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concert review: Symphony San Jose
Jan. 26th, 2026 09:34 amI don't often get to SSJ, despite its geographic convenience, but I wanted this one because they were playing Schumann's Fourth Symphony. Besides being my favorite Schumann, it's been cursed for the SSJ. George Cleve was going to lead it in 2015, but he canceled due to what proved to be his final illness, and his replacement substituted another Schumann symphony. Then in 2020 they scheduled it for a concert which disappeared into the pandemic.
But today it finally got played, under the baton of François López-Ferrer. And it was worth the trouble to come: a firm, energetic, and zippy performance, especially notable for not letting the slow interlude sections get drippy. Concertmaster Sam Weiser was especially good in the soft middle section of the Romanze movement.
This symphony exists in two forms; Schumann originally wrote it just after his light First "Spring" Symphony, and that version bears the same air, but he set it aside and reworked it ten years later. Though the second version is more often played, it's gotten a lot of criticism for being clotted and murky, but López-Ferrer likes it better this way (as do I), calling it heavier and deeper. It's in D Minor, and ought to sound that way; it's also built on the same template as Beethoven's Fifth, and it ought to sound that way too.
Similarly, or maybe not so similarly, there are two entirely different works known as Schubert's Rosamunde Overture, both of them repurposed from other operas, both of which Schubert may have used for different performances of Rosamunde. Or maybe not; it isn't clear. Anyway, López-Ferrer wasn't sure which one SSJ had until he got here. We heard the better-known one, the one from Die Zauberharfe, and maybe it ought to be called that. It was a crisp but rather blatty rendition.
Sibelius's Violin Concerto also comes in two versions, but the revised one is always the one that's played. Despite gorgeous tone from soloist Geneva Lewis, matching her gossamer sky-blue dress, it was a dull and flaccid performance under the baton, even the finale which is supposed to be jaunty. This is what we had to sit through to get to the Schumann.
But today it finally got played, under the baton of François López-Ferrer. And it was worth the trouble to come: a firm, energetic, and zippy performance, especially notable for not letting the slow interlude sections get drippy. Concertmaster Sam Weiser was especially good in the soft middle section of the Romanze movement.
This symphony exists in two forms; Schumann originally wrote it just after his light First "Spring" Symphony, and that version bears the same air, but he set it aside and reworked it ten years later. Though the second version is more often played, it's gotten a lot of criticism for being clotted and murky, but López-Ferrer likes it better this way (as do I), calling it heavier and deeper. It's in D Minor, and ought to sound that way; it's also built on the same template as Beethoven's Fifth, and it ought to sound that way too.
Similarly, or maybe not so similarly, there are two entirely different works known as Schubert's Rosamunde Overture, both of them repurposed from other operas, both of which Schubert may have used for different performances of Rosamunde. Or maybe not; it isn't clear. Anyway, López-Ferrer wasn't sure which one SSJ had until he got here. We heard the better-known one, the one from Die Zauberharfe, and maybe it ought to be called that. It was a crisp but rather blatty rendition.
Sibelius's Violin Concerto also comes in two versions, but the revised one is always the one that's played. Despite gorgeous tone from soloist Geneva Lewis, matching her gossamer sky-blue dress, it was a dull and flaccid performance under the baton, even the finale which is supposed to be jaunty. This is what we had to sit through to get to the Schumann.
