BSO — 2010/11/18-20

As the BSO website tells us, this week it's all Schumann.

The BSO celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great German composer Robert Schumann with three concerts encompassing all four of the composer’s symphonies. In the first of these programs, Kurt Masur leads the First and Fourth symphonies as part of an all-Schumann program also featuring the Piano Concerto, with the esteemed Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire as soloist. The Symphony No. 1 is a work of energy and lyricism written in 1841. The Fourth Symphony was actually the second such work Schumann completed, in 1841, but he withdrew it for revision, introducing the final version only in 1851.

(Emphasis added)
Various preview materials — program notes, interviews, audio materials — are available at this page of the website:http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/perf_detail.jsp?pid=prod3720067

I was there on Thursday evening and, while nothing really excited me in the performances, it was a pleasant evening with good music. Schumann has good musical ideas, IMO, and he handles them concisely. The Boston Globe reviewer also thought it was good. http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2010/11/19/2_veterans_guide_bsos_all_schumann/
It will be streamed beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with preconcert show at 7:00 over WCRB — 995allclassical.org

BTW this evening I'm heading in to Boston for a New England Conservatory student production of "The Magic Flute." I love the music, and it will be good to see and hear the opera.