BSO/Classical New England — 2018/12/29

WCRB tells us:

Saturday night at 8 in an encore broadcast from Tanglewood, the American mezzo-soprano [Susan Graham] joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Mahler's Symphony No. 3, a musical microcosm of the natural world.

(Emphasis added.)

Andris Nelsons is the conductor in this encore broadcast of the Tanglewood concert of Friday, August 24, 2018. On the BSO program detail page, along with links to program notes, there is this description:

Andris Nelsons leads the BSO, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Boston Symphony Children's Choir in a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 3, another work central to Bernstein's repertoire, with Susan Graham as mezzo-soprano soloist. A multi-faceted and emotionally wide-ranging work, the Third Symphony is notable for its length (the longest symphony in the standard repertoire), difficulty, and overwhelming cumulative impact. Across its nearly 100-minute duration, the broad musical canvas incorporates a full range of musical and emotional expression, moving through rousing fanfares, tender lyricism, and melancholy to the height of exaltation.

It should make for interesting listening on WCRB at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.

BSO/Classical New England — 2018/12/22

This week's offering isn't a rebroadcast of a concert. Instead, WCRB is presenting three recordings of the BSO under its former, long-time music director Seiji Ozawa in music of Bach, arranged by Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Berlioz. There is no performance detail page, of course, since this wasn't a concert. Here's the listing at WCRB's page for the concert:

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is known not only for its excellence in Symphony Hall, but also for its timeless recordings, holiday repertoire being no exception. Saturday night at 8, hear three of these recordings, including Tchaikovsky's magical "The Nutcracker."

Saturday, December 22, 2018
8:00 PM

Seiji Ozawa, conductor

BACH/STRAVINSKY Chorale Variations on Vom Himmel hoch
TCHAIKOVSKY The Nutcracker, Op. 71
BERLIOZ Overture and "Shepherd's Farewell" from Part 2 of L'enfance du Christ

(Emphasis in original.)

"The Nutcracker" is a perennial favorite, and the other pieces should be well worth hearing. The "Shepherds' Farewell" is quite lovely, IMO. As always, you can hear the show beginning at 8:00 p.m. over WCRB radio and internet. Note also the other programming described there.

BSO/Classical New England — 2018/12/15

This week WCRB gives us a repeat of the August 3 Tanglewood concert. At the time, I posted this about it:

We begin with approximately five minutes of sheer delight: the Overture to "Ruslan and Ludmila" by Glinka. Then there's a piano concerto by Rachmaninoff. After intermission comes the complete score to Firebird by Stravinsky, which is not as jarring as "The Rite of Spring."

For the official synopsis you get this from the performance detail page:

Patrons will hear comments about the program directly from onstage BSO musician Robert Sheena (English horn).

Koussevitzky Artist Kirill Gerstein joins BSO Associate Conductor Ken-David Masur and the BSO for Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, a prime example of the composer's Russian-tinged Romanticism. The program begins with Glinka's infectiously energetic Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila, the second of his two operas. After intermission, Mr. Masur leads the orchestra in a performance of the complete music from Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird, a scintillating score that proved to be the composer's breakout success when the ballet opened in Paris in 1910.

(Some emphasis added.)
That page also has the usual links to background material.

You can hear it all beginning at 8:00 this evening, Boston Time, on WCRB radio or webstream. I'll be listening until my brother calls from Tokyo. It appears that there will not be a further rebroadcast on Monday a week from now. So this is your last chance. You might also be interested in the broadcast of a recorded performance of "Messiah." That will be Sunday evening at 7:00.

BSO/Classical New England — 2018/12/08

As usual, the Boston Symphony takes December off, and the Boston Pops (with many BSO musicians) performs Holiday Pops concerts. So this week's concert over WCRB is a rebroadcast of the concert given at Tanglewood on Friday, July 13, of this year. I wrote a little bit about it in advance. Here's how the BSO's program detail page described it:

Acclaimed English pianist Paul Lewis, who has given several memorable performances with the BSO in recent seasons, joins the orchestra for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat, K.595, the composer's final work in the genre. BSO Assistant Conductor Moritz Gnann, who conducts the performance, also leads the orchestra in Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and Schumann's Symphony No. 3,Rhenish. The symphony's subtitle refers to the mighty Rhine, the river that has inspired so many great works throughout music history, and the piece contains some of Schumann's most colorful and exuberant music, as well as some of his most accomplished writing for full orchestra.

(Some emphasis added.)

The Wagner opens the concert, followed by the Mozart, which has always been a favorite of mine. All three works are worth hearing, IMO, so I encourage you to listen to WCRB this evening at 8:00, Boston time, and enjoy.

WCRB doesn't say that they will give this concert again on December 17, so plan on listening tonight. But they do promise us a rebroadcast of last week's Christmas Oratorio. That will be on December 10 at 8:00. It's also worth hearing.

Winter Orgy® Period 2018

Once again, an Orgy Period has begun on WHRB without my realizing it. Here's a link to the Program Guide. (I just realized as I wrote it that "a link to the program guide" has the same cadence as "a link to the '45," which is a slogan on Drambuie labels referring to Bonnie Prince Charlie's rebellion of 1745.)

As you can see, I missed the Warhorse Orgy on Sunday; and the Ballet Orgy is already in progress and will continue tomorrow and Thursday..

Orgies still to come include:
     Comic Opera Overture on Dec. 7,
     Charles Gounod Orgy, Dec. 9 & 10,
     Oliver Knussen Retrospective at 5:00 a.m. on Dec. 11,
     Shakespeare Orgy, Dec. 11 & 12,
     Viennese Society for Private Musical Performances, Dec. 13,
     Asian Composers, Dec. 14,
     Female Contemporary Composers, Dec. 15, and
     Deutsche Grammophon Orgy, Dec. 17-20.

In general the classical music orgies are in the time slot when WHRB normally plays classical music: 1:00 to 10:00 p.m.

There is also this calendar which lists all the orgies, classical and other, without specifying times or works to be performed. Note also that every Saturday afternoon, beginning in December and continuing through the season, WHRB presents the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.

Listen on air or on line over WHRB.

BSO — 2018/12/01

Tonight's concert starts a half hour early.

We are in for a treat: the Christmas Oratorio by J.S. Bach. As Christmas music it is to the German speaking world what Handel's "Messiah" is to English speakers.But there is this difference: texts of Messiah begin with Jesus' birth and take us all the way through his death and resurrection to his heavenly triumph, whereas the Christmas Oratorio deals only with his birth and the events of his infancy. It is divided into six parts — each comparable in size to a cantata such as Bach composed for Sunday church services — intended to be performed in a service on a different day: the first, second, and third days of Christmas (all of which were holidays), New Year's Day (when Jesus' circumcision was commemorated), the following Sunday, and Epiphany (celebrating the visit of the Magi). Even though a purist might say they should be performed on separate days, we have so few chances to hear them live, that it's good to have even this opportunity. And in the program booklet there is an essay by Bach scholar Christoph Wolff in which he suggests that Bach might at least have thought it possible that they could be performed together.

Without further ado, here's how the performance detail page at the BSO's website describes it:

Assembled and composed for Leipzig's Christmas season, Bach's Christmas Oratorio is a celebration of the nativity of Jesus Christ originally performed over the course of six days beginning on Christmas Day 1734. As was often Bach's practice, he re-used music from several earlier works, including the independent secular cantatas nos. 214-216. In addition to chorus, the work features soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, as well as an orchestra configured differently for each of the six sections. The BSO hasn't performed this important work since Charles Munch conducted it in 1960. For these performances, Andris Nelsons and the orchestra are joined by an outstanding group of soloists and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

(Some emphasis added.)

There are the usual links to other information. If you're not already familiar with the piece, I recommend reading the program notes and, if possible, following along in the well-translated text. Even by itself the music is worth hearing, but I think sung music is even more meaningful and interesting when you know what they're singing about.

The Globe gives a scathing review. The Intelligencer finds a few shortcomings but is pleased overall.  Both were quite satisfied with the soloists. I was there on Thursday, having exchanged a ticket for this one, and noticed some of the things the reviewers mention, but none of it really bothered me.The syncopations in the bass aria in Part I and the chorus in Part V didn't come through quite as clearly as I would have liked, but it wasn't a major problem. That bass aria is my favorite number in the whole oratorio. I'm glad I was there.

So I definitely recommend listening to WCRB on line or on air this evening at 7:30 EDT. The rebroadcast on Monday, December 10, will begin at the usual time, 8:000 p.m., and add time as needed at the end of the show. The rebroadcast on December 3 will, as expected, be of last week's concert, the Beethoven 4th and 5th symphonies.

Enjoy!