San Francisco Symphony Podcasts
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Schubert's Symphony No. 3
Schubert’s Third Symphony is a concise, clearly plotted work, characterized by prominent use of the clarinet, that recalls the scale, and something of the flavor, of Haydn. Schubert was just eighteen when he composed the piece, during a celebratory period in Vienna prompted by the pacifying effect of the Congress of Vienna.
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Sibelius's Symphony No. 2
At the close of the nineteenth century, Finnish natives were part of a cultural renaissance inspired by their opposition to the Russians occupying their country. Jean Sibelius was swept up in this nationalistic fervor, and composed several patriotic tone poems, including Finlandia. Symphony No. 2 is the result of his fusing together fragments and sketches originally intended for four separate tone poems.
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Bartok's "The Wooden Prince"
The Budapest Opera approached Bartók in March 1913 to suggest that he consider writing a ballet. Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes had visited Budapest in 1912, performing avant-garde works, including Stravinsky’s Firebird, that were received with great enthusiasm—an enthusiasm that Bartók had not shared, since he was in the back-country collecting folk songs. A year later, he commenced work on The Wooden Prince, finally completing the orchestration in January 1917.
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Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"
On his conceptualization of Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin recalled: “It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattlety-bang that is often so stimulating to a composer…and there I suddenly heard – and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the rhapsody...I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America – of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness.”
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Schumann's Symphony No. 3
Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, Rhenish, completed in 1850 after his much celebrated appointment as Municipal Music Director in Düsseldorf, reflects his optimism in the face of new challenges. Filled with spirited, glorious themes, Rhenish marks the high point in the life of a composer who struggled with mental illness.
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Beethoven's "Missa solemnis"
While composing his Missa solemnis, Beethoven looked to the past. He obtained a copy of the score to J.S. Bach’s unpublished B Minor Mass, and studied the sacred music of C.P.E. Bach. After countless sketches and spiritual preparation, Beethoven composed this work for large orchestra and chorus, dedicating more time to it than any other of his works. Written simultaneously with the Symphony No. 9, Missa solemnis is considered one of the most significant mass settings in classical music.
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Beethoven's Symphony No. 4
Despite his family’s financial turmoil, the year 1806 was extraordinarily productive for Beethoven. He wrote many of his great works, including the Razumovsky string quartets, Piano Concerto No. 4, and Symphonies No. 4 and 5. Symphony No. 4 - a return to the grace and relative simplicity of his earlier style - is perhaps Beethoven’s least frequently performed symphony. A passage in the middle of the second movement was called “one of the most imaginative passages anywhere in Beethoven” by...
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San Francisco Symphony
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201 Van Ness Ave.
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