Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in SF
March 09, 2010
* Notes *
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France played a program consisting only of Ravel in San Francisco last Sunday evening. Myung-Whun Chung had the musicians well in hand, he was always ahead of them, and his cues seemed quite precise, despite the fact that he did not use a score for any of the pieces. The evening began with the quite and restrained Ma Mère l'Oye, which was followed by Shéhérazade sung by a very sweet Anne Sofie von Otter. The second half of the program brought us a very clear rendition of Suites Nos. 1 & 2 from Daphnis et Chloé. The evening ended with the wry and grotesque La Valse. In general, the playing was controlled, the brass pristine, and all the musicians were entirely together.
* Tattling *
The audience was mostly quiet, only a slight bit of whispering was noticed, and most of this was in French.