# “Keeping Score” With the San Francisco Symphony



## mahlernerd (Jan 19, 2020)

About 10-15 years ago, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony released a series titled Keeping Score, going in depth into some of the most popular concert works to this day:

Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
Beethoven’s 3rd “Eroica” Symphony
Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man
Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique
Ives’s Holidays Symphony
Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony
Mahler’s First Symphony and Other Symphony and Song Cycle Excerpts

Each work gets its own episode with Michael Tilson Thomas delivering amazing background and commentary for each piece, and after the documentary, the episode has a recorded and taped performance of the piece by the San Francisco Symphony. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Francisco Symphony re-released the Keeping Score series on YouTube last year, and they are now available to everyone for free! If you have not seen this series, I highly recommend it. It offers fantastic insight to these pieces, and is very informative and entertaining. If you have seen it, what are your thoughts on the series. Do you have a favorite episode? Let me know your thoughts on Keeping Score in this thread!

Personally, my favorite episode was the very first episode, on Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony. I really enjoyed this episode because it gave a wonderful behind the scenes look at how the musicians and the orchestra prepare for a concert, and everything that happens offstage, something that I have always been curious about.

Also, this is a fun question as well. If the SFS were to hypothetically release one or two more of these documentaries, which piece would you like to see them do? Let me know your thoughts!


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