SAN FRANCISCO, California – Who knew that I'd have to fly 3,000 miles west to hear yet another extension of my Scandinavian musical saga? It's not why I was there, but when I heard the San Francisco Symphony was going to perform Sibelius' 2nd symphony last weekend with their 87 year old Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, I dropped everything and got a ticket. Make that two tickets, as Saturday night was Valentine's Day (among other holidays).
As you might expect, Davies Hall was filled with couples out on date night, many of whom seemed to be there for the first time. Sitting in the foyer beforehand, it was a constant stream of red dresses, red ties, and long-stemmed red roses. Even the food concession had chocolate covered strawberries and heart-shaped cookies. Cute, if a bit awkward.
Before getting to the Sibelius, the concert opened with Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 19, played by Peter Serkin. It was pleasant, elegant – and not at all memorable. Serkin, one of the most incisive and cerebral pianists of our time, seemed to be wasting his talents on such fluff. Still, the crowd – which eagerly applauded after each movement – ate it up, gracing him with what felt like an obligatory standing ovation.
Among Sibelius' seven finished symphonies – he burned the manuscript of the 8th in his fireplace – the 2nd has always been deeply polarizing. Virgil Thompson, in his first review for the New York Herald Tribune, called the 2nd, "vulgar, self-indulgent, provincial beyond all description." Other critics called it, "one of the few symphonic creations of our time that point in the same direction as Beethoven's symphonies." To be sure, there are moments of Brahms-like pomp and Tchiakovsky-like romanticism, especially in the Finale. But, there are just as many passages which are completely new and strange: elongated woodwind solos, oscillating strings, extended pizzicato, the Brucknerian push and pull of the orchestra.
Blomstedt, a Swede who recorded all of Sibelius' symphonies with the SFS 25 years ago, knows the 2nd like the back of his hand. Eschewing a score, he conducted with wide, swan-like gestures that were both effective and efficient, somehow coaxing a clean sound out of this notoriously muddy score. He kept a steady pace, gradually building to the brilliant brass-driven finale which resonated with epic grandeur. I just wish it could have been louder, which is more the fault of Davies' cavernous interior than the orchestra. (A performance Thursday night at Sonoma State University seems to have fared better.)
After the final bars, the audience again gave a standing ovation, this time far more immediate and deserved. Sure, the patriotic overtones of this symphony might have been lost on these Californians, most of whom will probably never set foot in Finland, much less appreciate the political struggles at the time it was written. But, they know good music when they hear it, and they know that their hometown orchestra - with the help of a sage master like Blomstedt – can acquit themselves as well as any.
More pics on the photo page.