Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado is joined by Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik for Shostakovich's wild and beautiful Violin Concerto No. 2. The program concludes with Brahms' First Symphony, a work whose opening dramatic sequence leads to expansive lyrical moments and a sweeping melody often compared to Beethoven's Ode, "To Joy."
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Inside Music, an informative talk by Elizabeth Seitz, begins one hour prior to concerts. Free to ticketholders. Learn More.
Guest artist signing: Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado will be available for autographs following the March 1 concert. Signing takes place in the orchestra lobby, near the Symphony Store.
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN
Helix 2005 | 9 mins
When a commissioning party asks Esa-Pekka Salonen to write a short concert opener, they know they are guaranteed something out of the ordinary—and something that will provide the orchestra and audience alike with a thrilling musical experience. Within its brief timespan, Helix offers a glimpse into the orchestral sonic universe of this composer, manifesting both mastery of technique and untrammeled imagination. Helix integrates a remarkable palette of colors with an original formal design. Corresponding to the title he chose, Salonen describes that form as “a spiral or a coil; or, more academically, a curve that lies on a cone and makes a constant angle with the straight lines parallel to the base of the cone.” The form and process of the piece are the same: a virtuoso study in gradually accelerated speed—or, as the composer puts it, “a nine-minute accelerando.”
SHOSTAKOVICH
Violin Concerto No. 2 1967 | 32 mins
SFS Concertmaster and soloist Alexander Barantschik says: “Shostakovich wrote two violin concertos, both dedicated to the great violinist David Oistrakh. The composer used material throughout the work that twists street songs, folk songs, and melodies from Oistrakh’s birthplace of Odessa, on the Black Sea. LISTEN FOR: There was a large Jewish population there, and one of the melodies that Shostakovich picks up in this concerto is a cry in Yiddish from a vendor selling bagels! It so genuinely depicts the atmosphere of Odessa. It isn’t your typical classical phrasing or sound, and it leans more toward folk fiddling than an academic concerto. I like it!”
BRAHMS
Symphony No. 1 1876 | 45 mins
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann—compared to Johannes Brahms, they had barely left school when they launched their symphonic careers. Brahms saw those forebears as examples, inspiring and intimidating. For years he remained determined to join their league, to harness the orchestra as they had and add his name to the historic line they represented. By the time he pulled it off with the premiere of his First Symphony, he was already forty-two. Brahms announces his arrival as a symphonist with an outburst of dissonance by full orchestra over pounding timpani. We know we are in the presence of something that demands attention. This is an incredible work with monumental emotional and sonic ebbs and flows. With the last flourish Brahms closes a symphony so long in the making and so inexhaustible in its power to thrill and transport.
Jeanette Yu is Director of Publications at the San Francisco Symphony.
Program
Symphony No. 1
Helix
Violin Concerto No. 2
Brahms' Symphony No. 1
Conductor
Pablo Heras-Casado is Principal Guest Conductor at Teatro Real in Madrid and Director of the Granada Festival—a month-long festival of music, art, and dance in his hometown of Granada. He also enjoys a long-term collaboration with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra that includes extensive touring and recording projects. He currently serves as Conductor Laureate of the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, following his tenure as principal conductor from 2011 to 2017. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2010 and became a Shenson Young Artist in 2013.
This season Mr. Heras-Casado is the Spotlight Artist of the NTR Matinee series at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, conducting the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He makes his debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and conducts Wagner’s Das Rheingold at Teatro Real in Madrid, starting his first-ever complete Ring Cycle, spanning across four consecutive seasons. In recent seasons, Mr. Heras-Casado has appeared in North America with the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics, Boston and Chicago symphonies, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Metropolitan Opera, and made his debuts with the Dallas Symphony and Verbier Festival Orchestra, among others.
Mr. Heras-Casado records primarily for Harmonia Mundi, and is the recipient of the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, two Diapason d’Or, and a Latin Grammy. His discography includes a series of recordings entitled Die Neue Romantik, featuring the music of Schumann, Mendelssohn, and other Romantic composers with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and partners such as Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras, and Alexander Melnikov. In 2018, he releases dedicated albums of Debussy, with the Philharmonia Orchestra; Bartók with the Munich Philharmonic and Javier Perianes; a DVD release of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Teatro Real; plus Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale with the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor & Ensemble. He has also recorded on Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, and Sony Classical.
Musical America’s 2014 Conductor of the Year, Mr. Heras-Casado holds the Medalla de Honor of the Rodriguez Acosta Foundation and the Ambassador Award of the Regional Government of Andalusia. He is an Honorary Ambassador and recipient of the Golden Medal of Merit by the Council of Granada, as well as an Honorary Citizen of the Province of Granada. In 2018 he was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. A Global Ambassador for the Spanish charity Ayuda en Acción, Mr. Heras-Casado promotes the charity’s work internationally to eradicate poverty and injustice in the world.
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Violin
Alexander Barantschik began his tenure as San Francisco Symphony Concertmaster in September 2001 and holds the Naoum Blinder Chair. Former concertmaster of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in Germany, London Symphony Orchestra, and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, he has also been an active soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe. He has collaborated in chamber music with André Previn, Antonio Pappano, and Mstislav Rostropovich. As leader of the LSO, Mr. Barantschik toured Europe, Japan, and the United States; performed as soloist; and served as concertmaster for major symphonic cycles with Michael Tilson Thomas, Rostropovich, and Bernard Haitink. He was also concertmaster for Pierre Boulez’s year-long, three-continent seventy-fifth birthday celebration.
Born in Russia, Mr. Barantschik attended the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and went on to perform with the major Russian orchestras, including the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic. His awards include first prize in the International Violin Competition in Sion, Switzerland, and in the Russian National Violin Competition. Since joining the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Barantschik has led the Orchestra in several programs and appeared as soloist in concertos and other works by Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Walton, Piazzolla, and Schnittke, among others. Mr. Barantschik is a member of the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he teaches graduate students from around the world in a special concertmaster program. Through an arrangement with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Mr. Barantschik has the exclusive use of the 1742 Guarnerius del Gesù violin once owned by the virtuoso Ferdinand David, who is believed to have played it in the world premiere of the Mendelssohn E-minor Violin Concerto in 1845. It was also the favorite instrument of the legendary Jascha Heifetz, who acquired it in 1922 and who bequeathed it to the Fine Arts Museums, with the stipulation that it be played only by artists worthy of the instrument and its legacy.
November 2022
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