BSO — 2013/01/24-26; Requiem Rebroadcast Change

Sorry, I got distracted. This week's concerts were

Conductor Charles Dutoit returns for his third week of concerts during the 2012-13 season, this time for a program featuring virtuoso English pianist Stephen Hough in Liszt's scintillatingly virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 1. The program begins with Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber-which translates material from works by Carl Maria von Weber into a virtuoso showpiece for orchestra-and concludes with music from Prokofiev's sweeping and colorful ballet score Romeo and Juliet.

There should be a rebroadcast/stream on February 3 at 1:00 p.m. Boston time, so the BSO detail page and the Classical New England page are still worth looking at for their links.

I was there on Thursday and found it all worth hearing, especially the Hindemith. The Globe's reviewer was unimpressed.


Change of Time for Verdi Requiem Rebroadcast.  Listening to the live concert this evening I learned that Classical New England will give their rebroadcast and webstream of last week's Verdi Requiem, not at the usual time of 1:00 p.m., but at 6:00 p.m. Boston time. I don't know why. But if you want to listen — and I recommend it — note the time.

BSO — 2013/01/17-19

Saturday, January 19  This evening's live broadcast/stream is the Verdi "Requiem." If you can't get to it today, be sure to catch the rebroadcast/stream on January 27. Both are on Classical New England, as is tomorrow afternoon's rebroadcast of last week's concert. As usual CNE's page about its BSO broadcasts has broadcast schedules as well as a link to an interview with the conductor. For its part the BSO themselves have detail about the performance on their website (keep clicking for more detail), including links to audio previews and program notes. You can also get some info about the performers by moving the cursor to their pictures, and even more by clicking on the picture. Here's what the BSO says about the performance:

To mark the bicentennial of Verdi's birth in 1813, Italian conductor Daniele Gatti, music director of the Orchestre National de France, leads the BSO in three performances of the composer's Requiem with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and four vocal soloists all making their BSO debuts. One of the greatest of all works for orchestra, soloists, and chorus, Verdi's massive, theatrical Requiem was completed in 1874, dedicated to the memory of the great Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni-a personal hero of Verdi's-and premiered on the first anniversary of Manzoni's death.

and

Requiem is presented under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic's "2013, Year of Italian Culture in the United States" www.ITALYinUS2013.org.

A year long journey that will promote Italy, engage and enthuse Americans, draw in the younger generations, enhance the close bonds between our two nations and create new and lasting partnerships.

 Tenor Fabio Sartori has withdrawn from the BSO's January 17, 18, and 19 performances of the Verdi Requiem because of illness. He will be replaced by American tenor Stuart Neill, who will be making his BSO subscription debut. The rest of the program remains unchanged. 

I was there on Thursday, and Maestro Gatti had all forces performing it in accordance with his vision of the piece, and I thought it was really good. The Boston Globe's reviewer also liked it, although he did not have the advantage of the inside info blogged in advance (four posts) and the self-review by "Just Another Bass." Anyway, I think it's well worth hearing.

Sunday, January 20 The 1:00 p.m. broadcast/stream repeats last week's Saturday concert. See my post of a week ago for info about it.

BSO — 2013/01/10-15

And we're back! This week's concerts by the Boston Symphony are described as follows on the BSO's website details page:

Violinist Julian Rachlin is featured in Tchaikovsky's ultra-Romantic Violin Concerto at the heart of a program conducted by New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert, who also leads the BSO in three 20th-century works: Dutilleux's Métaboles for Orchestra, Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, the first major work the composer wrote after moving to the United States in 1939; and Ravel's remarkable musical deconstruction of dance, La Valse.

As, usual the details page also has links to program notes and audio previews, as well as an interview with the conductor.

I was there on Thursday evening and I really enjoyed it. There was a favorable review in the Boston Globe.

The first piece, by Dutilleux, was "interesting." The program notes gave a couple of hints, and I had an idea of which part was which, but it wasn't the sort of thing you can hear developing like Beethoven's symphonies — at least not on the first hearing. So I'm looking forward to listening again this evening.

The violinist for the Tchaikovsky was a last minute replacement, and it was his first time with the BSO in Symphony Hall. But if he was nervous, he didn't show it. A great thing happened. He did so well with the first movement that the audience gave him a real ovation (which you're "not supposed to do" between movements of a work).

After intermission, the rarely heard Stravinsky symphony had moments where the rhythm sounded to me like early rock 'n roll and other moments where I was reminded of "In the Mood." Basically, it was okay. And "La Valse" at the end was good too. Like the Globe reviewer, I found it more waltzy all the way through than I had expected, and IMO that's a good thing.

As always, the concert will be broadcast/streamed live on Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. Boston time on Classical New England, with a repeat on Sunday, January 20 at 1:00 p.m. I don't know what they'll be giving this Sunday, January 13, at 1:00. Check out CNE's Boston Symphony page for another interview with the conductor as well as a schedule of future broadcasts and repeats. Also, as usual, the BSO-related material begins at 7:00 on Saturday with the "pre-game show."

Happy Listening!

BSO — 2013/01/05-06 Final Weekend of Reruns for a While

The Boston Symphony will be back at work next week. This week, Classical New England is giving us a couple of repeats. As always, you can listen to the streams at their website.

Saturday, January 5, 7:00 p.m.

In an encore broadcast, Leif Ove Andsnes is the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, and David Zinman conducts the world premiere of John Harbison's Symphony No. 6 with mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy, Weber's EuryantheOverture, and Richard Strauss's Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.

I posted about this when it happened nearly a year ago. I definitely want to listen again The links to the Globe articles don't work any more.


Sunday, January 6, 1:00 p.m.

In an encore broadcast, sections of the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform without a conductor in Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, the "Good Fridiay Procession" from Tomasi'sFanfares Liturgiques, Richard Strauss's Serenade, Op. 7, for winds, and Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C for strings.  Also, Giancarlo Guerrero conducts Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.

This concert was a week after the one they're playing on Saturday evening, and my post is here.