Tanglewood August 27-29, 2010

I'm sorry I missed posting info about last weekend's concerts, but I was in the midst of running sailboat races from Tuesday through Saturday, and just too busy. Anyway, here's what the BSO website says about this weekend.

"Final Weekend at Tanglewood 

David Zinman and The Planets 

Friday, August 27, 8:30PM

The BSO's final weekend at Tanglewood this season gets underway Friday, August 27, at 8:30 p.m in the Shed as David Zinman (TMC Fellow 1958) joins the orchestra for a performance of The Planets, Holst's vivid, ever-exciting musical journey through the solar system. Opening the program is Poulenc's Gloria—which was commissioned in honor of Serge Koussevitzky and premiered by the BSO in 1961—with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor, and soprano soloist Isabel Bayrakdarian.

Brahms and Dvořák 

Saturday, August 28, 8:30PM

Celebrated American pianist Emanuel Ax, who made his BSO debut at Tanglewood on August 6, 1978, joins the BSO and conductor David Zinman in the Shed at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 28, to perform as soloist in Brahms's mercurial Piano Concerto No. 2. Joining the concerto and concluding the program is one of the most well known symphonic works ever written: the New World Symphony by Dvořák, who was a frequent correspondent and friend of Brahms's.

Bach and Beethoven 

Sunday, August 29, 2:30PM

At 2:30 p.m in the Shed on Sunday, August 29, the Tanglewood season comes to an end as always with Beethoven's immortal Symphony No. 9, this year conducted by the distinguished German maestro Kurt Masur, who has been an influential figure in the classical music world for more than half a century. The BSO is joined by vocal soloists soprano Nicole Cabell, mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson, tenor Garrett Sorenson, and bass-baritone John Relyea, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, which opens the program with Bach's Jesu, meine Freude."

Same drill as always: you can hear Ron Della Chiesa's "pre-game show" 1/2 hour before each concert time, the intermission features, and the concerts over WCRB's webstream.

Tanglewood August 13-15, 2010

Same drill as in past weeks as far as concert and broadcast/streaming times.

"Caminos Del Inka: A Musical Journey 

Friday, August 13, 8:30PM

At 8:30 p.m. in the Shed, Miguel Harth-Bedoya leads a musical journey through the ancient Inca empire with specially created videography by the renowned Peruvian photographer Fabiana Van Lente. The breathtaking images of Machu Picchu, floating island villages, and the expanses of the Peruvian plains are matched to stirring and evocative music, from the time of the Conquistadores to the sounds of the first new classical voices of 21st-century Latin America. BSO principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe and young American cellist Alisa Weilerstein join the BSO and Maestro Harth-Bedoya for the program, which includes Gabriela Lena Frank's Illapa, for flute and orchestra; Osvaldo Golijov's Mariel, for cello and orchestra; and music by Robles, Compañón, Luzuriaga, Leng, and López.

Film Night at Tanglewood 

Saturday, August 14, 8:30PM

One of the season's most popular traditions, the annual Film Night concert is a celebration of music from the movies. In his 30th summer at Tanglewood, John Williams presents a memorable evening that recreates some of the great musical moments in Hollywood history. This special Boston Pops program will honor the work of director Steven Spielberg. Mr. Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra are joined at 8:30 p.m. in the Shed by host Robert Osborne and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Chorus.

American Masterpieces With Robert Spano And Jean-Yves Thibaudet 

Sunday, August 15, 2:30PM

Robert Spano takes the podium in the Shed for the BSO's 2:30 p.m. matinee performance, which showcases two American masterpieces by George Gershwin: the Piano Concerto, for which eminent French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is soloist, and An American in Paris. The concert also includes Gunther Schuller's Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee and Leonard Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, for clarinet and jazz ensemble, featuring BSO principal clarinetist Thomas Martin."

I'll miss Friday and Saturday nights because it's my 50th high school reunion this weekend. Fortunately the programs those evenings don't have anything on my "must hear" list. But I hope those who do get a chance to listen in will enjoy it all.

Tanglewood August 6-8, 2010

Here's how they describe this week's program, available as always over WCRB's stream at 995allclassical.org, with pre-game show a half hour before the scheduled concert time.

"Mendelssohn, Mozart and Tchaikovsky 

Friday, August 6, 8:30PM

Christoph von Dohnányi conducts the BSO in Mendelssohn's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, one of the composer's three overtures inspired by the ocean, as well as Tchaikovsky's anguished Symphony No. 6, Pathétique. Between those two works on the program is Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 14, featuring one of the great Mozart interpreters, Richard Goode. 

Wagner, Sibelius, Copland and Stravinsky 

Saturday, August 7, 8:30PM

For the featured work in an ambitious and highly diverse 8:30 p.m. concert in the Shed, BSO assistant conductor Shi-Yeon Sung is joined by celebrated American virtuoso Hilary Hahn for Sibelius's ever-popular Violin Concerto. Filling the program with contrasting works from various time periods and stylistic schools, Maestro Sung also leads the orchestra in Copland's incidental music Quiet City, the Prelude to Act III of Wagner's Lohengrin, and Stravinsky's scintillating Firebird Suite (1919). 

Beethoven and Dvořák 

Sunday, August 8, 2:30PM

Maestro Dohnányi returns to the Shed for the BSO's 2:30 p.m. matinee performance, which examines one masterpiece on either side of the interval. To begin the concert, the young German violinist Arabella Steinbacher is the soloist for Beethoven's beloved Violin Concerto, the towering composer's only work in the genre.Following the concerto, the orchestra plays Dvořák’s bucolic and invigorating Symphony No. 8."

BTW, I found out a few years ago the the "Calm Sea" referred to in the title of the Mendelssohn piece was not a good thing back in his day, when ships were powered by sail. Calm seas meant little or no wind, which meant little or no progress toward the destination. The worst possible thing was to be becalmed.