BSO/Classical New England — 2020/06/27

This evening, WCRB says they are giving us the concert originally performed on November 23, 2019, but they describe the concert of November 30. I hope it's the one they describe, because I really like the Brahms Second Serenade. Here's what I wrote about the concert at the time:

In 2008 I heard the Second Serenade by Brahms conducted by James Levine at Symphony Hall. I was delighted (which is not a word that normally fits my reaction to music of Brahms). If you listen, I'm confident you'll like it too. It opens the program, which continues with two pieces by Schumann. So we have a respite from music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Here's the synopsis from the performance detail page:

The German pianist and conductor Christian Zacharias returns to Symphony Hall as both conductor and pianist in a rarity for piano and orchestra by Robert Schumann, his Introduction and Allegro appassionato, which his wife Clara premiered with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig in 1850. The BSO has only played it on two occasions, both at Tanglewood more than 50 years ago. Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 was actually the second symphony he wrote. He completed its original version in 1841, just after finishing his Symphony No. 1, but was dissatisfied with it, publishing its revised, final form only a decade later. Schumann’s use of recurring thematic ideas creates an innovative, interconnected overall form. Opening the program is Brahms’ five-movement Serenade No. 2, substantial in length but generally light in mood, like the Classical-era serenades that were the composer’s models. Brahms omits violins from the orchestra for this piece, resulting in a mellow, dark-hued tone.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviewer in the Intelligencer liked the concert, especially the Schumann and recommends listening to it. I haven't found a review in the Globe yet.

I join with the reviewer in recommending that you listen to this one. It should be good all the way through (although I'm not actually familiar with the Schumann pieces). The show begins on WCRB at 8:00 p.m., EST[…].

Not to be missed. Enjoy!

A review appeared later in the Globe and, unlike the Intelligencer, the reviewer wasn't entirely satisfied with the way the Schumann pieces were handled, but had no complaint about the Brahms. I still recommend listening. You're in for some good stuff.And don't forget that WCTB and the BSO both have links to further background on their detail pages.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/06/20

WCRB continues to scroll through last season's concerts. This week it's the concert from November 16. Herewith, my take on it back then:

This week's concert is pleasant enough. As the performance detail page informs us:

Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO for his countryman Edvard Grieg’s powerful Piano Concerto, a staple of the virtuoso repertoire. Austrian soprano Genia Kühmeier makes her BSO debut as soloist in the last movement of Mahler’s sunlit, expansive Symphony No. 4, completed in 1900. The Fourth is the last of the composer’s three Wunderhornsymphonies, which feature vocal settings of texts from the folk-poem collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a preoccupation of Mahler’s for more than a decade. The final movement is an expansion of his 1892 song “Das himmlische Leben” (“Heavenly Life”).

(Some emphasis added.)

So far, there is no review in the Intelligencer.  The one in the Globe is generally quite favorable, especially for the Grieg. [A review appeared in the Intelligencer after I posted. The reviewer was quite pleased with the Grieg. He thought the first movement of the Mahler was badly conducted, but the rest was better.] I was there on Thursday, and was quite satisfied.

So give it a listen over WCRB tonight … at 8:00 p.m., EST. I think you'll like what you hear.

And don't forget the links available on both the WCRB and BSO websites.

All in all, it should be pretty enjoyable.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/06/13

WCRB is skipping the November 2, 2019 concert (maybe because of complications involving permission from the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which also took part) and encoring the one from Nov. 9. I had heard it on the preceding Thursday, and posted this (p)review:

One of the reviewers said there are two concerts this evening; before intermission it is music by French composers, and afterwards it is Russian (or perhaps we should say Soviet). Anyway, there are three pieces on the program. Here is how the performance detail page summarizes it:

Andris Nelsons and the BSO continue their survey of the complete symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich with his Twelfth, The Year 1917, composed in 1961. Its subtitle refers to the successful Bolshevik Revolution that resulted in the establishment of the communist Soviet Union. These are the BSO’s first performances of the complete symphony. (Its third movement, “Aurora,” named for a warship whose crew took part in the Revolution, was performed during a series of BSO Youth Concerts marking the composer’s centenary in November 2006.)

Opening these concerts are the American premiere performances of the French-American composer Betsy Jolas’ Letters from Bachville, a BSO commission. Jolas, who celebrates her 93rd birthday in 2019, has been on the faculty of the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center on several occasions. The outstanding Mitsuko Uchida joins the BSO and Mr. Nelsons for Ravel’s scintillating and poignant Piano Concerto in G.

(Some emphasis added.)

Don't forget the links to additional information which can be found on that page as well as on WCRB's page describing this concert.

The reviews are in. The Globe reviewer found the last three movements of the Shostakovich and the slow movement of the Ravel well played, and found no fault with any of the rest of it. As for the new piece by Betsy Jolas, he was noncommittal. The reviewer in the Musical Intelligencer gave Jolas even shorter, and equally noncommittal, shrift. He enthused over the playing of the Ravel, then dismissed the Shostakovich as too long and, except in the slow movement, too loud.

I was there on Thursday and, like the reviewers, found little in "Letters from Bachville" that could be recognized as Bach. So I'd suggest just listening to it as a piece of music with no associations, and see how it feels. I didn't notice anything really terrible on Thursday, so it may be okay. Like the reviewers, I think the slow movement of the Ravel was the highlight of the evening.

You can listen (and enjoy at least some of it, I hope) this evening … at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, over the broadcast and streaming facilities of WCRB.

Although it may be interesting to see if "Letters from Bachville" is more appealing this time around, my basic feeling is that this concert is not must listening. But if you do listen, by all means be attentive for the slow movement of the Ravel piano concerto.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/06/06

WCRB gives us an encore of the concert which followed the one they encored last week. I posted about it back then (October 26) and here's what I said:

The centerpiece of this week's concert is likely to be challenging, maybe even unpleasant. [Actually, as I recall, it turned out to be okay.] I refer to the piano concerto by Dieter Ammann. Normally, I go to concerts where a piece is to be given its world, American, or BSO premiere. But I was otherwise engaged on Thursday and Friday, so I'll be hearing it for the first time over the radio this evening. We have to rely on the program note (linked on the performance detail page) and the reviews to get an idea of what we are in for. Here's the synopsis of the concert from the performance detail page:

Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki returns for a program of sensually colorful French music as well as the American premiere of Swiss composer Dieter Ammann’s new work for piano and orchestra, written for the German-born Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger. Boasting both jazz and modernist credentials, Ammann writes music of great spontaneity and verve. Debussy’s three-movement La Mer—which was given its American premiere by the BSO in 1907—is among the greatest of all French orchestral works, a musical depiction of the changing states of the sea over the course of a day. The program also includes two shorter works: Fauré’s stately, gorgeous, and familiar Pavane, as well as the third movement of Olivier Messiaen’s early orchestral work L’Ascension (1932), which already demonstrates the composer’s unique voice as well as his Debussy-influenced musical heritage.

(Some emphasis added.)

Here are the reviews. The Globe is generally favorable, while the Intelligencer gives a lengthy description of "The Piano Concerto" and is less than thrilled with the conducting of the French pieces.

If the new piece proves intolerable, you can always come back after intermission. I'm not familiar with the Messiaen work, but from the descriptions, I'm guessing that it won't be quite so "advanced" as some of his later compositions.

As always, WCRB will transmit it all live this evening at 8:00 p.m.

My recollection is that the piano concerto proved to be kind of jazzy and not to tough to take. So I'm looking forward to the chance to hear it again.

I hope the links still work. And here's a link to WCRB's page about the concert, with a further link to an interview with the conductor.