BSO — 2024/11/30

.Saturday, November 30, 2024

8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons and the two 2024 Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellows share this concert of Norwegian and Finnish works, beginning with Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia. Then, Benjamin Grosvenor is the soloist in Edvard Grieg’s fiery Piano Concerto, followed by Grieg’s Baroque dance-inspired Holberg Suite. The program concludes with Sibelius’s single-movement Seventh Symphony, the ultimate expression of his personal musical language.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Ross Jamie Collins, Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellow
Na’Zir McFadden, Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellow
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano

Jean SIBELIUS Finlandia
Edvard GRIEG Piano Concerto
GRIEG Holberg Suite
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 7

Hear a preview of the concert with conductors Na'Zir McFadden and Ross Jamie Collins using the player above, and read the transcript below.

Hear Benjamin Grosvenor's conversation with CRB's Cathy Fuller about his recent recording of works by Robert and Clara Schumann and Brahms.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with two conductors from, well, last summer's Tanglewood Music Center, but also many other arenas in which they've conducted, now making their Boston Symphony debuts here at Symphony Hall. Na'Zir McFadden, it's good to see you today. Thank you for your time.

BSO/Classical New England — 2024/11/23

 I forgot to post last week  I had attended on Friday afternoon, and it was a good concert: a Mozart piano concerto and Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, "Pathétique." Catch the replay on Monday evening if you can,

Today we're getting an "encore broadcast" of the concert from last April 6, which WCRB describes as follows:

Saturday, November 23, 2024
8:00pm

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

This concert was originally broadcast on April 6, 2024, and is no longer available on demand.

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):

The program notes are linked at the BSO's own performance detail page:

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. Prometheus premiered in 1911 with future BSO Music Director Serge Koussevitzky, whose 150th birthday year we celebrate in 2024.

I wrote about it at the time (with several typos). Presumably the links to the reviews still work. As you can see, the reviews were hardly raves, but apart from the Wagner (which is a staple on WCRB's regular programming) this is not frequently performed music, so it may be worth listening just to experience something unfamiliar.

I'm guessing that the reason WCRB isn't giving us the live concert is that one of the pieces is accompanied by "lush projections of based on images from [Georgia] O' Keeffe's lifes and work." If I'.m right it's ironic that they decided to replace it with another concert which includes background color changes.

BSO — 2024/11/09

 Now for something (not completely) different, The BSO is giving us a Duke Ellington Anniversary Celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer's  death. WCRB gives us the particulars, along with an interview that explains it all:

Saturday, November 9, 2024
8:00 PM

The BSO and Thomas Wilkins mark the 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington’s death with four of this American musical genius’s symphonically ambitious works, beginning with the orchestral Three Black Kings and Night Creature. Then, pianist Gerald Clayton is the soloist in the optimistic New World A-Coming. And Renese King leads a cast of incredible vocalists in selections from Ellington’s Sacred Concerts, conceived as a parallel to traditional European church music, featuring styles at the core of jazz, including gospel, the blues, and spirituals in a multi-dimensional, oratorio-like presentation.

Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Gerald Clayton, piano
Renese King, vocalist
The Duke Ellington Tribute Singers: Christina DeVaughn, Amy Onyonyi, Carolyn Saxon, Renese King, Karen Tobin-Guild, Laura Vecchione, Michael Bradley, Daon Drisdom, Philip Lima, Davron Monroe, Samuel Moscoso, Donnell Patterson

Duke Ellington Anniversary Celebration

ALL-ELLINGTON PROGRAM

Three Black Kings
Night Creature
New World A-Coming, for piano and orchestra
Selections from the Sacred Concerts

In a preview of this program, conductor Thomas Wilkins describes the way each piece reflects particular aspects of Duke Ellington's musical expression and perspectives on life, spirituality, and art. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Thomas Wilkins, who's back here with the Boston Symphony for a really, really special concert. Thom, thanks so much for your time today. And thanks for talking about Duke Ellington, a fantastic program this week.

Thomas Wilkins Duke Ellington is a great guy to have to talk about, I got to tell you.

Brian McCreath Absolutely. So, let's talk about Duke Ellington in the context of these pieces that you have programmed for this, a kind of specific look at Duke Ellington as the concert composer. You know, we think of Cotton Club and "Mood Indigo," these fantastic parts of the Duke Ellington story. But this is a little different: major pieces that were conceived of as concert pieces, and even with full orchestra in a couple of cases and arranged for full orchestra in every case for the concert.

Until I read the transcript of Brian McCreaths interview with Thomas Wilkins, I thought that Duke Ellington's music was more appropriate for a Boston Pops concert. Clearly, when it comes to this program I was wrong.

In the BSO's performance detail page we find useful links to the program notes for each piece as well as the following brief overall description:

Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Gerald Clayton, piano
Renese King, vocalist
The Duke Ellington Tribute Singers
Christina DeVaughn, Amy Onyonyi, Carolyn Saxon, Renese King, Karen Tobin-Guild, Laura Vecchione, Michael Bradley, Daon Drisdom, Philip Lima, Davron Monroe, Samuel Moscoso, Donnell Patterson

ALL-ELLINGTON PROGRAM
Three Black Kings
Night Creature
New World A-Coming, for piano and orchestra
-Intermission-
Selection from the Sacred Concerts

The BSO and Thomas Wilkins mark the 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington’s death with three of this American musical genius’ symphonically ambitious “Tone Parallels” — his personal take on the tone poem; Gerald Clayton is soloist in the optimistic New World A-Coming. Ellington’s three Sacred Concerts of 1965, 1968, and 1973, conceived as a parallel to traditional European church music, feature styles at the core of jazz, including gospel, the blues, and spirituals in a multidimensional, oratorio-like presentation.

The Globe reviewer had no complaints, and the Intelligencer is highly favorable.

I wasn't there to hear it on Thursday or Friday, so I'm definitely looking forward to listening to this evening's performance.

BSO/Classical New England — 2024/11/02

 This evening there is no live BSO concert. The Boston Pops is giving a show for Dia de Muertos — lots of Latino music around All Souls Day. Rather than broadcast that, WCRB is giving us an encore broadcast, which they describe as follows:

Saturday, November 2, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast of Saturday, March 2, 2024

Finnish conductor John Storgårds leads the first of two BSO programs in the Music of the Midnight Sun festival, an exploration of Nordic music and storytelling. Outi Tarkiainen’s Midnight Sun Variations transports you to her homeland of Finland. Evoking similarly vivid soundscapes, the BSO performs three tone poems by Jean Sibelius based on Finnish legends. And Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto makes his BSO debut in the orchestra’s first-ever performances of the great Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s Violin Concerto.

John Storgårds, conductor
Pekka Kuusisto, violin

Outi TARKIAINEN Midnight Sun Variations 
Carl NIELSEN Violin Concerto
Jean SIBELIUS The Oceanides and The Bard
SIBELIUS Tapiola

This concert is no longer available on demand.

To hear a preview of Nielsen's Violin Concerto with Pekka Kuusisto, use the player above and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath. I'm at Symphony Hall with Pekka Kuusisto, who is here with the Boston Symphony for the very first time. Pekka, thank you 

The orchestra's performance detail page is a bit more expressive, and it has the usual links to performer bios and program notes:

Outi TARKIAINEN Midnight Sun Variations 
NIELSEN Violin Concerto
Intermission
SIBELIUS The Oceanides and The Bard
SIBELIUS Tapiola

The music and culture of Finland permeate Symphony Hall in this concert. Finnish conductor John Storgårds leads the first program in our Music of the Midnight Sun series, an exploration of Nordic storytelling and music. Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen’s nuanced and colorful Midnight Sun Variations transport you to her homeland. Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto debuts with the BSO as the orchestra performs the great Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s 1911 Violin Concerto for the first time. The program closes with three of Jean Sibelius’s tone poems based on Finnish legends, their moods ranging from sweeping power to contemplative mystery.

I wrote about in advance of the performance. At that time there were no reviews available, but afterwards a descrriptive and enthusiastic review appeared in the Intelligencer.

I don't remember how I felt about it all back then, but now, as then, I'm looking forward to hearing it.