Saturday, October 4, 2014

BSO — 2014/10/01-03 (+ 04)

This week, the BSO played concerts on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, with no concert on Saturday. I don't remember a Wednesday concert ever before, and it's very rare for there to be no Saturday concert. I'm guessing that Maestro Nelsons had contractual obligations to be elsewhere this evening. Anyway, without a live concert to broadcast, WCRB is presenting a recording of one of the earlier performances this week.

So this evening you can listen to Andris Nelsons' second concert of the year, described as follows on the orchestra's program detail page:
For his second program of 2014-15, Andris Nelsons leads three great works reflecting his lifelong immersion in the world of symphonic repertoire-works that also demonstrate the commanding stylistic range of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Beethoven's Symphony No. 8, premiered in 1814, is as consistently high-spirited and jolly as anything the composer ever wrote. The contrastingly aggressive and lurid Suite from Bartók's 1918 ballet score The Miraculous Mandarin captures the urban tension of post-World War I Europe. Tchaikovsky's final work, the Pathétique Symphony, is noteworthy for its melodic warmth and the composer's intricate, magical orchestrations. Premiered shortly before his death, the Sixth ends unusually, and emotionally powerfully, with a slow, mournful movement rather than a triumphant finale.
(Some emphasis added.)

As always, you can find links to various background features on that page as well.

As I mentioned, WCRB will broadcast (and stream) the concert this evening — at 8:00, with a repeat on Monday, October 13, also at 8:00. The station's BSO page has the season broadcast schedule, information about on demand streams, and links to a lot of interviews.

The Wednesday concert was reviewed by the Boston Globe and by the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Globe reviewer was satisfied overall, and especially liked the playing in the Tchaikovsky. The review in the Intelligencer had more detail, and no reservations about the playing by the orchestra, although the reviewer doesn't care for this Tchaikovsky symphony. I thought the orchestra played quite well on Thursday evening. So I think it's worth listening to.

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