The San Francisco Symphony is a model of complexity: tonally warm but texturally clear; rhythmically on edge but never abrasive in character; beautifully blended throughout.
Michael Tilson Thomas
Classical CD Reviews: Michael Tilson Thomas’ “From the Diary of Anne Frank,” Nielsen Symphonies nos. 1 & 2, and Arabella Steinbacher’s “Four Seasons”
This San Francisco Symphony release proves to be a fitting send-off for music director Michael Tilson Thomas; there’s much to admire in the Seattle Symphony’s playing of Carl Nielsen’s first two symphonies; fiery energy from both violinist Arabella Steinbacher and the excellent Münchener Kammerorchester make their new disk a gem.
Classical CD Reviews: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Ives, Conrad Tao’s “American Rage,” and Gianandrea Noseda conducts Shostakovich
Michael Tilson Thomas delivers a towering Ives Fourth; pianist Conrad Tao’s American Rage is hard-edged and defiant, but also poignant and stirring; Gianandrea Noseda’s Shostakovich Fourth is ferocious.
Classical Music Review: San Francisco Symphony at Symphony Hall
While the orchestra’s program was almost defiantly canonical, it was played with such lightness and energy that you could forgive its disappointing safeness.
Classical Music CD Reviews: H&H’s Haydn & Mozart, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, and Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette
Handel & Haydn Society’s Haydn and Mozart is about as good as it gets; Martyn Brabbins’ recording of A Sea Symphony is one of the year’s best releases; and for elegance and technical command, you can’t go wrong with Tilson Thomas and his San Francisco Symphony.
Classical CD Reviews: Tesla Quartet plays Haydn, Ravel, and Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Bernstein, Aspects of America
Aspects of America, from the Oregon Symphony and its music director Carlos Kalmar, is at once superbly played, astutely programmed, and aesthetically necessary.
Classical CD Reviews: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Schumann and “The Gershwin Moment”
The San Francisco Symphony delivers performances of chamber-like sensitivity and remarkable transparency.
Classical CD Review: Heras-Casado conducts Mendelssohn and Michael Tilson Thomas’s Berg
Michael Tilson Thomas proves he’s got Alban Berg’s style in his blood; Pablo Heras-Casado’s Mendelssohn symphony cycle continues to be stylish.
Classical Album Reviews: Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 3 and Mass in C (SFS Media), Music for Harp (Innova)
Beethoven’s Mass in C is the highlight. Would that the San Francisco Symphony’s performance of the Third Concerto had more electricity.
Music Commentary: Notable Classical Performances of 2014
It’s fun to recall what’s been played locally since January and be reminded just how rich the greater Boston area’s classical music scene really is.