Long-time Bay Area resident Lou Harrison was influenced by Eastern musical traditions. He and partner Bill Colvig built many of their own instruments, including an Indonesian gamelan. For his Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra, musicians perform on some of Harrison’s own specially created percussion instruments, most notably bells made out of oxygen tanks.
Podcasts from the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Mozart's Symphony No. 39
In the space of nine weeks in summer 1788, Mozart produced the last three of his symphonies, including Symphony No. 39. Started within a month after his opera Don Giovanni opened to a less than enthusiastic audience in Vienna, the symphony opens with a reflection on the opera’s overture.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
From the Archives: The Ozawa Era
The Symphony returned to the recording studio in 1971 with Seiji Ozawa (1935–), first on Deutsche Grammophon, then on Philips. The Symphony began keeping recorded archives of its performances during Ozawa's tenure, thus preserving the sound of the Symphony in its day-to-day performances. We'll be hearing examples from those archives, together with commercial recordings and radio broadcasts.
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