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Private Notes
“Listen and obey! Fate decrees you must follow the road down to a place you have never imagined yet secretly always feared!” To the practiced ears of Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT), Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, the opening notes of Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony make this dramatic declaration. But how can marks on a 150-year-old page transform into the carnivorous wolf-pack noise that marks this symphony’s climax? Where is the unflinching emotion found? From decoding the score, to uncovering Tchaikovsky’s hidden history, through rehearsals, tuning, and the big bang of opening night, this episode of Keeping Score gives us a backstage pass to the San Francisco Symphony.
Beethoven’s Third Symphony Eroica, the “Heroic,” literally turned classical music on its head. Composing the first ever symphonic autobiography, Beethoven laid bare his dreams, his fears, and, at its climax, his rediscovered heroism. From his early musical rivalries in Vienna to the terrifying realization of his increasing deafness, Beethoven reveals the roots of his genius in this episode of Keeping Score. Never before had music dared to paint so personal a portrait. Follow Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony as they delve deep into the psyche of one of Western Civilization’s greatest artists, reading between the notes of his favorite work.
Savage, hypnotic, and hell-bent, Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, The Rite of Spring, set off a shock wave that turned Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées into the scene of one of the most astounding opening nights in history. The raucous rebellion Stravinsky's score started first onto the stage. As the dancers and the music pushed past civilized limits, the audience, astounded, pushed back. “Keep going no matter what!” the conductor was told, but they didn’t expect a riot! In this episode of Keeping Score, the tendrils of Stravinsky’s music pull us back through France and Russia to pagan times. Join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony as they celebrate the wild abandon unleashed by The Rite of Spring.
Dealing notes like cards in a game of poker, Aaron Copland gambled on a new American sound. His roots in Brooklyn’s Jewish community, shuffled with depression-era jazz, folk music, and hymns earned him a hand flush with relentless innovation. How such an unlikely outsider managed to capture the spirit of a nation to create classics like Billy the Kid and Appalachian Spring is a tale possible only in America. In this episode of Keeping Score, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony pare Copland and his music down to their essence, revealing the sound we now recognize as American.
"I feel therefore I am." For Hector Berlioz, and for the Romantic movement he personified, those were words to live by. But with the unprecedented outpouring of emotion in his Symphonie fantastique he almost overpowered Paris. This orchestral sonic spectacular, written to win the heart of a beautiful actress, demanded sacrifice from its author and his audience. From romantic daydreams to deadly displays of devotion, the symphony relates an “episode in the life of an artist,” that artist being the love-obsessed composer himself. Join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony as they follow Berlioz to the brink in this episode of Keeping Score.
Ranging from tender sentiment to savage chaos, the music of early 20th-century composer Charles Ives explores an essentially American riddle: how can we survive the relentless assault of our own success? Unwrap the layers of Ives's Holidays Symphony as Keeping Score takes us inside this musical portrait of New England life. From the intimacy of the winter hearth to the explosive concussion of the 4th of July, discover the insights Ives liberates in his music's confrontational crunch. Join Michael Tilson Thomas as he, the San Francisco Symphony, and Charles Ives belt it out over truth, beauty, and the American Way.
Hidden beneath the surface of his life-saving Symphony No. 5, Shostakovich may have left a subversive cipher. Publicly called to task by the brutal forces of Stalin, the Soviet Union’s golden boy composer was literally writing for his life. This episode of Keeping Score investigates the arresting symphony that would either redeem Shostakovich or condemn him to the Gulag. Did he dare hide a kernel of musical criticism in his paean to the Motherland? Join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony as they explore the enigma of this masterwork. What Shostakovich has to say might depend on what you’re brave enough to hear.
In Origins Michael Tilson Thomas journeys to the provincial Austro-Hungarian city of Mahler's childhood, traces his musical roots, follows his rise as a young conductor, and, with the help of the San Francisco Symphony, escorts us through the stunning creation and shocking premiere of Mahler's First Symphony.
Legacy explores Mahler's grand achievements and great sorrows—his career-crowning appointments in Vienna and New York, and the sudden, tragic death of his daughter—and shows how his stormy inner life inspired new heights of creativity.
How can marks on a 150‐year‐old page transform into the unflinching emotion of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony? From decoding the score, to uncovering Tchaikovsky's history, Michael Tilson Thomas gives us a backstage pass to the making of a performance.
