BSO — 2014/04/17-19

"The days dwindle down to a precious few." Next week is the final week of this symphony season. But first, we have this week's program. I wasn't here on Thursday, and I won't be listening this evening because it's Holy Week, and I was/will be in church. Here's what others have to say about the program — Symphony No. 38 "Prague" by Mozart, and Symphony No. 5 by Mahler, with Charles Dutoit conducting in place of the injured Lorin Maazel. The BSO's performance detail page, with all the usual links to preview material, says:

Charles Dutoit conducts the final three weeks of the BSO's 2013-14 season. On April 17 and 19, he leads Mozart's elegant Prague Symphony, a work the composer wrote as a kind of "thank you" to the city of Prague upon its overwhelmingly positive response to his opera The Marriage of Figaro. Anchoring these concerts is Mahler's Symphony No. 5. Composed in 1901-02 following Mahler's intensive study of Bach's counterpoint, the Fifth was the composer's first completely instrumental symphony since No. 1.

Eminent Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit has graciously offered to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the orchestra's final programs, April 17-26, stepping in for Lorin Maazel who has been obliged to interrupt his conducting activities due to an accident and on the advice of his doctors until the third week of May. In addition to the BSO concerts at Symphony Hall, Maestro Dutoit will now also lead the BSO on its tour to China and Japan, May 1-10.

The Globe review was generally favorable. As is generally the case, with the Boston Musical Intelligencer, less is more. That is, less restriction on the length of the review yields more description of the music and the performance. The reviewer was mildly disappointed with the Mozart, but quite pleased with the Mahler.

You can listen live over WCRB this evening at 8:00 p.m., or to a rebroadcast/webstream on Monday, April 28 at 8:00 p.m. Their BSO page doesn't seem to have any background material for this concert, but it does have links to other items relating to the orchestra and past performances, including the on demand listening feature; and they remind us the the April 21 rebroadcast/stream is of last week's Bach, Stravinsky, Beethoven concert with François-Xavier Roth's BSO debut.