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Ligeti, Poulenc and Prokofiev: Katia and Marielle Labèque (pianos), Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor), San Francisco Symphony, Carnegie Hall, 25.9.2008 (BH)

Ligeti: Lontano (1967)

Poulenc: Concerto in D Minor for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1932)

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100 (1945)

Neither my listening companion nor I could quite determine any theme to this second concert by the San Francisco Symphony, but if anything, Michael Tilson Thomas made it just as satisfying as the previous night, a sunny all-Bernstein program that opened Carnegie Hall's new season.  Ligeti's gorgeous Lontano opens with innocent-sounding wind notes that soon develop into explorations of texture and sonority, with massive sound blocks slowly evolving, shifting, and ultimately evaporating.  It made a fine litmus test for the orchestra, each section showing off its timbre and precision.  As the final notes died out, Tilson Thomas continued conducting three or four measures of silence, and the effect on the audience was happily, inaudible.  Gone were coughs and fidgeting; the hall was the quietest of the entire evening.

Katia and Marielle Labèque have made Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra something of a signature piece, and this delightful, if wildly fast, reading made an animated chaser to the somber glow of the Ligeti.  Wearing coordinated short skirts—Katia in magenta and Marielle in green—they made it impossible not to smile as they took to their keyboards.  They really wanted to play this piece fast, perhaps running off now and then, dragging Tilson Thomas and the orchestra behind them.  The orchestra made the most of some of Poulenc's more colorful effects, such as the intermittent use of castanets, and the composer's piquant orchestration that sometimes sounds like Russian futurism.  The pounding final notes brought many in the audience to their feet, and after a handful of curtain calls the Labèque's returned with an encore—the same one I heard four years ago after they did the Poulenc—Adolfo Berio's witty Polka for piano four hands, which lasts just shy of a minute.

At some point during Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony the friend with me said, "If Gergiev were in charge they'd be done by now."  True, Tilson Thomas sought out a mellower, less cataclysmic reading than the Kirov might have done, and gave more emphasis to Prokofiev's voluptuous climaxes, especially in the first movement.  Just when you thought the musical line was going slack, some thrilling pacing brought it back to crest.  The second Allegro moderato had lightness and bombast, with lots of inner detail, like seeing pistons steaming under a car hood.  The third movement, done with depth and delicacy showed off the orchestra's sumptuous string sections—and the audience responded with a smattering of applause after.  And in the final movement, the conductor brought out dozens of solo rivulets, all coursing along congenially until the conclusion.

After the applause quieted, Tilson Thomas recalled a mental snapshot of his time backstage at Bayreuth, where he and others played "Catch That Kitsch," trying to identify snippets of music dispatched on the piano.  Planting that in our heads, he introduced the orchestra's encore, "Cortège de Bacchus" from Sylvia by Delibes: yes, slightly kitschy, and definitely showing the mettle of the entire group, especially the brass.  We loved it.

Bruce Hodges

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