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.