CAMA - March 28, 2018 - Program Notes - San Francisco Symphony - International Series at The Granada Theatre
CAMA's International Series Presents San Francisco Symphony Wednesday, March 28, 2018 The Granada Theatre, 8:00 PM Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director Gil Shaham, Violin Alban Berg: Violin Concerto (1935) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.5 Founded in 1911, the San Francisco Symphony is among the country’s most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions. Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas is Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Founder and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra. He has won eleven Grammys® for his recordings, is the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and is a Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time; his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy® Award-winner, also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year,” is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals. SEASON SPONSOR: SAGE Publications PRIMARY SPONSOR: The Elaine F. Stepanek Concert Fund PRINCIPAL SPONSOR: Herbert & Elaine Kendall SPONSORS: Bitsy & Denny Bacon and the Becton Family Foundation Fran & John Nielsen The Shanbrom Family Foundation CO-SPONSORS: Anonymous Elizabeth & Andrew Butcher Mahri Kerley/Chaucer’s Books Lynn P. Kirst Jocelyne & William Meeker Val & Bob Montgomery •
CAMA's International Series Presents
San Francisco Symphony
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
The Granada Theatre, 8:00 PM
Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director
Gil Shaham, Violin
Alban Berg: Violin Concerto (1935)
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.5
Founded in 1911, the San Francisco Symphony is among the country’s most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions. Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas is Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Founder and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra. He has won eleven Grammys® for his recordings, is the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and is a Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France.
Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time; his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy® Award-winner, also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year,” is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.
SEASON SPONSOR:
SAGE Publications
PRIMARY SPONSOR:
The Elaine F. Stepanek Concert Fund
PRINCIPAL SPONSOR:
Herbert & Elaine Kendall
SPONSORS:
Bitsy & Denny Bacon and the Becton Family Foundation
Fran & John Nielsen
The Shanbrom Family Foundation
CO-SPONSORS:
Anonymous
Elizabeth & Andrew Butcher
Mahri Kerley/Chaucer’s Books
Lynn P. Kirst
Jocelyne & William Meeker
Val & Bob Montgomery
•
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had to reconstruct it, figuring out the right<br />
harmonies would be easy, but nobody could<br />
ever guess Mahler’s hesit<strong>at</strong>ing rhythm or his<br />
sensitive spacing of those chords.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Adagietto is cousin to one of Mahler’s<br />
first Rückert songs, “Ich bin der Welt<br />
abhanden gekommen”—“I am Lost to the<br />
World.” It is not so much a m<strong>at</strong>ter of quot<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
or allusion as of drawing twice from the same<br />
well. Adagietto and song share characteristic<br />
fe<strong>at</strong>ures of contour, harmony, and texture,<br />
and our knowledge of the song, which ends<br />
with the lines “I live alone in my heaven, in<br />
my loving, in my song,” confirms our sense of<br />
wh<strong>at</strong> Mahler wishes to tell us in this page of<br />
his symphony.<br />
After the brightness of the Scherzo,<br />
Mahler sets the Adagietto in a darker key.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n, in a most delic<strong>at</strong>ely imagined passage,<br />
he finds his way back to the light. As abruptly<br />
as he had moved from the tragedy of the<br />
first two movements into the joyous vitality<br />
of the Scherzo, Mahler now leaves behind<br />
the hesit<strong>at</strong>ions and cries of his Adagietto<br />
to dive into the radiant, abundant finale. It<br />
is, most of it, superb comedy, so vigorous<br />
th<strong>at</strong> it can even include the melody of the<br />
Adagietto—in quick tempo—as one of its<br />
themes. <strong>The</strong> brass chorale from the second<br />
movement comes back, this time in its full<br />
extension, as a gesture of triumph and as<br />
a structural bridge across the symphony’s<br />
gre<strong>at</strong> span. When all is done, though, no one<br />
is in the mood for an exalted close, and the<br />
symphony ends on a shout of laughter.<br />
—Michael Steinberg<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Francisco</strong> <strong>Symphony</strong> © <strong>2018</strong><br />
15
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