Francisco Symphony

* [Michael Tilson Thomas](http://www.michaeltilsonthomas.com/): conductor, music director;
* symphony members vary by program; see [the current list](http://www.sfsymphony.org/About-Us/Musicians-Conductors).

### Special guests

* [Yuja Wang](http://www.yujawang.com/): piano;
* [Abigail Washburn](http://www.abigailwashburn.com/): vox.

## Notes

SF Symphony last night was terrific: a great way for me to kick of this year's season!

Abigail Washburn's solo a capella rendition of _Come All You Coal Miners_ was accompanied by striking stills from [COAL+ICE](https://coalandice.org/). She then offered "a cheery little tune" _And Am I Born to Die?_, with accompaniment by MTT conducting the SFS to more COAL+ICE stills. The video screens flashed "(Monk)" after the title, but looking online, I couldn't turn anything up on that. My guess is that it's the orchestra arrangement credit. According to this [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/folk/comments/2t6ix4/doc_watson_and_gaither_carlton_and_am_i_born_to/) on reddit, the words first appeared in 1763, with the melody following in 1816.

No banjo, no clogging, no more Abigail tonight. Drat! I was really intrigues by the idea of clogging at Davies Hall.

Castiglioni's _Inverno In-Ver_ was up next -- a modern abstract classical work, eleven takes on a winter theme, with more COAL+ICE stills, some overlain with bizarro video processing/filtering, moody lighting, and flashing LED stick lights spread throughout the orchestra for additional visual distraction.

First set continued with a super exciting version of Ravel's Piano Concerto in D for the left hand, featuring Yuja Wang. From my seat, I thought the balance between the symphony and the soloist was just right.

Yuja treated us to a brief solo encore -- no more than 2-3 minutes -- but without any introduction, I couldn't place the work. Chopin would be my wild guess. Turns out I was wrong. First time for everything!

Nearly 90 minutes for that set: quite long by SFS norms. Short intermission, then back for one more work: Copland's _Appalachian Spring_. MTT made note of the fact that they would be performing an expanded version of the piece, but no further explanation on that point appeared in the published [program notes](http://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Program-Notes/Copland-Appalachian-Spring.aspx).

It was good, but not quite as perfectly executed as the Ravel.

Seems like the event (and likely the next few nights) was being recorded (audio only?) by SFS: I wouldn't be surprised to see part of the program condensed to a CD or two for release in the next year or so.

Stephen Smoliar was a little less impressed; check out his [review](http://therehearsalstudio.blogspot.com/2018/09/mtt-overloads-this-weeks-sfs-program.html). I'm grateful to him for identifying Yuja's encore; apparently she performed other encores on the other nights.

This [page](https://www.wqxr.org/story/new-version-appalachian-spring-completes-what-copland-began/) from WQXR relates the story of the latest "completion" of Copland's _Appalachian Spring_. As near as I can tell, no one has yet offered a recording of this version -- maybe that's what was going on with all the microphones set up onstage.

No photos tonight, sorry!

{{tag>music San_Francisco_Symphony Michael_Tilson_Thomas Yuja_Wang Davies_Symphony_Hall Michael_Tilson_Thomas Abigail_Washburn}}

[[2018-09-12|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2018|Up to the 2018 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2018#September_events|Up to the 2018 event list!]] ☸ [[2018-09-14|On to the next event!]]