Tanglewood — 2021/08/07-08

 This weekend we get famous string players Joshua Bell and Yo-Yo Ma in concerts featuring Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

Saturday, August 7, 2021. As usual, WCRB gives us the basics:

Saturday night at 8pm live from Tanglewood, Joshua Bell makes his return to the BSO’s summer home as the soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, and Herbert Blomstedt is the guest conductor for the Symphony No. 7.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 7

(Emphasis added.)

Two great pieces with a top-notch soloist and a remarkable conductor (a Massachusetts-born nonagenarian Swede) should make for a not-to-be-missed evening of musical enjoyment. Further information, if desired, is available via the links at the BSO's performance detail page. I may even leave the radio on in the background when my brother calls from Tokyo.

Sunday, August 8, 2021. The concert will be played at 2:30, and WCRB will transmit it at 7:00 Boston Time. Once more, we go to WCRB for a brief summary:

The American conductor [Karina Canellakis] makes her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut in a program featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, plus a work by Missy Mazzoli, Sunday night at 7pm.

Karina Canellakis, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Missy MAZZOLI Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)
TCHAIKOVSKY Variations on a Rococo Theme, for cello and orchestra
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

(Some emphasis added.)

In my book, Tchaikovsky is not quite at Beethoven's level, and I don't think I've heard of the conductor, but this should still be worth hearing. The program note for the Mazzoli piece, makes it sound "interesting." Using a bunch of harmonicas seems gimmicky and frivolous, We'll see if it turns out to be any good, but I have lowered expectations. You can read the program note via the link at the performance detail page.