Sir Donald Runnicles
Review: Donald Runnicles triumphs in long-awaited return to San Francisco Symphony
From the San Francisco Chronicle
By Lisa Hirsch
Donald Runnicles was a constant presence on Van Ness Avenue during his 17 years as music director of San Francisco Opera. Between 1995 and 2002, he also conducted the San Francisco Symphony six times — then, inexplicably, vanished from the Symphony podium.
After nearly 25 years, he returned to Davies Symphony Hall on Friday, Sept. 26, for the first of three performances over the weekend. Leading music by Alban Berg and Gustav Mahler so magnificently, one can only wonder: What took so long?
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On Friday, Runnicles led a performance of soft edges, creating a glorious ocean of sound that mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts rode with ease. Roberts, who has appeared in five productions at San Francisco Opera since 2012, brought it all for her Symphony debut: a rich, warm voice, infinite breath control, ample volume and the ability to spin out arching lines that shaped character and mood.
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At the Opera, Runnicles could always be counted on to bring color and coherence to every gigantic work he performed. It was no surprise, then, that his account of Mahler’s First Symphony rose to exalted heights — the equal of what Bay Area audiences have heard from former music directors Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen, both superb Mahlerians, over the last 30 years.
Runnicles led with hot-blooded fervor, without burying Mahler’s counterpoint under the huge orchestral forces. The conductor’s pacing, in turn, brought drama to every bar.
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The long and tumultuous last movement opens with a volley of percussion and brass amid whirling strings. Themes from earlier in the symphony return, new themes join in. A gentle central section brings calm amidst the passion, yet the music carries a palpable sense of struggle before finally steering toward safe harbor, the brass blazing to the fore in a series of fanfares. Few moments in the symphonic repertoire thrill more than the horns rising to their feet, bells up, at the close of the movement.
The performance was a triumph for all, especially for Runnicles and of all the wind and brass players. Let’s hope he returns soon.