BSO — 2025/11/29

 This evening the BSO gives us standard 19th Century music, namely Dvořák's Cello Concerto followed, after intermission, by his Symphony № 8. Here's WCRB's description: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-10/an-all-dvorak-program-with-rachid-ferrandez-and-the-bso

Saturday, November 29, 2025
8:00 PM

Samy Rachid leads the Boston Symphony in an all-Dvořák program, featuring the Czech composer’s folk-inspired Eighth Symphony and his beloved Cello Concerto, with award-winning Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández.

Samy Rachid, conductor
Pablo Ferrández, cello

All-Dvořák program 
Antonín DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8

Pablo Ferrandez appears courtesy of Sony Classical, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

The interviews available on the page should be interesting.

Here's the blurb on the BSO performance detail page, which also has the usual links to performer bios and program notes: https://www.bso.org/events/nov-28-29-dvorak?performance=2025-11-29-20:00

Boston Symphony Orchestra Samy Rachid, conductor Pablo Ferrández, Cello DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto       intermissionDVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8  

Award-winning Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández returns to Symphony Hall to perform one of the most beloved works in the cello repertoire. Written while the composer was living and teaching in the U.S., Dvořák’s Cello Concerto weaves a virtuosic solo line into a rich orchestral tapestry that both pays tribute to and draws inspiration from his Bohemian homeland. The Eighth Symphony is a similarly folk-inspired work, warm and full of charm. Filled with folk dance rhythms and unexpected harmonic shifts, it captures the composer’s deep connection to his home.

If you can't access the bios and program notes via my quote, you'll have to go the the actual BSO page and click on the arrow after the item you want.

I was at the performance in Friday and thought it was very good. The conductor wore a nicely tailored suit, narrow at the waist, and conducted with clear but not excessive gestures to which the orchestra responded well. The enthusiastic review in the Intelligencer https://www.classical-scene.com/2025/11/29/free-range/ expresses it more completely and with pictures so you cab see the suit.

I caught much of Robert Kirzinger's pre-concert talk and he called attention to the prominence of the flute in these pieces, which gives a special interest to Brian McCreath's interview with Lorna McGhee in which they discuss the flute part in the s8th Symphony.

If you can't listen this evening, by all means try to catch the rebroadcast at 8 p.m., Boston Time, on December 8.