In last week’s preview piece for the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) subscription concerts for the week of November 17, I did not play up the proposition that preceding a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Opus 45 (his “German Requiem”) with Arnold Schoenberg’s Opus 16 set of five orchestral pieces would make for an unlikely coupling. The fact is that Schoenberg had a great admiration for Brahms; and, while many of Schoenberg’s contemporaries were glibly dismissing Brahms as reactionary, Schoenberg took exactly the opposite point of view and eventually (in 1947) set down his thoughts in an essay entitled “Brahms the Progressive.” Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) seems to appreciate the significance of the Brahms-Schoenberg connection; and, while Schoenberg’s Opus 16 was brought in as a last-minute program change due to the illness of composer Sofia Gubaidulina (whose new work, commissioned by SFS, had been originally scheduled), the week of November 23 seems to have been conceived with that connection in mind.
In this case the Brahms side of the connection will be represented by his Opus 77 violin concerto in D major, with Gil Shaham as soloist. This will be complemented by a Schoenberg composition entirely different in nature from his Opus 16 but no stranger to Davies Symphony Hall. Indeed, it was presented by the Berlin Philharmonic during their 2009 visit with their Music Director, Sir Simon Rattle, it was performed by the San Francisco Youth Orchestra when Benjamin Shwartz was their Music Director, and, unless I am mistaken, it received its last SFS performance under guest conductor Ingo Metzmacher. The work in question is Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’ Opus 25 piano quartet in G minor. Ironically, Schoenberg undertook this task because he felt that the original version was “seldom played” (as he put in a letter to Alfred Frankenstein on March 18, 1939), which, given the current popularity of chamber music, at least in the vicinity of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, can no longer be taken to be the case. The result is a rather intriguing exercise that seems to begin with an effort to capture the “Brahms orchestral sound” and then proceeds to stray from that path into more adventurous territory. By the time we get to the final “Rondo alla zingarese,” Brahms has clearly moved into rather raucous territory; and Schoenberg has decided to ramp that raucousness up a notch or two. That raucous spirit will also be prefigured by MTT’s selection to open this concert, Richard Wagner’s wild prelude to the third act of his Lohengrin opera.
This concert for the Thanksgiving weekend will be performed only three times in Davies Symphony Hall, at 8 PM on Wednesday, November 23, and Saturday, November 26, and at 6:30 PM on Friday, November 25. All concerts will be preceded by an Inside Music talk one hour prior to performance to be given by Laura Stansfield Prichard. Ticket prices range from $15 to $145 and may be purchased through the event page on the SFS Web site. Tickets may also be purchased at the Davies Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street or by calling 415-864-6000.
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