A varied program with the full S.F. Symphony conducted by Osmo Vanska, conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. The first piece, Slonimsky's Earbox, by John Adams, was truly a thrill for the ears and mind. Wonderfully energetic and melodic, yet still with Adams' repetitive refrains.It was really good to hear The Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 played LIVE, since one usually hears recordings of this composition. Since I sat in the Second tier, the players seemed rather far away, but the music soars up to that elevation so beautifully. A very good evening at a very fair price.

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First of all Vänskä, the conductor, was worth the price of admission.

Due to where I was seated (second row, front orchestra) there was surely some penalty with respect to total sound quality. But my view and connection Vänskä was up close and personal. What a sensory experience.


Vänskä’s has a very robotic conducting style, for sure. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video crossed my mine on a couple of occasions during the concert. But what athleticism! What precision! The man has an amazing vertical leap with catlike reflexes. But at the same time I rarely heard him like , for example, I heard the stomps and pounds of Gustavo Dudamel last year or in recordings of Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi. More importantly Vänskä uses his athleticism to move, power and control the orchestra. After, watching Vänskä in person I believe I have a greater insight to his conducting of his Beethoven 9th that I own and will be better able to appreciate the entire Beethoven symphony set(I was just notified by MDT that it was “dispatched” to me).

Your assessment of the performances nailed it. I could not agree with you more, including your comments on the Piano concerto. I found much of Sirala’s performance of the Concerto competent, but flat and uneven (although I am not sure who was at fault). Rest assure I was not compelled to stand for the applause. I noticed that the standing applause which grew to about two-thirds of the audience, was not spontaneous but grew after return visits to the stage by Sirala. It was somewhat amusing to watch some guests in front of me conferring with each other on whether they should stand or not before deciding (3 out of 4) to fall in line. But the performance fell fall far short of a Andre Watts performance I attended years ago or more recent performances I have heard. While it may be an apples and oranges comparison I found the the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2 performance I heard last week with a third tier orchestra (no disrespect intended as they did a very good job, but with at least some volunteer musicians) was done with indomitable energy.

I was, nonetheless, still able to admire and enjoy the Tchaikovsky composition, even if I was lukewarm on the performance. This was helped in good part by the pre ceremony lecture. For example, the number of “cadenzas” or passages, large and small, in which the piano is completely unaccompanied by orchestra is striking. There are at least a half dozen of these cadenzas, which I specifically looked for. There is much technical brilliance to be displayed….given the right pianist.

I, too, thoroughly enjoyed the John Adams and was pleased that he was on hand for the performance. The lower strings (viola, cellos and basses) were especially stunning from my vantage point.

For me (and certainly for those who I commuted with on BART), the crown jewel of the evening was the Dvorak Symphony No. 7. Wasn't that *amaaaaazing*? For that I did provide a most unprompted standing applause.

I “prepped” before the concert by listening to the 1958 RCA Cliburn/Kondrashin Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and to the Szell's 7th.

I have multiple CD and LP versions of these works that I am satisfied with. Anyone have more recent recommendations of these works?

Robert C. Lang

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beautiful playing

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Seats were great - and overall loved the concert but hated the first number by Adams. The pianist was outstanding as was the conductor. My favorite was the Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. Dvorak piece was nice too.

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