In Thursday’s (4/10) San Jose Mercury News (California), Richard Scheinin writes, “I moved around the hall” at Wednesday’s San Francisco Symphony concert at Davies Symphony Hall. “Here’s the most important piece of information I can offer: The $15 general admission seats in the center terrace behind the orchestra are terrific…. The proximity to the musicians was thrilling: I could see the notes on the sheet music on their music stands” during Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, with Garrick Ohlsson as soloist.… With the musicians facing away from me, the orchestral balance was exceptional.… Next stop: front row and center of the loge, one level up from the orchestra, as [Herbert] Blomstedt conducted Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in E flat major…. I’ve been told numerous times that this perch is the acoustic sweet spot in the house, but … the gut-level impact of 80 musicians leaning into a Bruckner crescendo, with towering brass anthems and rolling timpani—it just wasn’t happening in the loge.… Still, … certain elements shone…. The violas played with glowing heat during the Andante; Blomstedt’s tapering of dynamics during that same movement was exquisite. So were the nature sounds—delicate sounds of awakening—during the Scherzo.”
Posted April 11, 2014
