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.