BSO/Classical New England — 2014/05/17

This evening (Saturday, May 17, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time), WCRB will broadcast and stream the BSO concert of March 14, 2014. The all-Beethoven concert, conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi, begins with Leonore Overture No. 3. Then Yefim Bronfman is the soloist in Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2. The program repeats on Monday, June 2.

The station's BSO page has a link to an interview with Yefim Bronfman and other items. It also gives information about upcoming broadcasts/webstreams in the BSO time slots until the Tanglewood season begins.

This concert was the first of a series of three in which the Orchestra performed all five Beethoven piano concertos, the triple concerto, and the three Leonore overtures. This concert was only given on Thursday and Friday evenings, March 13 and14, while the other two were given on Saturdays and thus could be broadcast and streamed live. This one had to be recorded, and this is the first broadcast.

The orchestra's performance detail page has the usual links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios. It notes the the Friday performance included an introduction by bassist Todd Seeber. I suppose that will be included. The page also has the following description:

German conductor Christoph von Dohnányi and the Soviet-born, Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman collaborate with the BSO in a series of three all-Beethoven programs featuring all five of the composer's piano concertos, plus the Triple Concerto for piano, violin, and cello, and his three Leonore overtures.

The little the Globe reviewer said about the actual performance was favorable. As usual, the Boston Musical Intelligencer was quite detailed, so much so that it could provide a guide to what to listen for during the concert. The reviewer was pleased. At the time, I wrote about it:

My reaction was that it was a well played performance. It didn't seem to me that the performers did anything especially unusual with the music. (I've heard other pianists seem to "swing" a couple of phrases, and Mr. Bronfman didn't.) But they played it straightforwardly, with only one or two seemingly missed notes in the piano. The sound was transparent, meaning that it seemed to me that no instruments seemed to drown others out. This may be partly because of the small number of orchestra members needed in the concertos, and no doubt partly the doing of the conductor. The clarinet solo in the first concerto was particularly impressive, and it was good that the horns played softly when appropriate (often they have seemed to overpower the rest of the winds). There's an enthusiastic review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. In the (shorter) Boston Globe review, there is less opinion, with a heavier proportion of factual description, but the opinions expressed are favorable.

So I think it's worth tuning in.