Symphony Tour's Mahler Melts Ice and Hearts

It’s cold. It’s dark. The ground is a little icy from a slick of snow. It’s a good night to be moving toward the light.

Whether they knew it or not, that’s where patrons of the San Francisco Symphony’s first concert of two at Hill Auditorium were heading Thursday evening: out of darkness toward dawn and radiant day via Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, sometimes called “Song of the Night.”

In Susan Isaacs Nisbett's poetic Ann Arbor News report about the San Francisco Symphony's national tour reaching a wintry Michigan last week, superlatives dominate:

If any chance to hear this infrequently performed Mahler symphony in the flesh is worth venturing out for, this performance, presented under University Musical Society auspices, was spine-tingling enough, even in just its first moments, to make you grateful to have come. The evening was a reminder of the exalting power of live symphonic music.
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When the tenor horn issued its call after a few shudders from the winds and strings to open the piece, the dark resonance was somehow physical and enormous, a giant shape materializing and rising up to command the stage. That might have been only the first of a number of moments where you could feel the tears starting, along with the shivers.

There are rave reviews galore in the wake of a busy week — concerts in Kansas City, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, and Boston; with New York, Princeton, and Miami coming up this week — but what of life among traveling musicians as they are braving a sudden, premature winter cold front in addition to the usual tear and wear of touring?

SFS Director of Communications Oliver Theil reports from the orchestra tour, beginning somewhat ironically and poignantly in Kansas City:

While the weather on this 20th anniversary tour has certainly been colder than expected, receptions of MTT and the orchestra from audiences and critics alike couldn’t be more warm and welcoming. In Kansas City, where locals were still reeling from a magical performance by another group of visiting San Franciscans a few weeks back, MTT and the SFS’ own clutch performance was a bit more uplifting for our hospitable Midwestern friends. After a fantastic Daphnis et Chloe to end the concert, MTT even had some fun with the audience on stage involving some hijinx with Giants and Royals caps.

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, our strong relationship with the University Musical Society was evident not just in two thrilling performances, but also in the wide variety of educational and community service work done by the musicians. A large part of the orchestra spent their free day giving master classes around campus, making music for those in need at the University Hospital, or at local elementary schools, bringing smiles to the young people eager to hear and meet musicians from San Francisco.

It has been an important partnership and tour stop for the orchestra for many years and always offers the ability to make meaningful connections with the Ann Arbor community. No wonder that Hill Auditorium is almost always packed when MTT and the SFS are here.

Concerts back-to-back in two of the country's most acclaimed venues, Cleveland's Severance Hall and Boston's Symphony Hall, were special occasions. "The gorgeous Art Nouveau interior of Cleveland’s Severance Hall," writes Theil, "and the traditional shoebox design of Symphony Hall in Boston both offered a rich and balanced sonic environment that showcased the orchestra’s many facets. The tour programs were designed to showcase the breadth and flexibility of the orchestra’s sound in these great venues, from Mozart to Liszt, Mahler to Ravel, Prokofiev to a commission by Samuel Adams."

David Wright's Boston Classical Review report on Monday, of the Nov. 16 concert, sounded both welcoming and archly complimentary:

Thomas, who served as associate conductor and principal guest conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra before taking the helm in San Francisco nineteen years ago, was making his first appearance on the Celebrity Series of Boston since he and the SFS played here in 2004.

He brought with him a symphonic instrument that, at its best, made up for what it lacked in heft with transparency and richly blended colors, and a sound as bright and bracing as a chilly San Francisco summer day.