Yesterday I
attended the San Francisco Symphony. They play at Davies Symphony Hall,
a big glass two-story building near downtown San Francisco kitty-corner
from City Hall. It seats about 1000 people I guess, the stage being set
up specifically for the symphony with acoustic deflectors floating
above the stage. It's a very elegant place and although you don't have
wear dress clothes they're certainly not out of place.
At 19:00 Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas held a talk discussing
Beethoven and Vienna. Thomas is also the conductor and although I'm
sure he's good, I'm still not convinced that you really need a
conductor. Sure, it's somewhat necessary but I don't see the conducting
job being that hard. But Thomas is also music director and does a bunch
of other things to earn his salary.
Lots of people streamed in before the concert started at 20:00.
Although the sorroundings are nice, the seats are a bit narrow.
Wouldn't want to be an overweight person here. As it is, I had a hard
time getting any sort of personal space. It also got kind of warm as
the concert went on. Lots of people, bright lights, small space,
apparently inadequate air conditioning.
You get a thick playbill which has information on the Vienna period and
the composers and the actual pieces. Useful information for the
uninformed, though it only helped a little. The first piece is Reicha's
Overture in D major, a seven-minute segment. Then pianist Jean-Yves
Thibaudet joined the symphony for Dussek's Concert in G mintor for
Piano and Orchestra, Opus 49. It' about a 30-minute 3-movement piece
which features the piano. After an intermission the symphony performed
the main piece,
Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Opus 92. This is a one hour
4-movement piece with lots of violin play. |
Everybody
seemed to be happy with the performance. Personally it was ok but not
really an experience. A symphony prides itself on performing everything
exactly right. But this leads to an exact performance. As nice as it
sounds in Davies, a good CD recording and home stereo system would give
you the same experience.
With a pop music concert you are there to see the actual person or
group. And usually it's more of a show with the performer talking and
interacting with the audience. A live music concert is different than
the CD. A live symphony concert is the same as the CD, but now you deal
with crowds and parking. It just didn't seem worth it to me.
I did like watching the drum player (called a Timpanist) in the back.
It's very exacting and yet he plays very little. It's interesting to
note that after hitting the timpani he puts his hand on the cover to
keep the sound short. That's the kind of attention to detail in order
to get a perfect performance that you expect from a professional
symphony. It's too bad I can't really appreciate that kind of
excellence.
In the end it's a culture thing. I think very few people actually care
about the SF Symphony. But I also think that high-class cultural things
like the symphony are a mark of a world class city. So I don't begrudge
the symphony and if that's what those people like that's what they
like. Personally it's not the worst use of my time but I'd rather spend
it doing other things.
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