Mark Swed addresses the bleak news from San Francisco, where Esa-Pekka Salonen has cut short his tenure out of frustration with a short-sighted board and an ineffectual management: "Claiming financial projections don’t look good, the board has embarked on a series of cutbacks affecting the SoundBox, eliminating the creative partners, calling off international touring, reducing commissions and so on. The board now presents the San Francisco Symphony as a survivor forgoing experimental treatment and in need of a cautious caretaker. Boards! We can’t live with them, and we certainly can’t live without them. By their very nature, they are about money. They keep the institution running. They raise funds. When boards are excellent, they recognize the artistic vision and make miracles happen. But that can take some doing, because by their very nature, they operate by committee. What has changed over the years is that many boards have become increasingly corporate, increasingly powerful and increasingly clueless.... "