Ravishing Berg Songs from Susanna Phillips

Harvey Steiman, Seen and Heard International:

Much of the San Francisco Symphony’s audience at Davies Symphony Hall Saturday evening doubtless came for Beethoven’s Ninth. They might have expected the opening 20-minute work, Berg’s Seven Early Songs, to be a sort of appetizer for the main event. What they got was a seductive and utterly delicious reading by soprano Susanna Phillips that brought out the sheer beauty in Berg’s lush harmonies and graceful melodies.