BSO — 2022/11/26

 The orchestra is back from Japan. WCRB tells us what they'll play for our entertainment this evening:

Saturday, November 26, 2022
8:00 PM

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina conducts the suite from Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Inon Barnatan is the soloist in the crown-jewel of Rachmaninoff’s works, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano

Elena LANGER Figaro Gets a Divorce Suite
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Modest MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, pianist Inon Barnatan describes his love for Rachmaninoff's music, how the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is unique among the composer's works for piano, and what he's learned as Music Director of the La Jolla SummerFest. To listen, used the player above, or read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Inon Barnatan, who is back with the BSO for the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, one of my

As usual, if you go to their page you can find a link to the audio of the interview as well as the full transcript.

The BSO' own performance detail page gives the following blurb as well as links to the program notes that are in the booklets given to the audience:

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina leads pianist Inon Barnatan in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s last piano-and-orchestra work, featuring both astonishing virtuoso passages and Rachmaninoff’s best-known melody. The orchestral suite from composer Elena Langer’s witty and touching opera Figaro Gets a Divorce is by turns mysterious, songful, and jazzy. Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, orchestrated brilliantly by Maurice Ravel, is a magical response to marvelous paintings.

As the program note informs us, the "Figaro Gets a Divorce" Suite was performed at Tanglewood in 2021. I think I heard it then, and I seem to remember it was okay, but nothing to write home about. The other two pieces on the program are "warhorses."

The Intelligencer has a mixed review of Friday's performance. I can't find a review in the Globe.

Well, the Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff pieces have stood the test of time (even if they aren't the greatest thing since sliced bread), so you might as well listen to them. Nothing there to drive you screaming from the room.

I hope there will be a rebroadcast at 8:00 p.m. on December 5. There usually is a retransmission when it's a live concert on a Saturday, although they don't actually promise it this time. We'll see.