Classical New England — 2013/12/28 & New Year's Day

My apologies for getting so distracted by other things that I didn't get around to posting about what was being offered last Saturday. I hope you found it on your own, if you were interested. Of course, I realize that you can listen to the broadcasts or webstreams whenever you want. I offer these posts as a way of giving a little preview and reminder which I hope will encourage you to listen, and at least help you decide whether you want to do so or not.

This week, on December 28, Classical New England is giving us a New England Conservatory performance of Britten's A Ceremony of Carols and other Christmas pieces at 7:00 p.m. At 8:00 they will offer a repeat of a concert which took place last summer* at Tanglewood: Symphony No. 3 by  Mahler under the baton of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Here's a bit more detail from the station's Holiday Specials page:

Saturday, Dec. 28

7pm: A Centennial Ceremony of Carols: A Benjamin Britten Holiday Celebration

We mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the renowned British composer Benjamin Britten through his Ceremony of Carols and other holiday works, as well as traditional carols arranged by Sir David Willcocks, all performed by the NEC Chamber Chorus, led by Erica Washburn.

8pm: Boston Symphony Orchestra: Sound the Posthorn!

We ring out the old year by revisiting one of the highlights of the 2013 Tanglewood season: Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, with mezzo-soprano Ann-Sophie von Otter, the PALS Children's Chorus and the women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

* Here's a link to what I wrote at the time. It, in turn, contains a link to the BSO's performance detail page for the concert.


You can find other programming between now and January 5 listed on the same page as the description of December 28. It also lists all the concerts and programs of the Christmas — and Hanukkah — season which are now available on line for on demand listening. There's a lot, and a good variety. Follow the link.


On New Year's Day, continuing a long-standing tradition, at 11:00 a.m. they will broadcast and stream the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day Concert. Music of Johann Strauss is always a large part of the program. Then at 3:00 p.m., something new this year, I think — a New Year's Day concert by Boston Baroque. Each will be repeated in the evening. Once more, a quote from their page:

Wednesday, Jan. 1

11am: New Year's Day from Vienna

Direct from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, it’s the most popular classical music concert in the world! Laura Carlo hosts this national broadcast, produced by WCRB, as Daniel Barenboim leads the annual celebration concert by the Vienna Philharmonic.

3pm: Boston Baroque's Gala First Day Concert

Champagne, Concertos…and Coffee! Join us for a Boston New Year’s Tradition, now shared with the nation! Martin Pearlman leads Boston Baroque, now in its 40th Anniversary Season as America’s oldest “period-instrument” orchestra in a festive All-Bach New Year’s Day concert, live from Sanders Theatre in Harvard Square.

5pm: encore of New Year's Day from Vienna

10pm: encore of Boston Baroque's Gala First Day Concert

Happy listening!

Since this is probably my last post of the year, I want to wish my readers a New Year that is happy in every possible way, as well as to express Christmas greetings, with the hope that Christmas Day was merry and that the joy of the celebration is continuing through the twelve days (and beyond if your Christmastide extends to the celebration of the Lord's Baptism or even to Candlemas). Joy to you all!

Classical New England — 2013/12/14

This week's offering from Classical New England in their regular Boston Symphony time period, beginning at 7:00 p.m. this evening, is a rebroadcast of a Tanglewood concert in which Leon Fleisher is soloist in Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The orchestra also plays the Siegfried Idyll by Wagner and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, all under the baton of Kazushi Ono. You can get links to an interview with Leon Fleisher, the schedule for future Saturday evenings this season, and other items at the station's BSO page.

This concert was given on July 12, 2013, and my post about it at the time is here. I'm happy to note that the BSO performance detail page which I linked at the time is still up at this point, and the links on that page are still working — including more program notes than were there when I originally posted.

Classical New England — 2013/12/07

With the Boston Pops taking over from the Boston Symphony for December, there will be no live symphony broadcasts until January 11, 2014. Rather than give us the same "Holiday Pops" concert four weeks in a row (followed by some filler on January 4), Classical New England is filling the slots with various Christmas programs and other things. There are also other special programs during the month. Here's a link to the page that lists them all. You can see for yourself, but here's what they say about this evening:

Saturday, Dec. 7

7pm: A Choral Christmas with Stile Antico

The award-winning choir from London pays a visit to St. Paul's Church in Harvard Square for a concert of radiant sacred music for the Christmas season.

Note that the programming this evening starts at 7:00, like the regular pre-concert programming, not at 8:00 like the BSO concerts themselves.

So far I don't see anything to tell us about January 4, but I'm guessing that, like December 28, it'll be a rerun of some earlier BSO concert. Also, on Monday, December 9 at 8:00 p.m., we get the repeat of the BSO concert of November 30 with Brahms and Beethoven.

And there is the ongoing Winter Orgy®Period on WHRB, which I noted in the preceding post.

Winter Orgy® Period

At the beginning of the month I checked the WHRB website to see what they'd be doing for their Winter Orgy® Period. But I made what turned out to be the mistake of going to the Classical Music page, where I read the following outdated material: "WHRB's Orgies ®, presented each January and May, are tributes to particular composers and performers. Past Classical Orgies have included the works of Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, pianist Artur Schnabel, and an epic broadcast of the complete works of J.S. Bach. Check our Program Guide for upcoming Orgies."
Actually, they switched the winter orgy to December when the university switched exams to December. Based on that, however, I thought they had switched back.

But no. The program guide arrived in the mail today, and it turns out the orgy period began as usual on December 1. We have already missed the Baroque Masters of the Harpsichord Orgy, The First Nights Orgy, and the Classical Guitar Orgy. As I type this, the Warhorse Orgy is in progress, and will continue until about 6:45 this evening.

Here's what is still to come:

December 8, 12:30 p.m. — 6:00 p.m.  Charles-Valentin Alkan Orgy
     6:00 p.m. — midnight  The Benjamin Britten Orgy®
December 9–12,  6:00 a.m. — midnight  The Benjamin Britten Orgy® continues and concludes
December 13,  6:00 a.m — 10:00 a.m. The Role of the Listener
     10:00 a.m. — 3:00 p.m.  Two Piano Orgy
     3:00 — 10:00 p.m.  Fritz Kreisler Orgy
December 15,  12:30 p.m. — 10:00 p.m.  Process Music or "Bach to Basinski" Orgy
December 16, 10:00 a.m. — 7:00 p.m.  Process Music Orgy continues and concludes
December 17,  4:00 p.m. — 10:00 p.m.(?)  Anthony Collins (conductor, d. 1963) Orgy
December 18,  1:00 p.m. — 10:00 p.m.(?) Morton Gould Orgy
December 19,  noon — 10:00 p.m.(?)  Britten as Performer Orgy

Although they don't call them orgies, there will be a Hindemith Centenary (sic) Commemoration at 6:00 p. m. on Saturday, December 28, and a Colin Davis Tribute on Sunday, January 5, at 1:00. I suppose both will end at about 10:00 p.m.

While I'm at it, I'll also mention that WHRB carries the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts.