April 15, 2023 In the seven years between moving into the Tobin Center and being bludgeoned to death by three of San Antonio’s most powerful foundations, the San Antonio Symphony attained a level of sonic polish and ensemble precision comparable to orchestras with three or four times its financial resources.   When many of the musicians reorganized as the San Antonio Philharmonic and embarked on their inaugural season last fall in the downtown First Baptist Church, it was clear that the Phil would have to do some strenuous climbing to regain the former peak. Nearly a whole season lost, the departure of key principal players (including the extraordinary concertmaster, Eric Gratz), and the lack of a music diretor all have consequences.  I missed the middle of the season, but the April 14 concert under splendid guest conductor Kazem Abdullah showed a gratifying, if incomplete, degree of recovery. The program opened with Samel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” (subtly fortified with two horns) and closed with Mozart’s penultimate symphony, No. 40 in G minor. The juicy middle brought forth soprano Vanessa Becerra as solist in Mozart’s concert aria “Bella mia fiamma” and Barber’s poignant “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” with a text by James Agee. Abdullah, born in Indiana and reared in Ohio, is making a mark as a conductor of contemporary work, both opera (a tryptich of world premieres dealing with social issues, last month at Lyric Opera of Chicago) and orchestral (a world premiere by Dai Fujikura with the Seattle Symphony in February). If Abdullah’s San Antonio program included no recent works, the clarity and pointedness he brought to Mozart’s G minor symphony served as a reminder that even music that’s more than two centuries old can have fully contemporary import.  The opening of that familliar work is often described as “troubled” or ”agitated,” but performances seldom match those adjectives. This one did. The finale was tornadic in its speed and fury. Throughout, Abdullah formed the music into long, cogent paragraphs.  And surely he must get some of the credit for the rich sound that the strings produced in this concert, especially in the Barber works.     The dramatic coloration and weight of Becerra’s instrument were more suited to the big emotions in Mozart’s concert aria than to the tenderness of Barber’s “Knoxville,” but the soprano’s gloss and flexibility were eminently listenable in both.  Special notice to principal clarinet Iván Valbuena Paez for his luscious, satiny tone – and for his patience: In September of 2021 the Colombia native reported on his Facebook page, “Very happy to be appointed as 3rd/Bass/2nd clarinet with the amazing San Antonio Symphony for season 2021-2022.” Oops. Mike Greenberg   

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SA Philharmonic/Kazem Abdullah, Vanessa Becerra

Kazem Abdullah conducted the San Antonio Philharmonic.