Sounds and SoundBox: Shaking It Up at the San Francisco Symphony

It seems safe to say that Michael Tilson Thomas--or MTT, as he's been known since street banners announcing his appointment as music director of the San Francisco Symphony, 20 years ago, went up all over town--had a spectacular birthday weekend recently. On that Thursday, he celebrated his 70th with a gala performance at Davies Symphony Hall that featured not only five virtuoso pianists (Emanuel Ax, Jeremy Denk, Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Yuja Wang; when they performed Liszt's...