By Paul Hertelendy 
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of Jan. 6-13, 2011
                                                                  Vol. 13, No. 11
            The stellar young French cellist Gautier Capuçon finally turned up with the S.F. Symphony, after having to cancel last season on very short notice because of a medical problem. And he came for an all-French program, which is rarer in these parts than a world championship by one of the sports teams. And such programs, when offered at all, are sloughed off to guest conductors carrying the right passports such as Tortelier or, in this case, the Swiss maestro Charles Dutoit. Can any one even recall the last time that the SFS performed classics like Berlioz’s Requiem or the “Romeo et Juliette” Symphony, or Dukas’ 3^rd Symphony, or “La mer” or “The Carnival of the Animals?” It’s been a while.
            Capuçon turns out to be a virtuoso par excellence, working through an immensely challenging work by Henri Dutilleux, 95, “Tout un monde lointain” (An Entire Distant World, 1970/1988).  Dutilleux is an engaging French symphonist who has attended some of his SFS performances in years past, showing a wealth of invention, along with an indestructible nature well into retirement years.
            I will dutilleufully (sic) report on the performance of April 14, but emerged frustrated. Yes, Capuçon is a devilishly talented virtuoso, and he has to play almost continuously through the 28-minute opus without break. He is supremely confident, unerring, and tireless. A theme he spins near the start is woven through the work he traverses broken chords, allegro flights, and dazzling technique.
            My frustration stems from the limited orchestral impact here, used only for punctuation, accenting, perhaps some scant pointillism. Dutilleux however, as proven over and over before, is a superb composer of symphonies, and it’s as though he were suppressing one of his greatest talents quite deliberately to shine an unprecedented spotlight on the soloist. The traditional concerto balance between orchestra and soloist is not even attempted. The work is deft, modern but sparse.
            But the ensemble had a lot of fireworks in its storeroom, coming to the fore magnificently with Berlioz’s great Symphonie Fantastique (1830-32), which in its own Gallic way was as revolutionary as many a Beethoven work across the Rhine and Danube. He was a master orchestrator, working on a bigger canvas than any other romantic, requiring (here) a pair of harps, a pair of bass drums, a pair of timpani sets, etc.  This was outright program music, with the drugged artist dreaming of his ideal beloved. There’s also a witches’ Sabbath, a theme returning throughout in many guises, and more surges than the winter surf at Maverick’s.
            Dutoit played it extravagantly, without even a score before him. Too many players offered distinguished solos to be cited here. That served to send the matinee crowd home very very happy.
        These San Francisco Symphony concerts continue through April 17, 2  p.m. For info: (415) 864-6000, or go  online. Broadcasts on KDFC-FM (102.1) at 8 p.m. on the second Tuesday following.

        ©Paul Hertelendy 2011
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           Paul Hertelendy has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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