In Tuesday’s (10/13) San Francisco Chronicle, Julian Guthrie writes, “When Michael Tilson Thomas is planning the San Francisco Symphony’s ambitious multiyear project to bring classical music to the masses, he selects composers based on the power of their music—and the drama of their lives. For the second season of ‘Keeping Score’—the Symphony’s program providing classical music content to public television, radio and schools set to begin Thursday—Music Director Thomas selected a Frenchman, a Russian and an American. Their lives are the stuff of Hollywood. In Paris, a tortured young artist named Hector Berlioz wrote ‘Symphonie fantastique’ to win the heart of a woman who didn’t know he existed. In St. Petersburg, Dmitri Shostakovich wrote Symphony No. 5 to try to save his life and avoid Stalin’s gulag. In New England, Charles Ives confronted what he saw as the loss of traditions through a dissonant new sound. … This season’s ‘Keeping Score’ also offers more on-location filming, as well as upgraded high-definition technology for the documentaries. … The camerawork aims to capture subtle moments between musician and conductor, and give the viewer the feel of being inside the orchestra—and inside the music.”
Posted October 13, 2009
