BSO/Classical New England — 2020/07/25

This weekend there was to have been a tribute to Isaac Stern, whose centenary was this week, but the pandemic cancelled that. WCRB will present the concert of Friday August2, 2019, about which I posted as follows:

Says the orchestra's program detail page: 

Violinist Joshua Bell marks his 30th anniversary performing at Tanglewood (having first performed with the BSO at Tanglewood on July 22, 1989, returning to perform at Tanglewood every summer since), joining BSO Associate Conductor Ken-David Masur and the orchestra for Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, on a program with Martinů’sMemorial to Lidice and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. At this UnderScore Friday performance, patrons will hear comments about the program from BSO violinist Sheila Fiekowsky.

(Some emphasis added.)

The Martinů piece is one of the two non-standard items this weekend, and unfortunately the program detail page, as of this writing, has no link to the program note for it, so I'll be as surprised as you. According to wiki, Lidice was destroyed by the Nazis in 1942 as a retaliation for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich, and Martinů composed his Memorial in 1943. The composer's style is described as neoclassical.

The BSO performed the Dvořák symphony last January in Symphony Hall. My post at the time has links to favorable reviews.

There don't seem to have been any reviews of the concert last summer. Unfortunately, I don't recall the Martinů piece, but Dvořák is good, as is Bell, so it should be worth listening to, beginning at 8:00 this evening, Boston Time, on WCRB.