Saturday, April 27, 2013

BSO — 2013/04/25-30

The next to last concerts of this season are thus described on the BSO's program details page:
BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink-who was the Boston Symphony's principal guest conductor from 1995 to 2004-takes the helm for the last two weeks of the 2012-2013 season, beginning with a program of Schubert and Mahler symphonies. The teenaged Schubert composed his Symphony No. 5, a bracingly youthful work suggestive of Haydn and Mozart, in just a few weeks in the summer of 1816. After intermission, Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling is soloist in Mahler's mellifluous Symphony No. 4, a musical journey from earth to heaven.

Go there also for audio previews and program notes.

I was at the performance on Thursday evening and enjoyed it. There wasn't anything spectacular about it, IMO, but it was pleasant music, well performed, as far as I could tell. The Globe's reviewer raved. So I guess it's worth hearing.

You can hear it live this evening over Classical New England's broadcast or webstream at 8:00 (with preliminaries at 7:00), and, as usual, a repeat — without the hour-long warm-up — will be transmitted next weekend, on Sunday afternoon at 1:00. See their BSO page for further links.

Sunday, April 28, the repeat will be of the April 20 performance.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

BSO — 2013/04/18-23

This week's concerts showcase the various sections of the orchestra playing without a conductor. The Orchestra's performance detail page, with links to an audio preview, an interview, and program notes. describes it as follows:
Following the great success of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's "members-only" concerts in January 2012, the individual sections of the orchestra again take the stage conductor-less to perform Britten's Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury, Mozart's Serenade No. 11 in E-flat for winds, K.375, Dvořák's Serenade for Strings, and Tippett's Praeludium for brass, bells, and percussion. The full ensemble then joins forces for Britten's well-known Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, which shines a spotlight on each section of the orchestra in turn.

I was at the Thursday performance (before the police chase began). It was okay, but not really exciting. The part I liked best was actually the Britten "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," which they played with a conductor. The other Britten and the Tippett were also fairly enjoyable, but the others seemed too long. Players introduced each piece, and the violinist who introduced the Dvořák said that playing without a conductor wasn't a stunt, but for such a big piece, I think it may have been. I'm not sorry I was there, but it wasn't "must hear" IMO. The Boston Globe's reviewer was not unhappy, and tells a bit more about what happened.

See what you think. You can listen this evening over Classical New England at the usual time, with the rebroadcast/webstream on April 28. On April 21, the rebroadcast/stream will be of last week's concert, and CNE's "page 2" has audio and video links to related material.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

BSO — 2013/04/12-13

There was no concert on Thursday this week, so I'll be having my first chance to hear it during the Saturday broadcast. As usual, the BSO's performance detail page offers links for program notes, audio previews, and an interview with the composer/conductor. There is also the following description:
The distinguished British composer/conductor Oliver Knussen leads his own Violin Concerto (2002) with soloist Pinchas Zukerman, for whom the piece was written. Then, making her BSO debut, English soprano Claire Booth takes center stage for Knussen's 1992 Whitman Settings, for soprano and orchestra. The program opens with the Symphony No. 10 by the early 20th-century Russian composer Nikolai Miaskovsky and closes with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in a rarely heard orchestration by Leopold Stokowski.
Classical New England will broadcast and stream the Saturday performance beginning at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time, with the pre-game show (music by the evening's composers or performers, mostly; maybe an interview; maybe something else). CNE's BSO page has some interesting background info — not only an interview with maestro Knussen, but pictures to go with "Pictures at an Exhibition" and the Miaskovsky symphony.

The Globe has a very favorable review of the concert and an earlier preview interview with Knussen.

This program will be repeated over Classical New England on April 21 at 1:00 p.m. Since there was no concert a week ago, tomorrow's rebroadcast/stream will be from earlier in the season: the Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven program of November 23-27. See the CNE BSO page for details and links.

Friday, April 5, 2013

BSO — April Hiatus — Repeats

The BSO isn't performing in Symphony Hall this week, so there will be no live broadcast/webstream this Saturday. (I think they're on tour in New York.) Classical New England will fill the time slot with a rebroadcast/stream of a concert from last November, as described on their Boston Symphony page.
In an encore broadcast recorded in November 2012, conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the BSO in Roberto Sierra's Fandangos, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Daniil Trifonov, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5.
Then on Sunday, they'll give the regular rebroadcast/stream of last week's Mahler 3rd Symphony.