Keeping Score S01 E01 MTT on Music: The Making of a Performance

“Listen and obey! Fate decrees you must follow the road down to a place you have never imagined yet secretly always feared!” To the practiced ears of Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT), Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, the opening notes of Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony make this dramatic declaration. But how can marks on a 150-year-old page transform into the carnivorous wolf-pack noise that marks this symphony’s climax? Where is the unflinching emotion found? From decoding the score, to uncovering Tchaikovsky’s hidden history, through rehearsals, tuning, and the big bang of opening night, this episode of Keeping Score gives us a backstage pass to the San Francisco Symphony.