BSO/Classical New England — 2021/01/30

 This evening, for your enjoyment, it's all Beethoven under the baton of the Massachusetts born Swede, Herbert Blomstedt.  As WCRB informs us:

Saturday at 8pm, in an encore broadcast from 2016, Herbert Blomstedt leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, as well as the Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Garrick Ohlsson.

Saturday, January 30, 2021
8:00 PM

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

The page also has a transcript of an interview with the conductor as well as a link to a recording of it.

Here's my own rave review from back in March 2016, edited to remove no-longer-applicable content:

This week we have an all Beethoven concert from the BSO. Herbert Blomstedt conducts and Garrick Ohlsson solos. The BSO performance detail page, [no longer available on line], offers this description:

Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt returns to Symphony Hall for this Beethoven pairing. American pianist and audience favorite Garrick Ohlsson performs Beehoven's C major concerto-which shows the composer clearly moving beyond the models of Haydn and Mozart but still maintaining the clarity and balance of Viennese classicism. The beloved Seventh Symphony features a remarkable blend of lyricism and rhythmic drive.

(Emphasis added.)

I enjoyed it so much that I'm seriously considering getting a ticket for the Tuesday performance next week.

The Globe review is favorable, but with cautions. The reviewer liked the symphony more than the concerto. Boston Musical Intelligencer gives us a rave. I agree with BMInt. Frequently, when the music is from the 20th or 21st Century, I find myself grasping at straws to give faint praise — it wasn't so bad as ___ or ___, or there were pleasant moments, or it was tolerable, or it was appropriate for the subject. But in this concert the music was just plain great, and it was superbly performed. The piano concerto was not only pleasant music, but it was masterfully performed. I could hear things in the piano part that sounded similar to things in one of the greatest concertos of all time, Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto. From my seat, I could see the keyboard, and it enhanced the experience being able to see Garrick Ohlsson's hands move up and down the keyboard and his fingers hit the keys to produce the excellent music. In the symphony, it seemed possible to hear every element that went to make up the symphony. Beethoven's skill as a composer was on clear display. It all cohered into a fulfilling whole: satisfying, compelling, and thrilling. This was a performance which showed how great this piece is.

By all means, if you can get to Symphony Hall on Saturday or Tuesday, go. Otherwise, be sure to listen over WCRB, radio or web. […] On their BSO page there [… are] links to other features available from the station.

My performer watch continues. In the horn section, Richard Sebringplayed first horn in the concerto, James Sommerville in the symphony. Rachel Childers played second horn in both, and delivered the low notes of the symphony's third movement with great aplomb. You can hear them: it's two notes that are repeated in the middle of a contrasting passage (the "trio") which is played more than once. In the oboes, Associate Principal Keisuke Wakao took first chair in the concerto and John Ferrillo, Principal, in the symphony. Clint Foremanwas in the first chair of the flutes all evening. While the concerto didn't give very much opportunity to shine he played his part well. There was so much solo work for flute in the symphony that it occurred to me that it could be called (with some exaggeration) the "Flute Symphony." Clint Foreman nailed it all, as well as the duets with the oboe, so much so that when Maestro Blomstedt returned to the stage for a bow, the first orchestra member he had stand for a solo bow was Clint Foreman — then John Ferillo. And it seemed to me that he gave Rachel Childers a solo bow even ahead of Jamie Sommerville. What usually happens is that the first chair player gets a solo bow if s/he had a prominent part, then the whole section is asked to stand. In several other sections, I also noticed that the Principals didn't play until after intermission.

So this is a must hear concert, IMO. Enjoy.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/01/16

 This evening's concert over WCRB continues the series from 2016. WCRB says:

Saturday at 8pm, in a 2016 Boston Symphony Orchestra concert, violinist Alina Ibragimova is the soloist in Haydn's Violin Concerto No. 1 and Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concerto funèbre, and Vladimir Jurowski conducts symphonies by Haydn and Beethoven.

Saturday, January 23, 2021
8:00 PM

Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Alina Ibragimova, violin

HAYDN Symphony No. 26, Lamentatione
HARTMANN Concerto funebre, for violin and strings
HAYDN Violin Concerto No. 1
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2

Recorded on Feb. 20, 2016, at Symphony Hall in Boston

This concert is no longer available on-demand.

Vladimir Jurowski previews the concert and reveals hidden musical links among the pieces on the program

As suggested, the page has a link to an interview with the conductor. There is also one with the violin soloist. I wrote about it at the time as follows:

The BSO's program detail page for this week's concerts has the following description:

In a concert of distinctly opposed moods, Russian conductor Vladimir Jurowski leads two rarely heard works of Haydn's. His three-movement Symphony No. 26, Lamentatione, takes its nickname from its use of a Gregorian chant melody linked to the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Poised between the Baroque and Classical eras, Haydn's Violin Concerto No. 1was written early in Haydn's service to the Esterházys. Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova, in her BSO debut, plays this and the important German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concerto funebre, the composer's 1939 meditation on the approach of war [extensively revised in 1959, per the program notes]. Concluding the concert is Beethoven's high-spirited Symphony No. 2.

(Some emphasis added.)

The actual order of performance is [Haydn Symphony, Hartmann; Haydn Concerto, Beethoven].

The Globe's brief review is favorable — somewhat more so of the conductor than of the soloist. The more extensive and insightful Boston Musical Intelligencer review (of the Friday matinee) is also very favorable, but not without minor criticisms. On Thursday, I enjoyed the concert. I thought the violinist played very well, as did the orchestra. I'm not a musicologist, but as an amateur listener, I found no fault. The Haydn was genial; the Hartmann was serious, but not unpleasant to hear; and the Beethoven was full of good cheer. My only complaint is that the audience should have given longer ovations. I was happy to see a couple of younger players getting first chair duties. Wesley Collins, visible behind the conductor in the Globe photo, was first chair viola in all four pieces; and Clint Foreman was first chair flute in the Beethoven, which was the only piece with flutes in it, and handled his solos flawlessly to my ears.

So by all means, listen in on Saturday over WCRB radio or webstream at 8:00 p.m. […]

And, as you know, the performance detail page is no longer available on the BSO website. Nevertheless, the concert is well worth hearing.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/01/16

 A rebroadcast of the concert of February 13, 2016, concludes the Shakespeare Festival from that year. WCRB says:

Saturday at 8pm, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in music inspired by "Romeo and Juliet," "Macbeth," and "Othello," as well as the world premiere of "Sonnets," by George Tsontakis, featuring BSO English horn player Robert Sheena.

Saturday, January 16, 2021
8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Robert Sheena, English horn

STRAUSS Macbeth, Op. 23
DVORAK Othello Overture, Op. 93
TSONTAKIS Sonnets (world premiere; BSO commission)
TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet, Overture-Fantasy after Shakespeare

This concert is no longer available on-demand.

Composer George Tsontakis, BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons, and soloist Robert Sheena talk with Harvard University's Thomas Kelly about Sonnets:

There is a link on that page for the conversation about "Sonnets."

At the time of the broadcast, I wrote the following (editing out the parts that no longer apply):

The Shakespeare festival concludes this week. Go to the orchestra's program detail page [has the following] description of the program[…]:

Completing the BSO's three-program celebration of Shakespeare's work, Andris Nelsons and BSO English horn player Robert Sheena give the world premiere of New York-based composer George Tsontakis's Sonnets, Concerto for English horn and orchestra, inspired by several of Shakespeare's poems. Tsontakis's music is dynamically expressive and architecturally satisfying. Shakespeare's tragedies inspired the other three works on the program. Tchaikovsky'salternately aggressive and love-struck Romeo and Juliet needs no introduction; much less familiar is Strauss's overtly dramatic Macbeth, the composer's first tone poem. Dvořák's Othello Overture conveys the passions of love and its darker emotions.

(Some emphasis added.)

As so often happens, they don't list things in the order they're performed. The concert opens with the Strauss Macbeth, followed by Dvořák's Othello. After the intermission we get the Tsontakis Sonnets, and the concert concludes with the Tchaikovsky.

I was there on Thursday and have no complaints. The Strauss Macbeth was worth hearing, as was the Dvořák Othello. While Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet is given too often, it isn't bad. All three seemed well performed. The Tsontakis Sonnets at a few points made me think of bits of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, which I guess means that the musical style is fairly accessible. You won't mistake it for Haydn, but you won't run screaming from the auditorium, or wherever you radio or computer speakers are located. In each sonnet, the music is softer at the beginning, corresponding to the first quatrian, and it intensifies for the second, and more so for the third. The it calms down for the final couplet. Glancing at the texts in the program notes, I could see some connection between the music and the theme of the sonnet. The BSO has posted a video of a bit of the second sonnet. It gives as good an impression of the piece as you can in a short time.

There's a favorable review in the Boston Globe, with a bit more description of the new piece, as well as references to some elements of the festival outside the regular concerts. The Boston Musical Intelligencer reviewer is even more enthusiastic about the Tsontakis piece than the Globe. Additional information about the new piece is in this article from The Arts Fuse  with some words from Robert Sheena.

So by all means, listen to the broadcast or the streaming of the concert […] over WCRB on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time[…].

Enjoy.

 Need I say more?

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/01/09

 This week's "encore broadcast" is from February 6, 2016. It's getting late, so I'll just copy what WCRB says about it now and then edit and past my pst from 2016. Overall, my recollection is that it's okay, interesting maybe, but not a "must hear" program.

Saturday at 8pm, soprano Barbara Hannigan sings Hans Abrahamsen's "let me tell you," and Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in suites from Shostakovich's "Hamlet" and Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet."

Saturday, January 9, 2021
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast from February 6, 2016  

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Barbara Hannigan, soprano

SHOSTAKOVICH Excerpts from the incidental music to Hamlet, Op. 32a
ABRAHAMSEN let me tell you
PROKOFIEV Suite from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64
 

Watch a conversation about let me tell you with composer Hans Abrahamsen, librettist Paul Griffiths, soprano Barbara Hannigan, and others, from the WGBH Forum Network:

Below, in an interview with WCRB's Brian McCreath, Barbara Hannigan describes the origins of let me tell you, why she knew before even seeing the score that it would be a significant work, and what essential items she travels with to maintain her sense of normalcy as a touring musician:

Listen 

Listening...

0:00

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath (BMcC) [00:00:00] I'm Brian McCreath from

The Shakespeare festival continues with "Hamlet" before intermission and "Romeo and Juliet" after. The BSO performance detail page offers the following description:

Continuing the BSO's survey of Shostakovich's Stalin-era symphonic works, as well as a three-week focus on works influenced by Shakespeare, Andris Nelsons leads the composer's rarely heard, emotionally charged and evocative incidental music for Shakespeare's Hamlet. His countryman Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ballet score was one of that composer's most popular works. In between comes a recent work by the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen, whose wide-ranging, imaginative, and beautifully poignant let me tell you (2014) is based on Paul Griffith's atmospheric novel told from the perspective of Hamlet's Ophelia. Here making her BSO debut, soprano Barbara Hannigan premiered the piece under Andris Nelsons' direction with the Berlin Philharmonic in 2013.

(Some emphasis added.)

[…]

I was there on Thursday evening. It was surprising to read in the program notes that the "Hamlet" for which Shostakovich composed the music being played took the play as a satire on contemporary people and events. The music makes sense when you realize the play was performed for laughs, and it's pretty enjoyable. My reaction to "let me tell you" as it was being performed was largely negative: vocal line without melody or clear relation to the text, other than at a point in Part 2 where the music appropriately evoked an operatic "mad scene." After it was finished, I realized that it had been brilliantly sung and played (especially impressive quiet playing from the brass). One nice touch was the sliding of a piece of paper over the surface of the bass drum in the third part, suggesting the sound of shuffling through snow. On further reflection, I can concede that the musical style may be what is possible at this point: baroque or romantic melody may not be possible. I'm not sure that's true, but this is music of its time. Unlike the first two pieces, the Prokofiev is fairly familiar, and it was enjoyable to hear, if nothing about it was spectacular. There was a nice bit of solo playing from the first chair strings.

The Globe review was definitely favorable. The Boston Musical Intelligencer gives much detail about the music, especially the Abrahamsen, not so much about how it was performed. Both are worth reading for their insights into the music.

WCRB will [rebroadcast the concert at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 9, 2016.]

Despite my initial misgivings about "let me tell you," I think it could be interesting to hear if you can tolerate any contemporary classical music. But be sure to have the text from the program notes.[*] I think it works best, perhaps only, when the words are associated with the music — unlike much 19th Century opera where the music is gorgeous even if you don't know what they're saying.

* Regrettably, the program notes are no longer available, but maybe you can find the text by searching for "let me tell you' on the internet.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/01/02

 Tonight it's the concert from January 30, 2016. WCRB says:

Saturday at 8pm, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream set to Mendelssohn's music, as well as other works inspired by the same play by Weber and ].

Saturday, January 2, 2021
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast from January 30, 2016

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Amanda Forsythe, soprano
Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano
Karen McDonald (Titania)
Carson Elrod (Puck; Mendelssohn)
Antonio Weissinger (Boy; Young Mendelssohn)
Will Lyman (Oberon)
Women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus

WEBER Overture to Oberon
HENZE Symphony No. 8
MENDELSSOHN Incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream

At the time of the original broadcast I wrote:

The Shakespeare Festival begins this week. We have three Midsummer-Night's-Dream-y pieces on the program. First up is Weber's "Oberon" Overture. Strictly speaking, this is only tangentially Shakespearian, since — although he is a character in the play — the opera has him involved in different action. But the music is worth bringing into the festival. Next comes Symphony № 8 by Hans Werner Henze, a BSO commission first performed in 1993. After the intermission we get Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream"with actors and singers dramatizing bits of the music and performing bits of the play.

In addition to the usual links to performer bios, program notes, audio previews, and podcast, the orchestra's performance detail page offers the following take on the program:

Three weeks of BSO concerts-January 28 through February 13-led by Andris Nelsons focus on music inspired by the work of William Shakespeare, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death. This program's focus is the great comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. Although Weber's German magical-romantic opera Oberon wasn't based specifically on Shakespeare, it shares its subject matter and sense of mystery. More explicit is Henze's Symphony No. 8, a BSO centennial commission premiered here in 1993. The symphony aims to illustrate certain moments of the play. Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream includes his youthful Overture-the play in a nutshell-as well as the familiar Wedding March, the most famous music Mendelssohn ever wrote.

(Some emphasis added.)

The show played to mixed reviews. The Globe was enthusiastic with minor unspecified reservation. The Boston Musical Intelligencer was dissatisfied with how the Weber was played, brought some astonishing associations to the music of the Henze symphony — completely disregarding the associations provided by the composer and presented in the program notes — and found the presentation of the Mendelssohn well done by some participants but flawed in concept.

I tend to agree with BMInt on the Mendelssohn. It makes sense to put music intended to accompany a play into context, but as constructed the whole seemed less than the sum of its parts. I wonder how it will all come across over radio or webstream without the action being visible. On Thursday, I was very satisfied with the Weber. James Sommerville nailed the horn solos. But I think I know what the BMInt reviewer meant. The Henze seemed to "sorta" fit the elements of the play that it was supposed to illustrate. For a modern piece, it wasn't too tough to take, but it isn't something I'd consider "must hear" music. It's unmelodic.

Listen and decide for yourself over WCRB […] at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time this evening.[…]

Regrettably, the performance detail page is no longer accessible. so we can't review the program notes to see what Henze had in mind for his symphony, although there are a few hints in the Globe review.

Overall, my recommendation is to tune in for the Weber at the beginning and stick around for whatever else interests you.