Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony: Schoenberg and Beethoven at Davies Hall, by David Dunn Bauer

Michael Tilson Thomas. Photo Stefan Cohen.

San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Davies Hall

San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Ragnar Bohlin, choral director

Erin Wall, soprano
Kendall Gladen, mezzo-soprano
William Burden, tenor
Nathan Berg, bass
Shuler Hensley, narrator
Ligeti – Lux Aeterna
Schoenberg – A Survivor from Warsaw
Beethoven – Symphony No. 9, Choral

This review starts with a whiny disclaimer, since it should be a review of Ligeti, Schoenberg, and Beethoven at Davies Hall, but arriving at the door of the auditorium at 7:59 on Friday June 29th, I and a number of other concert-goers found the doors already shut and our entrance prevented by the diligent house staff. I’ve actually never before arrived anywhere at an 8pm performance where seating was closed by 8pm. To be sportsmanlike, I guess I have to call it “my bad,” but…oh, nevermind.

I will say that my disappointment at missing the atmospheric Lux Aeterna by György Ligeti was heightened by the surprisingly primitive video and audio feed from the auditorium to the lobby. There was no point in watching or listening at all to the distorted sound and picture, and that’s something Davies could and should remedy.

Hence my attendance began at 8.12 when I sat down to a 7-minute performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s 1947 A Survivor from Warsaw, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas and narrated by Tony-Award winner Shuler Hensley. Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony in a performance of precision and assurance, and the men of the Symphony Chorus sang out powerfully. Hensley was unhappily over-miked at the start. I sensed that someone dialed down his volume perhaps two thirds of the way through, which restored some measure of balance to the mix, but I wish there had additionally been a way to dial down some of Hensley’s overt emotionality.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!