BSO — December Hiatus — 2014/12/27

Unfortunately, I got a bit tied up Saturday and didn't get this written in time for the Saturday broadcast and stream, but there's still plenty of time to hear the rebroadcast on January 5. And of course, you can always listen at the regular time, even if I haven't posted something to tell you what to expect.

At any rate, on Saturday, WCRB gave us a rebroadcast of a concert from last summer's Tanglewood season, including music of Richard Strauss, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel. The station's BSO page gives us the usual links and scheduling info, as well as this synopsis of the concert:

In an encore broadcast from the 2014 Tanglewood season, Andris Nelsons conducts the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in music from Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and the BSO in Rachmaninoff'sSymphonic Dances, and Ravel's Bolero.

(Some emphasis added.)

It's now available for listening on demand, and it will also be broadcast and streamed one more time on January 5. I heard the first half and some of the second, and thought it was pretty good.

Monday, December 29 will bring one more rebroadcast/webstream of last summer's Tanglewood concert of music by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, which I described before the December 13 broadcast.

Handel & Haydn 2014/12/21; Pops 2014/12/20

On Sunday I went to Boston to hear the Handel and Haydn's "Bach Christmas" concert. Although it's called Bach Christmas, as you can see, it included lots of music by other composers as well. The whole thing was quite enjoyable —very well played and sung — but after the gemlike delights from the late Renaissance and early Baroque, Bach's more extensive pieces seemed almost too much. I do enjoy most of Bach's music, including Sunday's pieces.and I find no fault in the performances themselves. Only the contrast was a little regrettable.

Holiday Pops is always a nice bit of fluff: mostly stuff you hear nearly everywhere before Christmas. But the Pops play lush arrangements very well. One really nice touch was "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in an arrangement made several years ago for the Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. As they go along, other melodies are substituted for the original tune. For example, the fifth day gets the opening music of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and seven swans a-swimming get the big tune from "Swan Lake." The music from the "Hallelujah Chorus" makes an appearance in the twelfth day, etc. Of course the audience loved it, and Keith Lockhart told them that it is on the Pops' newest CD, available after the concert. He advised them they could play it "throughout the holiday season. Amaze your friends. Confound your enemies." The concert is available on demand at WCRB. http://www.wgbh.org/995/

BSO — December Hiatus — 2014/12/20

This weekend WCRB gives us a Boston Pops concert in their BSO time slot on Saturday and Monday at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. The live Holiday Pops concert is on Saturday, and the rebroadcast/webstream is on Monday, December 22 (without their usual interval of over a week). This is how WCRB describes the concert on their BSO page:

Keith Lockhart conducts the Boston Pops and Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a cherished seasonal tradition, filled with holiday music favorites, the traditional Pops sing-a-long, and even a visit from jolly old Santa Claus!

Most of the Pops players are BSO members, so it's okay for them to have the Symphony time slot.

I'll be going to a Christmas Party this evening, may be home in time for the last few numbers, but I'll have to catch most of it on the Monday rebroadcast.

Enjoy!

BSO — December Hiatus — 2014/12/13

This week, WCRB's Saturday BSO broadcast and webstream is a repeat of the Tanglewood concert of Sunday, August 3, 2014. I previewed it here at the time, and I hope the links still work. On WCRB's BSO page, they summarize it as follows:

In an encore broadcast from the 2014 Tanglewood season, Augustin Hadelich is the soloist in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4, and Juanjo Mena leads the BSO in Haydn's Symphony No. 6, Le Matin, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 2.

(Some emphasis added.)

Normally, the Monday repeat of that concert would be on December 22, but that evening they'll repeat the Dec. 20 Pops concert, so this repeat is postponed for a week.

Meanwhile, the concert being rerun on Monday, December 15 is the one that filled the Saturday 8:00 p.m. slot on December 6.

In an encore broadcast from the 2014 Tanglewood season, Charles Dutoit conducts the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Stravinsky's Scherzo fantastique and The Firebird, and Nikolai Lugansky is the soloist in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3.

(Some emphasis added.)

All broadcasts/streams are on WCRB at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.

Winter Orgy® Period 2014

The Winter Orgy® period has begun on WHRB. They've already had the Warhorse Orgy, and now the Cauldio Abbado orgy is in progress, running until 10:30 p.m. today, then 5:00 a.m. to 6:45 on December 8, and 5:00 to 3:00 on the 9th.

Subsequent classical orgies include

• Gone with the Winds Orgy    Dec. 9   3:00 - 10:00 p.m.  &   Dec. 10   8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
• The Rest Is Noise Orgy     Dec. 10   1:00 p.m.    continuing off and on through Dec. 18
• Ferenc Fricsay Orgy     Dec. 29   1:00 - 10:00 (?) p.m.

For listings of all works to be played, times of the Rest is Noise after the first day, other programming during the Orgy period, and highlights of January and February programming, see the WHRB Program Guide.

You can listen via the station website.

BSO — December Hiatus — 2014/12/06

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is on break for the month of December. They will resume "concertizing" on January 8, 2015, with the next Saturday performance on the 10th. December sees the Boston Pops giving their Holiday Pops concerts at Symphony Hall. Meanwhile WCRB fills the Saturday and Monday  8:00p.m. time slots with rebroadcasts, except for December 20 and 22, when it will be Holiday Pops, live on the 20th and rebroadcast on the 22nd.

This evening, December 6, the broadcast and stream is of the Tanglewood concert of last August 17, which I previewed here in my blog. It features Charles Dutoit conducting, not the BSO, but the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra — the young musicians who are learning their art. They perform music of Stravinsky and the Rachmaninoff piano Concerto No. 3, with Nikolai Lugansky as soloist. For more, see my blogpost and links. Also see the WCRB BSO page for the December schedule and other links.

In keeping with the usual practice of replaying Saturday concerts nine days later, this Monday's concert will be a rerun of the one given a week ago, on November 29: Leonidas Kavakos in music of Bartók, Haydn, and Mussorgsky.