BSO — 2017/10/28

This week's Boston Symphony concert is a single work, "The Damnation of Faust" by Hector Berlioz conducted by Charles Dutoit. I was at the Friday matinee and found it very enjoyable — excellent music very well performed by soloists, orchestra, and chorus. All the usual links to background information — performer bios (click on the photos), program notes, audio preview, podcast — are available at the orchestra's performance detail page, along with the following blurb:

Charles Dutoit leads the BSO and an outstanding cast in Hector Berlioz's magnificent The Damnation of Faust. Goethe's Faust resonated strongly in the Romantic era, particularly the title character's attempt to transcend human limitations via science and magic at the cost of promising his soul to Mephistopheles. The very human tragic love story, centered on Faust and Marguerite, looms large in Berlioz's setting, which was the first major work to grapple with Goethe's far-reaching text. The Damnation of Fausthas held a special place in the BSO's repertoire since Koussevitzky led the orchestra's first complete performances in 1934, and it was recorded by the BSO under both Charles Munch (twice!) and Seiji Ozawa.

Both reviews were quite favorable, giving more information about the piece than the performance, but the Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer both liked what they heard. I found the music always descriptive of what was happening, and I was especially moved by the final section, in which Marguerite is welcomed to heaven.

There were surtitles (which didn't seem to translate every line of the text, but at least gave the gist of it). I'm not sure how well it will work without being able to see them. Here's a link to the text, alternately in English and French, with some introductory material. The layout is not ideal, but if you sort through it, it's all there. At the least, you'll probably want to follow the synopsis given in the program notes.

As always, you can hear it on WCRB at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, and I highly recommend it. If you can't catch it live, it will be rebroadcast at 8:00 on Monday, November 6. (Meanwhile, on October 30, the rebroadcast will be of last week's Beethoven and Grieg  incidental music.) The WCRB website has information about future BSO concert broadcasts and other programming on the station.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2017/10/21

This week, it's "incidental music" — music written to go with plays — at the BSO. It's not part of my subscription so I haven't heard it and can't comment on the performance. Also, as of this writing, no review has appeared in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. But the orchestra's performance detail page gives — in addition to all the usual links to further information — the following description:

Bill Barclay and his creative team return to join BSO Associate Conductor Ken-David Masur for an imaginative treatment of Grieg's music for Ibsen's fantastical folk-play Peer Gynt. Rough and rustic, negligent and occasionally criminal, Peer Gynt undergoes many adventures-among them kidnapping his erstwhile fiancée, encountering the Mountain King and begetting a son by the king's daughter, traveling in North Africa, and sidestepping the Devil. Opening the program is Beethoven's incidental music for Goethe's tragedy Egmont, featuring soprano and narrator along with the orchestra, and best-known for its overture, which is frequently heard on its own. The play tells of the Flemish Count Egmont's refusal to relinquish his ideal of freedom in his struggle against the tyrannical Duke of Alba.

(Some emphasis added.)

The Globe review is mixed. Of course, you won't be able to see the action on stage, but you can hear the music, and whatever spoken words are part of the show.

Listen over WCRB tonight at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time (with a rebroadcast scheduled on Monday, October 30)., and see how well the music does on its own. Some of it has been in the standard repertory since it was composed. Check out the rest of the station's offerings through the links on their home page. On Monday, October 23 at 8:00 you'll have your chance to listen again to last week's concert of Ligeti, Dvořák, and Schumann.

Happy Listening!

BSO — 2017/10/14

The Boston Symphony Orchestra's program detail page synopsizes this week's program as follows:

Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno and American violinist Hilary Hahn join forces for Dvořák's Violin Concerto, composed in 1879 for the great Joseph Joachim. At times lyrical, Dvořák's concerto also contains passages of great energy based on music from his Czech heritage, especially in the delightful, dance-like finale. Also based on music from Central Europe, György Ligeti's early "Romanian Concerto" is a Bartók influenced orchestral work from early in the great Hungarian composer's career. Robert Schumann's First Symphony is bursting with energy, power, and optimism.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviews in both the Boston Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer were quite favorable, both overall, and particularly with regard to Hilary Hahn (with the Intelligencer gushing). I was there on Thursday and found it all enjoyable to listen to, although there was nothing that I'd consider spectacular, just good playing. The third horn in the Ligeti was played offstage through a door that was ajar. Mike Winter seemed slightly embarrassed to come onstage for a bow when other soloists were asked to stand, and he stayed to the side, just inside the door.

You can hear it all this evening over WCRB radio or internet at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. Their homepage has links to additional information about their programs, including future BSO concerts and other special programs. It seems that they are also repeating the concerts on Monday evenings a week later, so last week's will be rerun on October 16, and tonight's, on October 23. The repeats are also at 8:00 p.m.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2017/10/07

This evening, October 7, at 8:00 p.m., WCRB will broadcast and stream the Boston Symphony Orchestra concert live. Music Director Andris Nelsons will be on the podium. The concert opens with Moler, by Arlene Sierra, a fairly short piece receiving its first Boston performances this week. Then Gil Shaham will be the solo violinist in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. The concert will conclude with Symphony № 2 by Rachmaninoff. The orchestra's performance detail page has links to audio previews of the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff pieces (regrettably not the Sierra) and the written program notes for all three. I recommend reading at least the notes for "Moler" to get some idea of what to expect. On the other hand, there's something to be said for just letting it have no expectations to live up to. Then on a second hearing, you can have the assistance of the notes to help sort it out.

The program notes also link a podcast and performer bios and tell us

One of several American composers figuring in this season's programs, Florida-born Arlene Sierra, a former Tanglewood Fellow, wrote Moler (2012) on commission for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. The eightminute work is a harmonically colorful and rhythmically energetic evocation of the Spanish meaning of the title, "to grind." Also on the program are Tchaikovsky's beloved Violin Concerto featuring acclaimed American violinist Gil Shaham, and Rachmaninoff's lush Symphony No. 2, composed between the Second and Third piano concertos. With its lyrical excursions reminiscent of the arching, lovely melodies in his piano concertos and songs, it has long been the most popular of the composer's three symphonies.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer raves about Gil Shaham's performance of the Tchaikovsky. The reviewer's description of his exuberance matches what I saw at Tanglewood last summer, when he was violinist in the Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. The other two works on the program get a brief paragraph each, with no real complaints. The Globe review finds fault with some details of Shaham's performance of the Tchaikovsky, but is generally quite favorable.

This concert was not part of my subscriptions, so I can't add my own impressions to those of the reviewers, but based on the reviews, I'm looking forward to hearing it until my brother calls from Tokyo. So I recommend giving it a hearing, especially for the violin concerto; and if the curtain raiser isn't to your liking, hang in there for what's to come.