Storgårds Conducts SF Symphony

Outi Tarkiainen’s The Rapids of Life, Beethoven 5, & Seong-Jin Cho

* Notes *

This week Finnish conductor John Storgårds led the San Francisco Symphony in the U.S. premiere of Outi Tarkiainen’s The Rapids of Life (2023). The concise piece concerns child birth and has all kinds of interesting textures and shapes in it.

Tarkiainen (pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) learned about the death of fellow female Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho as she wrote this work, and she dedicated it to Saariaho. There is a reference to Saariaho’s cello concerto Notes on Light at the beginning of Tarkiainen’s piece.

The Rapids of Life follows the wave-like nature of giving birth, the orchestra sounded like gossamer, very shimmery. The instrumentation includes a dozen percussion instruments such as glass wind chimes and tubular bells, and therefore has many layers of rhythmic texture.

Storgårds seemed like he had a good rapport with the orchestra, he seems very genial and warm. The musicians were together and strong.

Paired with the new piece was Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, which is quite fun and features solo trumpet with the piano and strings. Pianist Seong-Jin Cho played rather aggressively, there was a bit in the middle when trumpet player Mark Inouye has a solo and Cho comes in with one note, his definitive attack was humorous.

Cho had some lovely quiet passages, it is obvious his technique is flawless. His phrasing was less than lyrical, at times it was a contrast to Inouye’s smooth legato. The strings glittered and were supportive. Cho and Inouye played together in an encore, and Cho’s playing and manner were gracious.

Beethoven’s Fifth was likely the big draw of the evening, and the audience on Friday night looked youthful, lively and full. The orchestra sounded robust. Storgårds had a good handle on the musicians, the playing was bright and very pleasant. I particularly noticed the woodwinds, especially the flute.

* Tattling *

We were seated across the aisle from the composer Outi Tarkiainen, who addressed the audience before the performances and introduced her piece. I enjoyed that she stayed not only for Shostakovich but for Beethoven after the intermission.

There was a mother with two small children in Row K 101-105. The kids were quiet, though the younger one did swirl her beverage making sounds with her ice during the 5th. However, the mother had her mobile phone out the entire time and brought her children in late after intermission.

There were numerous cellular phone rings. During a quiet part of the slow movement of Shostakovich we heard three rounds of cricket chirps from the center of the orchestra level and we heard a different ring in the third movement of the Beethoven.