Music I'm Listening to: San Francisco Symphony

While away in Japan, I missed two concerts to which I had tickets, one by the Santa Rosa Symphony and one by the San Francisco Symphony, but I attended the Friday April 26 concert in San Francisco, which featured a short piece by Shostakovich at the top of the bill and ended with Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3 after intermission, with the Walton Viola Concerto as the centerpiece before the break. Gustavo Gimeno, music director of the Luxembourg Philharmonic and of the Toronto Symphony, was the guest conductor. The San Francisco Symphony's own Jonathan Vinocour was the viola soloist. 

I had never heard the Shostakovich before – Funeral March from The Great Citizen, Op. 55 and I can't say it was especially memorable, but both the Walton and Prokofiev pieces were familiar. Whenever a member of the Symphony appears as a soloist I'm reminded of just how high the overall level of musicianship is on the stage at every concert in San Francisco. Off hand, I can remember concerts over the years featuring soloists from among the Symphony's own ranks including Alexander Barantschick (violin), Peter Wyrick (cello), Mark Inouye (trumpet), and Scott Pingel (bass) – and now Jonathan Vinocour– all top notch. The Prokofiev symphony is not among my favorites. It's rather abstract and, despite some comparatively accessible sections that are quite fun, I'm not surprised that it's not often performed. Still, it's always interesting to hear pieces familiar from recording live for the first time.