Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, June 18 – PLEASE GET A TICKET TO THE PROGRAM ON JUNE 21. YOU WILL NEVER SEE OR HEAR THIS AFTER. THE MOMENT IS NOW. THE SYMPHONY, THE CHORUS, THE SOLOIST SINGERS, ARE OVER THE TOP WONDERFUL. THIS IS BEETHOVEN’S 9TH. IT IS KNOWS WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW. GO, GET THAT TICKET.

THERE IS NOTHING ABOVE THIS MUSIC.

Maestro James Gaffigan was a strong leader with the SF Symphony and for the composers of the marvelous program. This performance was dedicated to Michael Tilson Thomas, known as MTT. Several musicians came to the stage to describe their memories of MTT’s closeness to each musician. All of the speakers were long time members of the SFS. The youngest was Melissa Kleinbart, who is in the First Violins, on the Katharine Hanrahan Chair, and is now in her 27th year in this Symphony. Their relations with MTT were significant, and his closeness to each piece, note by note, knowing the music as something alive.

The first half of the concert offered three pieces diverse and brief. They were brilliant decisions. The first was Brahm’s “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen”  from A German Requiem, Opus 45. The selection from Brahm’s great Requiem is beautiful and can reach every person who hears it. Brahms said that he would have been happy to remove the adjective, German, and would have named it “A Human Requiem.” Brahms, a universal soul.

Following Brahms was The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives. This writer, myself, is a big fan of his inventive music. It is always musical and turns on the lights in one’s head.  The music begins quietly and maintains a tempo. The trumpet leads the way because it sings “The Perennial Question of Existence,” not with lyrics only thoughts that drive the questions. That may be the Unanswered Question. The flutes are assigned “The Invisible Answer.” Ives is an American philosopher who lives inside music. He understands both the questions and the music which is not what gives him what he called Undisturbed Solitude. It is a totally American philosophy and often a lot of fun.

Closing the last the first half was Agnegram, by MTT. It was a brief piece to celebrate the 90th birthday of a Symphony Board member, Agnes Albert. In about 6 minutes, MTT seized time and sound, a very interesting and entertaining piece. There were moments of Broadway, a march, something jazzy. MTT wrote “There are surreal references to Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Irish lullabies, but they appear only to the degree that the notes that they have in common with her name will allow.” After all, it was a birthday gift, and it came through with many gifts, all in MTT’s big bag full of many musical thrills.

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125. There is nothing missing within this work. IT IS UNIVERSAL. Beethoven kept it in his mind for more than 20 years. He had heard the Schiller when he was a teen still in Bonn. The world of Austrians was this: an Austrian could be arrested for saying the word “freedom.” Schiller’s poem was subversive. Yes, decades had passed. He was doing other great works. And now, he could not hear. Gaffigan danced, climbed, became a physical part of the music, and music is physical. The SFS played majestically. The SF Symphony Chorus was the best I have heard them, and they are always good. The soloist singers were grand: Peixin Chen, bass; Thomas Cooley, tenor; Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano; Jessica Faselt, soprano. Of course, they were there to sing, but there were moments when I knew my eyes were popping, my mouth open, what they did, what they all did was so wonderful – as though a surprise.

TOMORROW is June 21, the Summer Solstice. Go to the San Francisco Symphony. Call. Run. Get whatever seat you can. This is Beethoven’s 9th. There is nothing beyond it. GO.