BSO/Classical New England — 2021/12/18

 This evening WCRB is giving us the Juky 25 concert from Tanglewood. Here's what they've posted about it:

Saturday, December 18, 2021
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast from the 2021 Tanglewood season, Yefim Bronfman returns to the Berkshires as the soloist in Beethoven’s impassioned Piano Concerto No. 3, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a rhapsodic work by Iman Habibi, tonight at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

Iman HABIBI Jeder Baum spricht
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4

Hear an interview with Yefim Bronfman and CRB's Brian McCreath in the audio player above.

The link to the interview is here: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2021-06-11/bronfman-harnessing-the-power-of-beethoven

Here's what I said about it in advance:

Sunday, July 25, 2021.  There will be two "warhorses" of the repertoire on Sunday after we sit through a new piece. Here's WCRB's synopsis:

Sunday, July 25, 2021
7:00 PM

Yefim Bronfman returns to the Berkshires as the soloist in Beethoven’s impassioned Piano Concerto No. 3, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a rhapsodic work by Iman Habibi, Sunday at 7pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

Iman HABIBI Jeder Baum spricht
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4

(Some emphasis added.)

You can't go wrong with Beethoven piano concertos and Schumann symphonies. The program note for "Jeder Baum spricht" — which you can find via the link on the performance detail page — doesn't give me great hope. When a contemporary composer is inspired by one of the classical masters, it's never as good as the original. Sometimes it turns out to be something I'd like to hear one more time or even become familiar with, but more often once is enough or too much (which is also true of new pieces in general). The thing is, you never know until you've listened to it that first time. So I'll have WCRB on at [8:00].

As I noted last week, the BSO has decided to make their performance detail pages fram last summer at Tanglewood inaccessible, so I'm afraid you won't be able to see the program note for "Jeder Baum spricht" or anything else on the program. The brief review in the Musical Intelligencer tells us a bit about "Jeder Baum spricht" and has good words for the performance of the Beetoven and the Schumann. I haven't found a review of the conert in the Globe, but here is an interview with the composer. I heard the piece when it was broadcast last July, but I have no clear memory of it. I don't think I was very favorably impressed. But it's short, and the reast of the show should be good. So I'll give it a listen until my brother calls from Japan.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/12/11

 This evening we can hear a rebroadcast of the Tanglewood concert of Sunday, August 8, 2021, which saw the conductor's debut with the BSO and a new piece (not a world premiere, though). IT also included two pieces by Tchaikovsky, with Yo-Yo Ma soloing in one. WCRB gives specifics:

Saturday, December 11, 2021
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast from the 2021 Tanglewood season, the American conductor 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, Saturday at 8pm.

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

I posted about it at the time. In my post, I referenced the BSO's program note on their performance detail page. Try as I might, I can't get to the note via the link in my post. It seems the BSO as decided to make material from last summer's Tanglewood season inaccessible to the public.

At the time, I thought the Mazzoli piece was okay — decent background music for the dinner hour. The Boston Musical Intelligencer has a favorable review of the concert, as does the Boston Globe.

So this should be an enjoyable evening.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/12/04

 The BSO is off for December, and Holiday Pops has taken over Symphony Hall. WCRB will treat us to a performance of Holiday Pops on Sunday, December 19. On Saturdays we will, as usual, have rebroadcasts of earlier concerts. This week it will be the August 14, 2021 concert from Tanglewood, with a piece from August 2 added. WCRB tells us:

Saturday, December 4, 2021
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast from the 2021 Tanglewood season, the BSO Assistant Conductor leads Elgar’s "Enigma" Variations, Elena Langer’s "Figaro Gets a Divorce," and Ravel’s jazz-infused Piano Concerto in G, with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Saturday night at 8pm.

Recorded on Aug. 14, 2021, at the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Elena LANGER Suite from Figaro Gets a Divorce
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G
William Grant STILL Darker America (Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Adam Hickox, conductor; Aug. 2, 2021)
ELGAR Enigma Variations

Learn more about this concert and listen to interviews at the Tanglewood Learning Institute online.

I wrote about the August 14 concert back then. WCRB wasn't broadcasting the Friday concerts last summer because the BSO wasn't doing the playing. So I have nothing specific about the Still piece they're interpolating. My general impression, though, is that Still is pretty good, so it'll probably be worth hearing.

The August 14 concert was favorably reviewed in the Intelligencer and in the Globe.

So it seems we're in for a good evening of pre-recorded music from the BSO. Enjoy.