Music I'm Listening to: Gil Shaham and Juraj Valčuha with the San Francisco Symphony

Last night, March 27, I attended a San Francisco Symphony concert featuring Gil Shaham as soloist in the Brahms Violin Concerto and, after intermission, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10. Shaham, Valčuha, and the Symphony performers were in fine form. I had never heard of Valčuha before. According to the program notes, from 2016 to 2022 he was the music director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and he has been the music director of the Houston Symphony since 2022.  I liked his approach. He elicited a rather clipped, precise phrasing from the orchestra in both pieces on the program that gave the performances a crispness I rather liked without sacrificing feeling in the more lyrical passages. A very enjoyable evening.