Yuja Wang plays Chopin with the San Francisco Symphony at Louise M Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco.
The program was a beautiful pairing of Agnegram by Michael Tilson Thomas, the conductor at this occasion, Frederic Chopin's Piano Concerto No 2, and Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony.
Thus follows a budding Pianist and Vocal Performance Major's critique on something that is somewhat out of my area of expertise. I have never been to Davies Symphony Hall before this trip and let me tell you; it is a place of absolute majesty. We sat on the second tier of the Hall and everything felt so surreal even from that distance from the stage. There was a Pre-show talk by Laura Stanfield Prichard who was an absolute scholar on everything she discussed from the Chopin to the Bruckner and who just brought the music alive with her absolute knowledge, who actually inspired one of the pianists with me on the playing of the Chopin. I felt very welcome in the city and had absolutely no complaints on this hall! Everyone was very friendly and the souvenir shop was so cute! (The Water Bottles with the Water Music by Handel was hilarious!)
First on the list was Agnegram by Michael Wilson Thomas which was a piece dedicated to a long time San Francisco Symphony Patron. It was full of hilarious musical' jokes' and little pieces from other well known pieces that were much like musical puns. Maybe it was, because I was in the company of three piano performance majors and two composition majors, but we all thought it was hilarious and was a great prelude to the great Chopin, but also could easily stand alone.
Next came the part I had been waiting for since I was invited to San Francisco: Chopin (whom I admire greater than any other musician other than maybe Mozart) 's Piano Concerto. Yuja Wang came on to the stage in the most beautiful light salmon dress and immediately commanded the crowd with just her mere presence. The beauty of this specific 1st Movement of No 2 is that the pianist is invited on stage and the must sit there for almost 3 minutes patiently before they are even allowed to move a muscle. Yuja took full advantage of this and on her entrance filled the hall with a chord that I will always remember that struck a chord within myself. She did not play the piano, but merely existed within the same space that the piano did. Throughout this piece you have many arpeggiated scalar passages that some pianists believe to play the full effect of each note, but Yuja played these parts with almost a ghost like grace. They were played, obviously, but with such grace it was almost like they never existed. My favorite part of this concerto however were not the notes she played correctly, however, but the note she played incorrectly. This could kill me, but in the first movement she hit a wrong note that ended up playing a minor second that didn't end up going where it belonged. You could tell that this maybe frustrated her, but the next passage was played with such fervency that you might as well have forgotten it. I found this so beautiful, because it meant she was human and made mistakes and wasn’t a robot that played without emotion. Hats off to you Yuja, we loved it. Music belongs where you put it. All in all she played gorgeously and with such emotion that combats with even the greats like Rubinstein. She’s someone you’ll want to keep your eyes out for.
The Bruckner was like a trip to heaven itself. With such a strong symphony you could feel the intensity of each movement more and more until the Finale where you are finally allowed to ascend into heaven. The opening cello motive was something that could solve disease alone I believe, because it was so beautiful. The slow harmonic motion that Bruckner set up in this symphony is something reminds me strongly of Wagner in one of his operas and later also reminds me of Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. Something that takes you so long to get to the final explosion of resolution. (Something Wagner loved doing so much that I sometimes find it unbearable to listen to for too long.) Luckily, I was also able to hear what a Wagner tuba sounded like and man can I tell you, if you think small children are loud; this thing’s got you beat and with such clarity. The Bruckner was absolutely genius and I could not thank MTT for conducting it with more genius. Hats off.
Overall, the trip was worth it over and over again. I can’t wait to see Yuja Wang come back after the SFS Asian tour to come conquer again, because I will definitely become a season pass holder now. I urge you to go see the San Francisco Symphony when they get back from tour. In such an unsure time we live in now, this music puts a place to your life and it is such pure unadulterated beauty. Next at San Francisco Symphony will be the Berlin Philharmonic which I am overly excited for! If you only get one thing from this please let it be this; Music is the key to life. It can help you in the darkest place and can be the light. Plus if anyone can bow like Yuja Wang I’d pay you to do it over and over again!
