Conductor David Afkham and the San Francisco Symphony explore the musical orbit of Robert and Clara Schumann. Robert’s Fourth Symphony begins with a catchy rising-and-falling figure, the “Clara theme,” derived from one of his beloved bride’s own piano compositions. The theme appears throughout the symphony, which he presented to her on her 22nd birthday. Johannes Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is both an elegy for Robert and a tender portrait of Clara, whom Brahms once described as “going to the concert hall like a priestess to the altar.” You won’t want to miss the visionary soloist Garrick Ohlsson, who shares her disciplined devotion. Inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven, Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza pronounces itself forcefully and without reservation, painting with the bold brush strokes of the avant-garde.