BSO — 2021/11/27

 It's all Brahms this evening. First we get what may be my favorite piece by Brahms. You may be thinking, after all I've said about Brahms, that that's not saying much, but I really like it. It's his Serenade No. 2, which I first heard in a concert conducted by James Levine 10 or more years ago and loved at first hearing. Then after intermission they'll play the First Symphony. Here's what we find on WCRB's page:

Saturday, November 27, 2021
8:00 PM

The Boston Symphony's Music Director leads the orchestra through the rustic serenity of the German composer's Serenade No. 2, as well as his roiling and triumphant First Symphony.

Andris Nelsons, conductor

BRAHMS Serenade No. 2
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

To hear Andris Nelsons preview the concert and describe his experiences of Thanksgiving in America, click on the player above.

Transcript: 

Brian McCreath Let's talk about Brahms and the program for Thanksgiving weekend, here in the U.S., and tell me

As always the link to the audio of the interview and the full transcript are available on the page I've linked and quoted.

The BSO's own program page says

Andris Nelsons leads an all-Brahms program pairing early and mid-career orchestral works. Concerned with living up to Beethoven’s precedent in the genre, Brahms labored on his First Symphony for twenty years before finally allowing it to see the light of day in 1876. With references to Beethoven, Brahms clearly places himself in the great German symphonic tradition. The warm and idyllic Serenade No. 2, written in 1859, is a five-movement work that omits violins, creating strong contrasts between strings and woodwinds. This lovely piece was dedicated to Brahms’s lifelong friend Clara Schumann.

The usual links are also available there.

I didn't hear this concert in the earlier performances, so we have only the reviews to tell us how well they did. The reviwer in the Intelligencer considers the Serenade itself insufficiently weighty, although he has no complaint about how it was performed. As for the Symphony, he found fault with Maestro Nelsons' handling of the first movement, but all was well thereafter. The Globe review is happy with everything.

It seems we are in for an wnjoyable concert at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time this evening with a rebroadcast at the same time on December 6. Enjoy.

BSO — 2021/11/20

 This week brings the American premiere performances of a piece for trumpet and orchestra. I'm looking forward to hearing it. The Mahler symphony which concludes the concert is pleasant enough, but I'll be on the phone with my brother in Tokyo while they're playing it, so I'll have to wait until the rebroadcast on the 29th to hear it.

Here's the synopsis from the WCRB page:

Saturday, November 20, 2021
8:00 PM

The Swedish trumpeter is the soloist in Jörg Widmann's Towards Paradise, a BSO co-commission, and Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler’s vision of nature, life, and transformation, the First Symphony, Saturday evening at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet

Jörg WIDMANN Towards Paradise (Labyrinth VI), for trumpet and orchestra (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
MAHLER Symphony No. 1

To hear Håkan Hardenberger describe the genesis and challenges of Jörg Widmann's Toward's Paradise, click on the player above (transcript below).

Andris Nelsons describes the connections between Mahler and Widmann (transcript below):

Andris Nelsons on Widmann and Mahler

Transcript of interview with Håkan Hardenberger:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall in Boston and very pleased that Håkan Hardenberger is back here with us

For its part, the BSO offers the following description:

Adventurous Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger has collaborated frequently with Andris Nelsons and the BSO in a range of exciting works. This season he plays the American premiere of a BSO co-commissioned work by Jörg Widmann—the second BSO commission from the prominent German composer. Widmann, himself a noted clarinetist, creates imaginatively dramatic works with deep roots in music history.
The first of Mahler’s nine symphonies employs folk-music references and a conventional four-movement form that have their foundations in Haydn’s time. Its expanded scope and instrumentation are evidence of the genre’s 19th-century transformation as well as Mahler’s own stretching of the form.

The performance page I just quoted also has the usual links, including to the program notes, which you may want to check out. The notes on "Towards Paradise" make it sound more "adventurous" than the interview on the WCRB page.

The Thursday performance was part of my subscription, but I didn't go because I had a meeting to attend, so I can't give you any impressions of my own. I'll be hearing it for the first time this evening. But the reviews are in. The Globe's is tepid, while the Intelligencer is quite pleased. Having read the description of the Widmann piece in the Imtelligencer, I'll be pleasantly surprised if I like it. But I'll give it a chance.

You can give both parts a chance at 8:00 this evening and/or Monday, November 29 over the facilities of WCRB on air or on line.

BSO — 2021/11/13

 This evening's BSO concert is well worth hearing. I was there on Thursday and really enjoyed it. Here's the synopsis from WCRB:

Saturday, November 13, 2021
8:00 PM

BSO Principal Clarinetist William R. Hudgins is the soloist in Mozart’s timeless Clarinet Concerto, and Roderick Cox leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony, tonight at 8pm.

Roderick Cox, conductor
William R. Hudgins, clarinet

MOZART Clarinet Concerto
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, Scottish

To hear a preview with Roderick Cox, including his approach to Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony and the career trajectory that led to his BSO debut, click on the player above, and read the transcript below.

Hear BSO Principal Clarinetist William R. Hudgins describe what makes Mozart's Clarinet Concerto timeless, as well as his earliest experiences of playing in the Boston Symphony: 

bso211113-hudgins-edit.mp3

Transcript of Roderick Cox interview:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Roderick Cox, who's here with the Boston Symphony for the very first time

Don't miss the interview with Roderick Cox. You don't expect Otis Redding, much less college drinking games, to come up in something like this. I read the transcript, but I'm sure the audio would be good to hear as well.

The BSO gives a bit more background on their page (not sure what to call it now):

American conductor Roderick Cox, makes his BSO debut leading BSO Principal Clarinet William Hudgins in Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Concerto. One of the composer’s last major works, it was written for his clarinetist friend Anton Stadler, perhaps the greatest master of the instrument of his time. Felix Mendelssohn’s always fresh Symphony No. 3, Scottish, was inspired by a long trip to the British Isles in his early twenties, but it wasn’t until more than a decade later that he finally completed this dramatic but classically balanced symphony.

That page also has links to performer bios and the program notes. As noted there, Ton Koopman was originally scheduled to conduct, but travel restrictions forced him to cancel, and they were able to get Roderick Cox to step in and make his debut with the BSO.

At Thursday's performance it was clear that he knew what he wanted from the orchestra, especially in the Mendelssohn: he wasn't just setting the tempo. He was communicating the dynamics (often seeming to remind them not to get too loud) as well. To me, it seemed to be an auspicious debut.

The review in the Globe was favorable. The one in the Intelligencer also says that Maestro Cox should be brought back for more appearances.

What more do I need to say? I enjoyed it, and I think you will too, if you listen tonight at 8:00 (and/or Monday, Nov. 22, or "on demand" when available).

BSO — 2021/11/06

Two "warhorses" make up this evening's concert. Before intermission we have Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. The reviewer in the Globe says the soloist, Beatrice Rana, takes a somewhat different approach to it than most performers. In the interview on the WCRB she says she likes to look at the score without assuming the way other people have performed it — she wants to fet as close to Tchaikovsky as possible without the filter of others' interpretations. After the intermission, they give us the Seventh Symphony by Dvořák. Here are the basics, along with the interview, from WCRB:

Saturday, November 6, 2021
8:00 PM

The Italian pianist is the soloist in the sweeping epic of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and Dima Slobodeniouk leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, Saturday night at 8pm.

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Beatrice Rana, piano

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7

To hear Beatrice Rana describe her experiences with Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, as well as what Chopin's music has meant to her during the pandemic, click on the player above.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath from WCRB at Symphony Hall with Beatrice Rana, 

The BSO's performance detail page has been completely reworked. It;s going to take me a while to get used to it. But it seems that the usual links are still there if you look for them.   It gives us the following:

Exciting Italian pianist Beatrice Rana plays the towering Piano Concerto No. 1 in her BSO debut in concerts led by Russian conductor Dima Slobodeniouk. One of the most popular and evergreen concertos in the repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s piece never fails to please with its combination of virtuoso fireworks and soaring melody. The concert concludes with Dvořák’s darkly majestic Symphony No. 7, which reveals both his love for his native Bohemia and the influence of his mentor, Johannes Brahms.

I wasn't there on Thursday, so you'll have to take the word of the reviewers in the Globe and the Musical Intelligencer. They think it's worth hearing: a fresh take on the familiar works.

Enjoy.