BSO — 2019/02/23

I'll let the program detail page tell about this evening's concert.

Andris Nelsons and the BSO continue their recent tradition of performing opera in concert with Giacomo Puccini's Suor Angelica ("Sister Angelica"), one of the three short operas composed in the 1910s and known collectively as Il trittico ("Triptych"). The story centers on the title character, who is living in a convent to repent a past sin, having a son out of wedlock. Acclaimed soprano Kristine Opolais sings the role of Sister Angelica in this concert performance. Opening the program is a work almost contemporary with Puccini's, Lili Boulanger's short tone poem D'un Soir triste("A somber evening"), one of few purely orchestral works completed by this young genius before her untimely death in 1918 at age 24. Also on the program is Debussy's immensely colorful Nocturnes, an 1899 masterpiece of musical Impressionism.

(Some emphasis added.)
See also the links to background information.

This concert wasn't part of my subscription (and it wasn't "must hear" for me, so I didn't pick up a ticket or exchange for it) so we'll have to depend on the reviews to hear how it went. The Globe reviewer was pleased in general with the opera, with a couple of cautions. She also found the pieces in the first half of the concert okay but nothing to rave about. The Musical Intelligencer's reviewer gives more detail about the works and the performance, but seems to have much the same take as the Globe: decent performances, but not "for the ages."

I'm planning to listen to the broadcast over WCRB at 8:00. Even if they aren't things I feel I must hear, I'd like to hear these pieces, given the opportunity. I don't think I've ever heard "D'un Soir triste" or "Suor Angelica," and if I've heard "Nocturnes," I'm certainly not familiar with it. So this concert can "expand my horizons." And maybe Kristine Opolais will dial back the intensity in the early going of the opera. See what you think.

Also, note the other programming mentioned on the WCRB website; and remember you have another chance to listen to last week's Schumann and Bruckner at 8:00 p.m. on February 25 and this evening's concert in the encore broadcast of March 4.