BSO/Classical New England — 2022/12/31

 Between being busy and being away, I've failed to post for several weeks, but here's what WCRB is offering this evening in the 8:00 p.m. time slot: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2021-12-21/a-new-years-day-celebration

Saturday, December 31, 2022
8:00 PM

Ring in the new year with CRB and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with timeless waltzes by Lanner and Strauss and Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll," capped off with Beethoven's eternal Symphony No. 9 — all conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Erich Leinsdorf, conductor

Jane Marsh, soprano
Josephine Veasey, mezzo-soprano
Placido Domingo, tenor
Sherrill Milnes, baritone

Joseph LANNER "Die Mozartisten" Waltzes
WAGNER Siegfried Idyll
MOZART Flute Quartet in D, K. 285: III. Rondo (Boston Symphony Chamber Players)
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9, Choral
STRAUSS II, arr. SCHOENBERG Roses from the South (Boston Symphony Chamber Players)

This concert was originally broadcast on January 1, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

Obviously, the performance wasn't given on January 1, 2022. Apparently WCRB put it together for that Saturday and decided it was worth a replay. It should be worth a listen.

The Orchestra will be back performing live next week.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/12/03

 Now it's Holiday Pops time at Symphony Hall, so WCRB is giving us rebroadcasts. Here's this evening's program as given on their website:

Saturday, December 3, 2022
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast of the first of three programs encompassing Beethoven’s piano concertos, Paul Lewis is the soloist in the Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, alongside the world premiere of “Makeshift Castle,” by Julia Adolphe, all conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano

Julia ADOLPHE Makeshift Castle (world premiere; BSO co-commission)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3

Franz SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759, Unfinished: II. Andante con moto
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra
Nicolò Foron, conductor
Recorded on July 11, 2022, at the Koussevitzky Music Shed.

This concert was originally broadcast on July 29, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

It looks as if the Adolphe and Beethoven were one concert, and the Schubert is part of abother, and WCRB is adding the Schubert to round out the evening,Regrettably, I didn't post about either of the concerts. I was away on retreat on July 11, and I forgot to post about July 29. I think they"ll be giving us the July 30 and 31 over the next two weekends, and I did post about them back then. But for now, here's a quote from a review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer when they performed the Adolphe work again in October:

Accessible and fun Makeshift Castle by Julia Adolphe — a BSO co-commission — played on contrasts between inexorable brass and diverse and quiet orchestral textures. In her introduction, the composer pithily articulated a “contrast between permanence and ephemerality,” and indeed those fateful brass sounds persisted in the memory; no subsequent artifice could shake it off. Gorgeous pianissimo muted violins, harp interludes, auditory exciting exchanges between the piano and the bongo drums: the shimmering sonic smorgasbord took advantage of the technical might of the full BSO band. But any hope for resolution awaited subsequent works due to lucky or extremely clever program structure.

There is a fuller description of the piece in the program note from the BSO performance detail page.

So it seems "Makeshift Castle" will be okay, and of course the Beethoven and Schubert are well worth hearing.