Wherein A Grand Metaphor Is Inferred

Anne Midgette didn't really care for the program that MTT and the San Francisco Symphony...

Figure 1: You down with MTT? Yeah, you know me.

brought to D.C. a couple of weeks ago.

("San Francisco Symphony at the Kennedy Center, "Washington Post, 3/26/2010)

In particular, she had some harsh words about the Lizst tone poem Tasso. This I read as a metaphor, a sort of grand critical summary of our entire communal endeavor--this thing we call "classical" music.

Liszt's "Tasso: Lament and Triumph"...was less bad-boy than simply bad,

Yikes.

...a big, sprawling, self-important piece of pseudonarrative...

Hey! That's just like the entire Western canon!

with some wonderful playing from the orchestra...

Yup, that's the one.

...but not much, at the end, to show for it.

Bam!

Wednesday Wink-Winkery (read: another gushy post about how cool Kosman is)

I’ll bet Joshua Kosman is just tickled by Michael Tilson Thomas’ deliciously alliterative name, because every time the opportunity arises his prose becomes chock full of wily word play.

Leave it to Michael Tilson Thomas to inject a few welcome shadows into the bubbly breathlessness of the San Francisco Symphony's opening gala.

And...

...subversive stealth...

And...

...ribbons and bonbons...

And, heck, why not pour it on, since Lang Lang is in the house?

...giddy triviality...

And this one, which may or may not have been intentional...

... fondness for garish display largely under control, producing an athletic yet sensitive account of the concerto...

Nevertheless:

Data Table 1. Well done, sir. Well done.

Sheesh! Have we at the Detritus changed our tune of late?

Of course not. But we like to give props, now and then. So don't worry, in short order we will be back to unapologetically subjecting you to the usual tripe of everyday music critiquery!

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