There’s not a lot that I’m finding compelling in the Seattle Symphony’s 2008-2009 season, but there some events worth noting if you’re ever in the habit of taking in a couple concerts in the Emerald City.
The San Francisco Symphony w/ Michael Tilson Thomas – they’re making two concert stop: January 20 and 21, 2009. The blockbuster program for me is the Jan 20th: Copland Our Town, Berg Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6, and Brahms Symphony No. 1. On the 21st is MTT’s Street Song for brass, Prokofiev’s Fifth Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.
The line-up of soloists in Seattle is a healthy one – they share Lang Lang with us, along with Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, and Garrick Ohlsson.
In addition, they’ve got some soloists who I’m either keen to hear or who haven’t been back to Oregon (with the OSO) for some time: cellist Lynn Harrell (who’s been a returning favorite at the Cascade Festival), pianist Marc-André Hamelin, and the violinist Midori.
Particularly intriguing is Portland favorite Leila Josefowicz with Thomas Adès’ violin concerto Concentric Paths – so cool, what a combination! I’m also keen to hear violinist Julia Fischer, violinist Hilary Hahn in recital with pianist Valentina Lisitsa – a powerhouse combination, for sure. And finally, Emmanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman playing a duo piano recital.
On the conductor front, they’ve got Ignat Solzhenitzen conducting on their Mainly Mozart series, and Leonard Slatkin (music director designate of the Detroit Symphony) is conducting Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.
The most exciting thing to me, and it has nothing to do with the orchestra itself, is that they are presenting a complete cycle of the Beethoven string quartets split amongst six leading string quartets: from the US, the Pacifica, Ying and American Quartets; from Canada, the Borealis Quartet; from France the Ebéne Quartet; and from the Czech Republich, the Talich Quartet. The concerts stretch from October to April and will be performed in the Nordstrom Recital Hall (not known for friendly acoustics to performers).
As for the brochure (which you can download in pdf format by clicking here) design, it’s attractive, but pretty confusing, at least flipping through it on a computer screen. Series are spread apart on multiple pages, smaller series or special subscriber-only promotions dot different areas with little continuity. I find the Oregon Symphony’s brochure to be much more intuitive to navigate, and everything has its own, discrete place. Kudos to the OSO for such good design. If you’d like to receive an OSO 08-09 brochure, click here to get one mailed to you.
On the whole, however, the Seattle Symphony’s season is quite conservative, mixing warhorses with newer or more unfamiliar works, or balanced with a big-name soloist or conductor, or both. Clearly, the SSO is also dealing with the realities of the marketplace, and it’s kind of a shame, given how major a commitment they used to have to unusual, uncommon, or new repertoire. In that aspect, it seems remarkably in step with the season that the Oregon Symphony announced earlier this month.