European audiences are about to get their musical socks knocked off.
When the San Francisco Symphony tours there Jan. 20 - Feb. 9, from Dublin
to Barcelona, there will be acclaim surpassing all previous visit.

The realization came this morning at an open rehearsal, sitting directly
above the orchestra in Davies Hall.  The unusual view revealed:

* The orchestra is running on all cylinders, with excellence, control
and superb conditioning of another San Francisco performing group, the
Forty-Niners, just a few years ago.  Here's an organization in peak form,
well ready for the Super Bowl.

* At 54, Michael Tilson Thomas sports white hair (especially on top...:),
but he is trimmer and more energetic than ever before.  MTT is in absolute,
effortless -- nay, *cordial* -- control of the orchestra, with the power
and grace of the 1980s model Joe Montana.

After playing through, nonstop, the Mendelssohn Concerto -- with Gil
Shaham's elegant, charming solo -- the orchestra started working on the
Mahler Fifth Symphony -- a shocker, even for a rehearsal.  With the
extraordinary performance during last summer's Mahler Festival still firmly
in mind (an MTT personal-best for this listener), the Wednesday morning
approach was that of a sleepwalker.

Unlike the way he instructed sotto voce during the uninterrupted concerto,
MTT stopped the orchestra and after the coach's polite reference to
`shapelessness,' team practice resumed with vigor and dedication.

String sections have almost always been good-to-excellent in San Francisco,
and the situation is even better.  While still looking for a concertmaster
(now filled by auditioning visitors in rotation), SFS is lucky to have
Nadya Tichman fill in consistently in the first chair.  For my money, she
should have the position for keeps.  I was worried about the leave for
Michael Grebanier as principal cello (after his prominent role on the
musicians bargaining committee, surely a coincidence), but David Teie,
another acting first chair, is really terrific.

What impressed today were the flawless woodwinds and casually excellent
brass.  In the extremes of the Mendelssohn and Mahler, there was nothing
but the best from these two crucial sections.  Yep, concert audiences in
Europe have a treat coming their way.

While Europe will get a good dose of Ives, Bernstein and Barber as well,
it will be only on the home turf that SFS is to tackle Metallica (or
vica versa).  News of that is coming later today.  MTT did well with the
Grateful Dead a few years back, let's see how this is going to work out.
During the American Festival, he improvised with the Dead on themes by
Henry Cowell.  What now? `Ives as Interpreted by MTT, Lars and Kirk'? Why
not -- the way this orchestra is playing today, anything goes!

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