Tanglewood — 2019/08/23-25

This weekend is the end of the BSO's season at Tanglewood. It has become the tradition to close on Sunday with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. They could certainly do worse.


Friday, August 23, 2019.  The program presents more or less familiar music with two musicians who are new to me and, I suppose, most audiences. The BSO performance detail page explains:

BSO Assistant Conductor Yu-An Chang makes his BSO debut on Friday, August 23, leading Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Schubert’s Symphony No. 2, and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, featuring Conrad Tao. 

 

Pianist Ingrid Fliter had been scheduled to perform Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Friday, August 23 at the Koussevitzky Music Shed. Replacing Ms. Fliter in the Ravel concerto will be Conrad Tao who will make his Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood debuts. There are no other changes to the program.

(Some emphasis added.) 
Ravel isn't my favorite composer, but not too tough to take, so this concert should be a good one. It should be a comfortable debut for the new conductor.


Saturday, August 24, 2019.  The BSO takes the evening off, but many of its members (other than section principals) are also members of the Boston Pops and will be performing as such. The performance detail page tells us:

Long established as one of Tanglewood’s most anticipated and beloved evenings, John Williams’ Film Night returns on Saturday, August 24, with George and Roberta Berry Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams introducing the festive evening, which features the Boston Pops and conductor David Newman performing a program celebrating the music of Hollywood and more.

(Some emphasis added.)

Film buffs and Williams fans will especially enjoy this one.


Sunday, August 24, 2019.  Not only is the Beethoven Ninth the season closer, in recent years, it has also been the custom to preceded it with another, much briefer, piece. This year the opener is a choral work by Schoenberg. The performance detail page gives a link to the program notes, which make the connection to the "Ode for Joy" clear. We also have this overall synopsis:

With vocal soloists Nicole Cabell, J’Nai Bridges, Nicholas Phan, and Morris Robinson and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, returning guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the BSO in the orchestra’s traditional season-ending performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on Sunday, August 25. The concert opens with Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth) for unaccompanied chorus, also featuring the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden will be conducted by James Burton.

(Some emphasis added.)


Listen to it all over the facilities of WCRB* at 8:00 p.m. EDST on Friday and Saturday and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. It should be a good series of concerts.

* I can't get the WCRB website to open for me to provide the link, but you can find it in any of my earlier posts about BSO concerts.