Guest Conductor Michael Francis Brings His Panache to the San Diego Symphony

Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 19th January 2019

“[Michael Francis] did successfully refreshed Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique for his listeners’ ears. Maintaining sparkling, transparent textures, choosing exquisitely calibrated tempos, and keeping the drama alive without ever overplaying his hand brought these familiar musical episodes into sharp, arresting focus. It was like viewing for the first time a very old oil painting that curators have painstakingly restored to its original vivid hues…

Francis settled into the task of shaping the Berlioz with deft attention to detail and a calm assurance that focused its many moods and cannily calibrated its amazing psychological and musical journey. Keeping the audience engaged in the brassy, snarling “March to the Scaffold” movement is easy, but Francis proved his mettle in “The Scene in the Fields,” the long, slow middle movement with its gentle rustic themes threatened by distant thunder…

Berlioz the wizard of orchestration pulls out all the stops in his finale, “Witches Sabbath,” and Francis wisely saved the orchestra’s power and technical brilliance for this heady movement. I particularly appreciated that the deep brass invocations of the dreaded “Dies irae” chant sounded aptly threatening, but they did not descend to an unseemly blare.”