Cheryl North :: Interviews
Cheryl North Interviews Michael Tilson Thomas ANG Newspapers Classical Music Column - February 27, 2004, under headline, "Tilson Thomas celebrates 10th anniversary with Symphony" THE collaboration between conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony is a music lovers' dream come true. Ten years ago, when MTT assumed the post of music director of the San Francisco Symphony, he knew he was in for something special. ("MTT" is the nickname affectionately bestowed upon the maestro by his Bay Area audiences). "I expected I was in for a very exhilarating, no-holds-barred, time," he said during a telephone interview. "That expectation has been absolutely realized." Milestones of the MTT and SFS collaboration include the commissioning of 20 new works and a number of fresh new insights into masterpieces from the past. There have been four Grammy Awards, nine acclaimed recordings on the BMG label, and the birth of SFS's own recording organization with the stated goal of committing to disc all nine Mahler symphonies over a five-year period (Six and Three have already garnered Grammies). And, perhaps best of all, the San Francisco Symphony, under MTT's guidance, has won worldwide recognition. It is often placed by critics among the world's top five orchestras. The maestro's gentlemanly diffidence, as well as his unabashed musical genius, has contributed much to the decade's successes. A couple of times during the press conference to announce the Symphony's upcoming season, he made sure to emphasize that these are not "his" performances. "No, no -- these are all performances by members of the orcheatra, not by me," he stressed. "They are representations of many shared hours of collaboration between us all. That's the real nature of the relationship the orchestra and I are trying to build." He then noted that visiting conductors have more than once said things to him like, "This is extraordinary -- that you and the orchestra members are getting along so well after all these years." Fortunately, according to MTT, there's more of the same in the foreseeable future. "I plan to stay right here (leading the SFS) for my day job," he said. Then, jesting, he continued, "Oh, maybe I'll try out to be a celebrity chef on 'The Iron Chef' TV program, or something like that on the side. But there's much more to be done musically right where I am." Plans are in the works for an exciting 2004-2005 SFS season, its 93rd, which also happens to be MTT's 10th on its podium. There will not only be reprises of several of the MTT/SFS "Greatest Hits" of the past decade, but also at least a quarter of the season's scheduled works will be new to local subscription audiences. Among the past greats will be Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" music, Copland's "Orchestral Variations," Mahler's Symphony No. 9, and selections from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet." The season's grand finale will be a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Two world premieres -- a Rhapsody for English Horn, composed by Berkeley's John Thow in honor of SFS English horn player Julie Ann Giacobassi, and a new commission to William Kraft to feature SFS timpanist David Herbert in a concerto -- will keep local ears tuned in. Among the other relatively unfamiliar contemporary compositions animating the season ahead will be works by Oliver Knussen, Alfred Schnittke, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Robin Holloway, Steve Reich and John Adams. A work called "Three Screaming Popes" written by Mark-Anthony Turnage, jolted my sensibilities. "What kind of piece is that?" I asked MTT. "Oh, it's based on Francis Bacon's painting named 'Three Screaming Popes,'" he explained. And, ever the educator, he quickly clarified that Bacon was a 20th century abstract painter. Among the vaunted "war horses" included in upcoming programs are Beethoven's Opus 61 Violin Concerto with Midori as soloist, Leif Ove Andsnes as soloist in a performance of Rachmaninoff's pulse-pounding Piano Concerto No. 2, and Britten's Double Concerto in B Minor featuring SFS concertmaster Alexander Barantschik on violin and popular principal violist Geraldine Walther. Other stars in the SFS firmament will be Joshua Bell in a performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Barantschik staring both as soloist and conductor in selected Brandenburg Concerti by J.S. Bach, as well as significant forays into the music of Debussy, Bartok, Richard Strauss, Ravel, Schoenberg, Schnittke, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Bruckner, Berio, Bernstein, Hayden, Dvorak and more. Unusual among the coming attractions, both involving world-class vocal soloists and the Grammy-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus under Vance George, will be Janacek's "Glagolitic Mass" and Robert Schumann's obscure "Das Paradies und die Peri." The new season also includes MTT's 60th birthday, with a gala, star-studded musical celebration scheduled for Jan. 13. MTT is an uncharacteristically youthful 60 -- slim and lithe as a dancer with salt and pepper hair that often falls boyishly over his forehead. He attributes his youthful demeanor to "spending hours waving arms in front of the orchestra most days, climbing a lot of stairs, and walking my beloved dog Sheynah up and down San Francisco's hills." Even though he can be theatrical and can quite effectively lapse into a foreign accent to amuse or to make a point, he is most often soft-spoken, direct and sincere. However, when he talks specifically about music and its significance his eyes assume a laser intensity and he commands rapt attention. So, MTT, SFS and audiences across the Bay and the world, can expect more good years and high musical times together. ©1999-2004 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers