BSO — 2025/03/15

 This evening the BSO starts with a staple of the repertoire and finishes with two less familiar pieces, as WCRB tells us:

Saturday, March 15, 2025
8:00 PM

Guest conductor Teddy Abrams leads the BSO and soloist Ray Chen in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, the first work the composer completed after his separation from his disastrous marriage. 120 years later, Michael Tilson Thomas lovingly set three of Walt Whitman poems about longing and belonging for baritone and orchestra. Leonard Bernstein’s star-crossed lovers closes the program in an iconic love letter to New York.

Teddy Abrams, conductor
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Ray Chen, violin

Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
Michael TILSON THOMAS Whitman Songs
Leonard BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

In a preview of this program, Teddy Abrams describes his close relationship with Michael Tilson Thomas, the thematic threads that weave through these three pieces of music, and ideas about the role of orchestras in the lives of the cities in which they perform. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Teddy Abrams, who is here in Boston

The orchestra's own performance detail page adds one factoid and gets the verb correct (plural) in the final sentence:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Teddy Abrams, conductor
Ray Chen, violin
Dashon Burton, baritone

TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
-Intermission-
Michael TILSON THOMAS Whitman Songs
BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Ray Chen plays Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto, the first work the composer completed after his separation from his disastrous marriage and a piece he almost dedicated to his student – and likely lover and inspiration, Iosif Kotek. 120 years later, Michael Tilson Thomas lovingly set three of Walt Whitman poems about longing and belonging for baritone and orchestra. Leonard Bernstein’s star-crossed lovers close the program in an iconic love letter to New York and love itself.

Regrettably, this week they refuse to share the program notes.

The review in the Globe is scathing about the violinist and his antics, but generally favorable with regard to the post-intermission music. The Intelligencer, OTOH, found no problem with the violinist's performance, and, apart from balance problems in the first Whitman Song, was happy with how they all did.

Of course, you don't get to see the goings-on; hearing should be worthwhile.