concert review: San Francisco Symphony

Haydn's birthday was a month ago, but this week was the all-Haydn concert, conducted by Bernard Labadie. Three very late works, all more solemn than cheeky: the Military Symphony, a short Te Deum, and the Mass in Time of War, which advertises its title with a lot of ominous timpani, and a pretty heartfelt emphasis on the works "dona nobis pacem" at the end.

Nice playing and singing, a little hard for me to judge as I was tired from having lugged myself all the way up from Santa Cruz in the late afternoon. But the Mass was the first time in many years that I've heard a Haydn work with orchestra that I didn't already know, so the freshness gave a chance to muse on the difference between Haydn and Mozart. Mozart is sweeter. His music has more sugar in the recipe. Haydn is drier and more astringent, and maybe that's why I can listen to more of him without getting tired of it.