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.
  

Rain: Late Spring Storm

A short but intense storm passed through on May 4. On the following (very sunny) day, my rain gauge showed 1.10 inches of new rain at my location in northeast Santa Rosa. It's unusual to get such concentrated showers this late in the rain year, but late rain is welcome. It pushes back fire danger a little and relieves me from having to water the garden for a few days at least. 

I've been a bit lazy about noting rainfall this year. Since last reporting, we have had about three inches of rain I never recorded. That and this new 1.10 inches, a total of 4.10 inches, brings our total for the 2023-2024 rain year to 30.30 inches, which is quite respectable, although below the historical average of about 36 inches. Recently, I've been wondering about that average. I suspect that the average in the past ten years has been lower than that, which suggests this has been a fairly normal rain year relative to what is now normal.