201 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco Bay Area, California 94102

Copland revels in Stravinsky-inspired rhythms in this taut, no-nonsense music. Distinguished baritone Thomas Hampson sings the passionate music of Gustav Mahler. And Strauss depicts the very origin of humankind in Also sprach Zarathustra (well known to moviegoers from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey). Strauss’s brilliant symphonic poem is “loosely based” on Nietzsche’s book of the same name. As Strauss himself wrote shortly after the premiere, “I wished to convey by means of music an idea of the development of the human race from its origin, through the various phases of its development, religious and scientific, up to Nietzsche’s idea of the superman.” The Mahler songs will be recorded live for our ongoing Mahler cycle.

Official Website: http://www.sfsymphony.org/templates/event_info.asp?nodeid=250&eventid=1084

Added by sagemane on March 16, 2007