Tanglewood — 2019/08/09-11

I got distracted and missed posting about Friday until just when the concert was about to begin. I hope you heard it. It seemed to me that in a couple of spots, Kavakos was interpolating some of his own material, especially at the transition from the second to the third movements of the Beethoven, but at a couple of other points in the concerto as well. So far no reviews have appeared in the usual places to confirm or contradict my impression.


Saturday, August 10, 2019.  Tonight it's late romantic music, with a conductor I've never heard of making his BSO debut and a respected but not quite famous pianist. The program detail page gives us "Just the facts:"

The 2019 Tanglewood season will also see the BSO and Tanglewood debut of Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, who leads the orchestra on Saturday, August 10, in Carreño’s Margaritena, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Nikolai Lugansky, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 1.

(Some emphasis added.)

I'm not sure what the "also" refers to, but this has the appearance of a cut and paste job by an overworked staff which hasn't had the customary time to prepare the page. But the links can give you information about the conductor — click on the thumbnail photo — and the "Margariteña," which is not about the drink — check the full program notes link. IT sounds as if the piece should be quite listenable. I'm looking forward to hearing it. Fortunately, the Brahms should come during my brother's phone call from Japan.

Sunday, August 11, 2019. This time, the program detail page doesn't even have a "just the facts" synopsis. Still, the links give you what you need to know. Thomas Adès conducts Three Places in New England, by Charles Ives, followed by Beethoven's Piano Concerto № 4, with one Inon Barnatan as soloist. (See the performer bio.) After intermission, Adès and the orchestra will play Symphony № 6, "Pastoral," also by Beethoven himself.

I no longer find Ives as cacophonous as I used to, so I'm actually looking forward to hearing "Three Pieces in New England," perhaps with program notes at hand to help me follow the music. Of course, the Beethoven pieces are not to be missed.


Remember, WCRB broadcasts and streams the Saturday concert at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, and the Sunday concert by tape delay at 7:00 p.m. Check out their website for the other material they have.

Enjoy the concerts!