BSO — 2024/04/27

 This evening's Boston Symphony concert could be challenging or fun, depending on which review you believe. Before we get to the reviews, here's what WCRB says:

Saturday, April 27, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, May 6

BSO Principal Trumpet Thomas Rolfs is the soloist in Detlev Glanert’s Trumpet Concerto, an eclectic, dramatic work commissioned for and premiered by Rolfs in 2019. The concert opens with a new work by one of the greatest living composers, Sofia Gubaidulina’s The Wrath of God, dedicated to Beethoven, and closes with Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4, commissioned by longtime BSO Music Director Serge Koussevitzky for the orchestra’s 50th anniversary in 1931.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Thomas Rolfs, trumpet

Sofia GUBAIDULINA The Wrath of God (American premiere)
Detlev GLANERT Trumpet Concerto
Sergei PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 4

In a preview of Detlev Glanert's Trumpet Concerto, the composer and the soloist, BSO Principal Trumpeter Thomas Rolfs, describe the very personal expressions of emotion, first inspired by Glanert's friend and mentor, composer Oliver Knussen, that are woven throughout the score and through Rolfs's performances. To hear the interview with CRB's Brian McCreath, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Thomas Rolfs, principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony, and Detlev Glanert, the composer

Turning to the BSO's performance detail page, we read the following:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Thomas Rolfs, trumpet 

Sofia GUBAIDULINA The Wrath of God 
Detlev GLANERT Trumpet Concerto
Intermission
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 4, Op. 47 (original version)

Thursday evening’s performance is supported by Hemenway & Barnes LLP.
Thursday evening's performance by Thomas Rolfs is supported by Dr. Kenan E. Sahin and Andrea TN Sahin.
Friday afternoon's concert is supported by the Gilbert Family

The program begins with the American premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s musically and spiritually forceful Wrath of God, a 2019 work dedicated to Beethoven that Andris Nelsons recorded with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. BSO principal trumpet Thomas Rolfs is the soloist in Detlev Glanert’s Trumpet Concerto, an eclectic, dramatic work commissioned for and premiered by Rolfs in 2019. The program concludes with Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4, commissioned by longtime BSO music director Serge Koussevitzky for the orchestra’s 50th anniversary in 1931.

As always, there are links to the program notes for each of the pieces, and they could be well worth reading.

The Globe review is lukewarm and suggests that much of the evening's music could be challenging. The Intelligencer's reviewer finds no difficulty in an interesting and enjoyable evening. I guess the only thing to do is listen and decide for ourselves.

BSO — 2024/04/20

 This evening the BSO will give us a couple of pieces from the standard repertory along with one unfamiliar item to open. Here's the summary from WCRB:

Saturday, April 20, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, April 29

Hilary Hahn returns to Symphony Hall and the Boston Symphony as the soloist in the Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms. The program, led by Andris Nelsons, also includes Mozart’s charming, lesser-known Symphony No. 33 and Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s orchestrally imaginative Archora, inspired by the primordial energy of her Icelandic homeland.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Archora 
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART Symphony No. 33
Johannes BRAHMS Violin Concerto

To hear a preview of Brahms's Violin Concerto with Hilary Hahn, as well as her reflections of her #100daysofpractice Instagram series, use the player above and read the transcript below.

Hear more from Hilary Hahn, with Jeremy Siegel, on GBH's Morning Edition.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Hilary Hahn, who has returned to the Boston Symphony for the Violin 

The BSO performance detail page has the following overall description:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Hilary Hahn, violin 

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Archora
MOZART Symphony No. 33
Intermission
BRAHMS Violin Concerto

[…]

Opening the program is Wolfgang Mozart’s charming Symphony No. 33, followed by Anna Thorvaldsdottir's monumental work Archora, a recording of which was named among the best of 2023 by the Boston Globe, New York Times, and NPR. Closing the program, international star Hilary Hahn is soloist in one of the greatest works in the repertoire: Brahms’s Violin Concerto. Brahms composed this rich, lyrical work in 1878 for, and with the advice of, his friend Joseph Joachim, a towering virtuoso of the age. 

The program notes are all linked, and could be interesting previews.

The program wasn't part of my subscription, so I can't give you any personal impressions. The review in the Globe was favorable and gives an encouraging overview of the Thorvaldsdottir piece. The Intelligencer is also favorable, with a more detailed description of the Thorvaldsdottir.

All in all, this semms like a concert worth hearing.

BSO — 2024/04/13

 A single work makes up this evening's concert, as WCRB tells us:

Saturday, April 13, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, April 22

French composer Olivier Messiaen was famously synesthetic, “hearing” colors as harmony and seeing colors in sound. Turangalîla-symphonie summed up the composer’s passions for nature, birdsong, Catholicism, Eastern philosophy and music, and romantic love as embodied in the legend of Tristan and Isolde. Andris Nelsons conducts, Yuja Wang plays the work’s substantial piano part, and Cécile Lartigau performs the rarely heard ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument invented in 1925.

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Yuja Wang, piano 
Cécile Lartigau, ondes Martenot 

Olivier MESSIAEN Turangalîla-symphonie

Here's the link to the BSO performance detail page,where you can follow the link to the program note. Messiaen's own description of the parts which is there may help. They summarize:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Yuja Wang, piano 
Cécile Lartigau, ondes Martenot

MESSIAEN Turangalîla-symphonie

French composer Olivier Messiaen was famously synesthetic, “hearing” colors as harmony and seeing colors in sound. The Turangalîla-symphonie summed up the composer’s passions for nature, birdsong, Catholicism, Eastern philosophy, music, and romantic love as embodied in the legend of Tristan and Isolde; in this concert, Andris Nelsons leads this work that the BSO premiered in 1949 under Leonard Bernstein’s baton. The brilliant Yuja Wang takes on the work’s hefty piano part and Cécile Lartigau performs on the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument. Turangalîla was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky. 

There are favorable reviews in the Globe and in the Intelligencer.

I hadn't really expected to enjoy it yesterday, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is pretty cacophonous at times, but not terribly off-putting; and there are calm passages as well. So I recommend giving it a try. I'll be listening this evening and again on the 22nd if I'm free.

BSO — 2024/04/06

 Tonight the BSO gives a program I don't care much about, but you may find it interesting. Here's the scoop from WCRB's webpage:

Saturday, April 6, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, April 15

The first program in the BSO’s Music for the Senses festival centers on Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire, in which the composer depicts the evolution of human consciousness. Also on the program are Anna Clyne’s Color Field, inspired in part by the vibrancy of the Mark Rothko 1961 painting Orange, Red, Yellow, Richard Wagner’s ecstatic Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, and Franz Liszt’s Prometheus.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Anna CLYNE Color Field
Richard WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Franz LISZT Prometheus
Alexander SCRIABIN Prometheus, Poem of Fire, for piano, color organ, chorus, and orchestra

To hear a preview of Scriabin's Prometheus, Poem of Fire with pianist Yefim Bronfman, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Sym

You'll note that apart from the opening piec, it's all pre WWI music.

As always, we get more from the BSO's performance detail page:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Yefim Bronfman, piano 
Anna Gawboy, lighting research
Justin Townsend, lighting designer
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
 James Burton, conductor

Anna CLYNE Color Field 
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Intermission
LISZT Prometheus 
SCRIABIN Prometheus, Poem of Fire, for piano, color organ, chorus, and orchestra

This week's performances by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus are supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

A program of color: It opens with Anna Clyne’s Color Field, inspired in part by the vibrancy of a Mark Rothko painting. Followed by Richard Wagner’s ecstatic Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, and Franz Liszt’s Prometheus. The program closes with Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire. When Alexander Scriabin wrote Prometheus, Poem of Fire, he conceived of a “light organ” that would project colors corresponding to his music. Prometheuspremiered in 1911 with future BSO Music Director Serge Koussevitzky, whose 150th birthday year we celebrate in 2024.

See the linked program notes for more information about each piece.

The review in the Intelligencer tells about what went on with the colors, but the reviewer was not very pleased with the perforance, especially the Wagner. The Globe was tepid.

I'll probably have a lie-down with the radio on while this plays, and loook forward to hearing the rebroadcast on April 15.