Tag Archives: michael tilson thomas

Old and New

My family had a recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide that I must have listened to repeatedly when I was growing up in Palo Alto. But it was not until a couple of Thursdays ago, when I attended the San Francisco Symphony‘s … Continue reading

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Carnegie Hall

Sometimes I think that my main reason for spending a lot of time in New York is Carnegie Hall. The city boasts many other attractions: great dance performances, occasional good theater, several opera companies (including some very good small ones), excellent … Continue reading

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Dramatic Music

Two different kinds of dramatic music were paired at last weekend’s San Francisco Symphony concerts, and both were a success, though in very different ways. One had plot, characters, words, even narration—a veritable orgy of theatrical elements. The other, though … Continue reading

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Four Nights of Music

The Bay Area has been a hotbed of concerts recently, and I’ve been out four nights in a row to something good. This would be a record of sorts even for New York, and in my part of California it’s … Continue reading

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Tetzlaff in San Francisco

There could be no finer way to spend a Sunday evening than listening to Christian Tetzlaff perform Bach’s solo pieces for the violin, and Sunday, May 11 was no exception to this. Davies Hall did not fill up completely, but … Continue reading

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American Night at the San Francisco Symphony

It looked, on paper, like an adventurous program:  all American composers, all twentieth-century work, and (with the exception of George Gershwin) not names that are often viewed as audience-friendly. Indeed, Michael Tilson Thomas brought his microphone out and spoke to … Continue reading

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