Tanglewood — 2017/07/28-30

This weekend the Boston Symphony gives three more concerts worth hearing. The offerings include a couple of pieces I don't know and a couple of really popular ones that aren't my figurative cup of metaphorical tea, and one of the ones I really want to hear will be given during my brother's weekly call from Tokyo. Still, I'll be listening to all I can.


Friday, July 28, 2017.   The synopsis on the orchestra's program detail page gives us the basics:

On Friday, Charles Dutoit is joined by pianist Yefim Bronfman for Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2, one of the composer's most barnstorming, free-spirited works. The BSO opens the program with the Overture to Beethoven's The Creatures of Prometheus. Mr. Dutoit also leads the orchestra in Dvorak's New World Symphony.

(Some emphasis added.)

For additional information, use the links to audio previews and program notes, as well as performer bios (click on the thumbnail photos), on that page. Brahms is among my least favorite of the really popular composers, so I'm not eagerly anticipating the concerto. Of late, however, some of his big pieces are beginning to seem a but less unpleasant than they used to, so I'm not dreading it either. Mine is, of course, a distinctly minority view, so have no fear. The first movement of the "New World" symphony is another very popular piece that I don't enjoy — too jarring for my taste — but I'm planning to listen and see how it goes.


Saturday, July 29, 2017.  The program detail page ignores two of the three pieces on the Saturday program, so I'll give my own synopsis. Chant funèbre, by Stravinsky, opens the program. It was composed upon the death of his teacher, Rimsky-Korsakoff, and after the premiere the score was lost for over 100 years. Next is Ravel's Piano Concerto for the left hand, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard as soloist. After intermission comes Te Deum by Berlioz, with tenor soloist Paul Groves. The concert is again under the baton of Charles Dutoit.

Consult the program detail page for the usual links to background information about the music and performers. I enjoy a lot of Berlioz's music, including his Requiem. This is apparently intended to be comparable, and I'm sorry to have to wait for on-demand availability to hear it because my brother's call will come during the performance. (I see from the program note that Berlioz rearranged the order of some of the lines of the text.)


Sunday, July 30, 2017  brings an old favorite followed by one which I don't recall hearing. The program detail page has the following description:

Violinist Pinchas Zukerman returns to Tanglewood on Sunday, July 30, for a performance of Beethoven's lyrical Violin Concerto with the BSO and English conductor Bramwell Tovey. Mr. Tovey and the BSO are then joined by bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. An incredibly ambitious oratorio written for a large-scale orchestra including two brass bands along with the baritone soloist and chorus, the work is one of the composer's most celebrated compositions.

(Some emphasis added.)

The violin concerto is great music, in my opinion, and the program note about "Belshazzar's Feast" has me intrigued.


The place to hear it all is, of course, WCRB, where you can hear the Friday and Saturday concerts live at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight (Summer) Time, and the Sunday concert in a delayed broadcast/webstream at 7:30 p.m. Check out the station's website for additional information about programming and other features.

Enjoy the concerts!