Saturday, May 28, 2022

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/05/28

 This evening, while we wait for the BSO's Tanglewood season to begin, WCRB rebroadcasts the concert of October 30. Here's the outline from their page:

Saturday, May 28, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, the celebrated electric bassist is the soloist in his own concerto, La Lección Tres, and the BSO's Thomas Wilkins conducts music from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha and Duke Ellington’s The River.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Victor Wooten, electric bass

Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Suite from the ballet Hiawatha
Victor WOOTEN La Lección Tres, for electric bass and orchestra
Duke ELLINGTON Suite from The River

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Hear conductor Thomas Wilkins describe his longtime friendship with Victor Wooten, why Coleridge-Taylor's ballet music for Hiawatha is a relatively new discovery, and Ellington is a natural fit for the BSO with the audio player above (transcript below).

In a conversation with WCRB's Brian McCreath, Victor Wooten describes the artistic opportunities of bringing his musical voice to the symphony orchestra, and why he's perfectly comfortable being out of his comfort zone

It seems that I didn't post about it back then, nor do I recall hearing it. I just remembered: that was the weekend I was in the hospital being pumped full of antibiotics to cure my cellulitis. Let's see if I can find reviews.

The Intelligencer urges us not to miss the Wooten piece and is pleased with the whole concert. The Globe reviewer is equally enthusiastic.

So I guess this is worth hearing. 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, this evening.


Saturday, May 21, 2022

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/05/21

 Per WCRB:

Saturday, May 21, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, in a celebration of the composer's 90th birthday, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Sofia Gubaidulina's "The Light of the End," as well as Rachmaninoff’s powerfully dramatic Third Symphony.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor

Sofia GUBAIDULINA The Light of the End
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 3

Hear a preview of Gubaidulina's The Light of the End with Andris Nelsons and CRB's Brian McCreath with the audio player above.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath [00:00:00] I'm Brian McCreath from WCRB, at Symphony Hall with Andris Nelsons. And this really amazing program

They forgot to mention that this is a rebroadcast of the concert of October 23, 2021. I posted about it back then, and I don't have anything to add now.

Enjoy.

Saturday, May 7, 2022

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/05/07

 This evening, while the BSO is on break for a few weeks, WCRB takes us to the BSO's "golden grooveyard." In other words (from WCRB):

Saturday, May 7, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, it's an evening dedicated to the BSO's rich recording discography, centered on Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 2 and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 with Music Director Andris Nelsons, plus works by Thomas Adès and Ferruccio Busoni.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor

Thomas Adès, conductor (Adès)
Kirill Gerstein, piano (Adès, Busoni)

Sakari Oramo, conductor (Busoni)

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture
Thomas ADÈS Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: I. Allegramente
Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No. 2
Ferruccio BUSONI Piano Concerto in C: IV. Tarantella
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 1

Recordings courtesies of Deutsche Grammophon, BSO Classics, Oberlin Music, and Myrios.

What more can I say? Since it's not a concert, there are no reviews, nor a BSO performance detail page. I can't say any of these pieces are favorites of mine, but I'll probably leave the radio on. Of course "everybody" likes Brahms.