* Notes *
Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel (pictured left, photograph courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association) returned for a second performance at San Francisco Symphony on Monday night. This program also began with a fanfare from John Adams, this time the more meditative Tromba lontana. The playing was fine, though perhaps a bit more shimmer to the strings would have been nice. The second piece, Esteban Benzecry's Rituales Amerindios, was rife with literal representations of nature. Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique rounded out the evening. The woodwinds sounded impressively demonic, particularly the clarinet. There were sharp contrasts of both dynamics and tempi, but somehow the piece lacked a certain tension. The encore was the Hungarian March from of Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, which was played with great vigor and volume.
* Tattling *
The audience silent with the exception of the woman whispering in Row L Seat 3 on the Orchestra Level. There was a distinct smell of cannabis emanating from someone in center section of Row J after the intermission.
