Program Notes

Each week, thousands of San Francisco Symphony concert-goers open their programs to read about the drama, the passion, and the inspiration behind the music they’re hearing. You can read our critically acclaimed program notes online one week prior to select concerts. 

ADAMS: Absolute Jest

AHO: Minea - Concertante Music for Orchestra

BACH:  Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor BWV 1041  │  Concerto in D minor for oboe and violin, BWV 1060

BACH: Brandenburg Concertos 
No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048
No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051

BACH:  Keyboard Concerto No. 2 in E major, BWV 1053  │  Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052

BACH:  Keyboard Concerto No. 2 in E major, BWV 1053  │  Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052

Barbary Coast and Beyond: Music from the Gold Rush to the Panama-Pacific Exposition

BARTÓK:  Suite from The Wooden Prince: A Dancing-Play in One Act by Béla Balázs, Opus 13 (ed. Peter Bartok
and Nelson O. Dellamaggiore)

BARTÓK:  Concerto No. 3 in E major for Piano and Orchestra

BARTÓK:  Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Opus 11

BEETHOVEN:  Cantata on the Death of the Emperor Joseph II

BEETHOVEN:  Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 61

BEETHOVEN:  Missa solemnis in D major, Opus 123

BEETHOVEN:  Sonatina for Mandolin and Fortepiano

BEETHOVEN:  Symphony No. 2 in D major

BEETHOVEN:  Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55, Eroica

BEETHOVEN: Concerto No. 5 in E‑flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 73, Emperor

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125

BEETHOVEN: Three Equali for Four Trombones, WoO 30  │  An die ferne
Geliebte, Opus 98   │  Symphony No. 4 in
B-flat major, Opus 60

BEETHOVEN:  Concerto No. 4 in G major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 58

BEETHOVEN: Adelaide

BERLIOZ:  Scenes from Roméo et Juliette, Opus 17

BERLIOZ:  Te Deum,
Opus 22

BRAHMS:  Concerto in A minor for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra, Opus 102

BRAHMS:  Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Opus 98

BRAHMS:  Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 68

BRUCH:  Concerto No. 1 in G minor for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 26

BRUCKNER:  Symphony No. 7 in E major

CANTELOUBE:  From Chants d’Auvergne (Songs of the Auvergne)

CARTER:  Variations for Orchestra

CHAUSSON:  Poème for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 25

CHOPIN:  Concerto No. 2 in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 21

COWELL:  Music 1957  

DEBUSSY:  Jeux, Poeme dansé │ C’est l’extase (songs arranged and orchestrated by Robin Holloway) │ La mer

DEBUSSY:  Petite Suite

DVOŘÁK : Concerto in B minor for Cello and Orchestra, Opus 104 

DVOŘÁK:  Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95, From the New World

DVOŘÁK:  Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Opus 70

ELGAR:  Enigma, Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36

FAURE: Pavane

GERSHWIN:  Rhapsody in Blue, for Piano and Orchestra

GRIEG, SCHNITTKE, HOLLOWAY: Music for Henrik Ibsen's Dramatic Poem Peer Gynt

HANDEL:  Ode for Saint Cecilia’s Day

HANDEL: Water Music Suite No. 3 in G major │ Music for the Royal Fireworks

HANDEL:  Messiah, A Sacred Oratorio

KODÁLY:  
Galántai Tánkoc
(Dances of Galánta)

LALO:  Symphonie espagnole for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 21

LIDHOLM:  Poesis

LIGETI:  Lux aeterna

LINDBERG:  EXPO

LISZT:  Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major for Piano and Orchestra

LISZT:  Concerto No. 2 in A major for Piano and Orchestra

MAHLER: Blumine 

MAHLER:  Symphony No. 5 in C‑sharp minor

MAHLER:  Symphony No. 9 in D major 

MARK VOLKERT: Pandora

MENDELSSOHN:  Fingal’s Cave Overture, Opus 26  │  Symphony No. 4 in A major, Opus 90, Italian

MENDELSSOHN:  Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 11

MENDELSSOHN:  Fingal’s Cave Overture, Opus 26  │  Symphony No. 4 in A major, Opus 90, Italian

MOZART:  Ave verum corpus, K.618  │  Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K.543

MOZART:  Concerto
No. 22 in E-flat major for Piano and
Orchestra, K.482 

MOZART:  Divertimento in D major, K.136 (125a)  │  Serenade in D major, K.239, Serenata Notturna

MOZART: Three Arias from Zaide, K.344(336b)

Introduction
"Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben"
"Tiger! Wetze nur die Klauen"

Music for Henrik Ibsen's Dramatic Poem Peer Gynt

NIELSEN:  Symphony No. 5, Opus 50, FS 97

PALESTRINA:  Kyrie, Gloria, and Agnus Dei from Missa Papae Marcelli

PÄRT:  Fratres for Strings and Percussion

POULENC:  Stabat Mater

PROKOFIEV:  Concerto No. 2 in G minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 16

PROKOFIEV:  Concerto No. 3 in C major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 26

PROKOFIEV: Concerto No. 1 in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 19

PROKOFIEV:  Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Opus 100

PROKOFIEV:
Ivan the Terrible,
Opus 116, Oratorio
after the Film Score,
arranged by Levon
Atovmyan

R. STRAUSS:  Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra

RACHMANINOFF: Concerto No. 2 in
C minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 18 

RACHMANINOFF: Concerto No. 3 in D minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 30

RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Opus 27

RAVEL:  Boléro

RAVEL:  Concerto in D major for the Left Hand for Piano and Orchestra  │  La Valse

RAVEL:  Rapsodie espagnole

RESPIGHI:  Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome)  │  Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome) 

ROSSINI:  Overture to L’Italiana in Algeri

SAINT-SAËNS:  Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Opus 28

SAMUEL CARL ADAMS:  Drift and Providence

SCHNITTKE: Concerto No. 4 for Violin and Orchestra

SCHOENBERG:  A Survivor from Warsaw for Narrator, Men's Chorus, and Orchestra, Opus 46

SCHUBERT:  Symphony in B minor, D. 759, Unfinished  

SCHUMANN: Overture to
Byron’s Manfred,
Opus 115  │  Symphony
No. 3 in E-flat major,
Opus 97, Rhenish

SCRIABIN:  Rêverie,
Opus 24

SHOSTAKOVICH:  Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Opus 103, The Year 1905

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Opus 54

SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 3 in C major, Opus 52

STRAUSS: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, After the Old Rogue’s Tale, Set in Rondo Form for Large Orchestra, Opus 28

TCHAIKOVSKY:  Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Opus 64 

The Family of the Court, from Pacifika Rondo

VIVALDI: Concerto in C major for Piccolo, Strings, and Continuo, RV. 443

WAGNER:  “Die Frist ist um,” from Der fliegende Holländer

WAGNER:  Prelude to
Act I of Lohengrin

WAGNER: Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music, from Die Walküre

WAGNER:  Overture to Tannhäuser

WAGNER:  Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde