BSO/Classical New England — 2022/06/18

 Here, courtesy of WCRB, are the basics about this evening's BSO concert rebroadcast, while we wait for the Tanglewood season to begin next month:

Saturday, June 18, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, the Swedish trumpeter is the soloist in Jörg Widmann's "Towards Paradise," a BSO co-commission, and Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler’s vision of nature, life, and transformation, the First Symphony.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet

Jörg WIDMANN Towards Paradise (Labyrinth VI), for trumpet and orchestra (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 1

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Interview With Håkan Hardenberger

Interview With Andris Nelsons

Hear Håkan Hardenberger describe the genesis and challenges of Jörg Widmann's Toward's Paradise in the audio player above.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall in Boston and very pleased that Håkan Hardenberger is back here with us,

The concert was originally performed and broadcast on Nonember 20, 2021, and I wrote about it then. Sorry to say, I don't remember what I thought of it at the time, but the links in my postfrom that date seem to be working, so you can check out the BSO's program notes etc. and the reviews.

For now, I can only add that if you don't like the Widmann, most of you will probably find the Mahler easy listening.

BSO — 2021/11/20

 This week brings the American premiere performances of a piece for trumpet and orchestra. I'm looking forward to hearing it. The Mahler symphony which concludes the concert is pleasant enough, but I'll be on the phone with my brother in Tokyo while they're playing it, so I'll have to wait until the rebroadcast on the 29th to hear it.

Here's the synopsis from the WCRB page:

Saturday, November 20, 2021
8:00 PM

The Swedish trumpeter is the soloist in Jörg Widmann's Towards Paradise, a BSO co-commission, and Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler’s vision of nature, life, and transformation, the First Symphony, Saturday evening at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet

Jörg WIDMANN Towards Paradise (Labyrinth VI), for trumpet and orchestra (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
MAHLER Symphony No. 1

To hear Håkan Hardenberger describe the genesis and challenges of Jörg Widmann's Toward's Paradise, click on the player above (transcript below).

Andris Nelsons describes the connections between Mahler and Widmann (transcript below):

Andris Nelsons on Widmann and Mahler

Transcript of interview with Håkan Hardenberger:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall in Boston and very pleased that Håkan Hardenberger is back here with us

For its part, the BSO offers the following description:

Adventurous Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger has collaborated frequently with Andris Nelsons and the BSO in a range of exciting works. This season he plays the American premiere of a BSO co-commissioned work by Jörg Widmann—the second BSO commission from the prominent German composer. Widmann, himself a noted clarinetist, creates imaginatively dramatic works with deep roots in music history.
The first of Mahler’s nine symphonies employs folk-music references and a conventional four-movement form that have their foundations in Haydn’s time. Its expanded scope and instrumentation are evidence of the genre’s 19th-century transformation as well as Mahler’s own stretching of the form.

The performance page I just quoted also has the usual links, including to the program notes, which you may want to check out. The notes on "Towards Paradise" make it sound more "adventurous" than the interview on the WCRB page.

The Thursday performance was part of my subscription, but I didn't go because I had a meeting to attend, so I can't give you any impressions of my own. I'll be hearing it for the first time this evening. But the reviews are in. The Globe's is tepid, while the Intelligencer is quite pleased. Having read the description of the Widmann piece in the Imtelligencer, I'll be pleasantly surprised if I like it. But I'll give it a chance.

You can give both parts a chance at 8:00 this evening and/or Monday, November 29 over the facilities of WCRB on air or on line.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/03/20

 This evening WCRB rebroadcasts the concert of October 8, 2016. Here's their blurb:

Saturday at 8pm, in a 2016 concert, soprano Camilla Tilling and baritone Thomas Hampson are the soloists in Brahms's meditation on loss and consolation, and Yefim Bronfman is the pianist in Widmann's "Trauermarsch," all conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Saturday, March 20, 2021
8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Camilla Tilling, soprano
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Tanglewood Festival Chorus

WIDMANN Trauermarsch, for piano and orchestra
BRAHMS A German Requiem

And here, suitably edited so as not to mislead, is what I wrote way back then:

Something old following something new: responses to death make up the program from the BSO on Saturday evening. Jörg Widmann had planned to write a four movement piano concerto for Yefim Bronfmanand the Berlin Philharmonic, but the slow introduction to the first movement took over. He set aside any thought of the remainder and developed that intended intro into "Trauermarsch" — Funeral March. After intermission, we get the "German Requiem" of Brahms. Here's what the orchestra's performance detail page […] gives as a summary:

Eminent Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman joins Andris Nelsonsand the BSO in Trauermarsch ("Funeral March") by the German Jörg Widmann, a composer new to the BSO. Writing this concerto-like piece for Bronfman and the Berlin Philharmonic, who premiered it in 2014, Widmann set out deliberately to evoke and engage with music of the Romantic era. A German Requiem, Brahms's largest work, originated with music he wrote following Robert Schumann's attempted suicide in 1854 and seems also to have been connected to the death of the composer's own mother. The result is an utterly personal, scarcely ceremonial Requiem for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus, and orchestra, episodically setting texts chosen by Brahms from the Bible. Its "German"-ness derives partly from the fact that, unlike the traditional Latin Requiem text, Brahms used Martin Luther's German translations of scripture. A German Requiem was the composer's first nearly universal success among his large-scale works, unequivocally fulfilling Schumann's early predictions of Brahms's greatness.

(Some emphasis added.)

I was at Symphony Hall for the Widmann on Thursday, but I didn't stay for the Brahms, partly as a protest against too frequent performances and partly because I had had a procedure performed on my eye just before I left for Boston, and discomfort was growing as the novocaine wore off. I didn't especially enjoy the Widmann piece. Much of it was noisy and without apparent rhyme or reason. Perhaps it will sound better over the radio. Perhaps listening to it a second time will disclose value not apparent at the first hearing. But at this point I don't want to hear it again after this concert. It's good to have a chance to hear new compositions, and I try to attend all world, American, or BSO premieres given by the orchestra, but there are some I hope they'll play again and some I don't.

On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with the Brahms German Requiem. Complaining about its being performed too often is just my personal quirk. I'm sure almost everybody will be pleased to hear it.

Reviews of the concert were noncommittal about the Widmann. The Boston Musical Intelligencer was very pleased with the Brahms, while the Globe found fault here and there.

Listen at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, […] over WCRB. If you'd rather skip the Widmann, be listening by 8:50 to make sure you catch all the Brahms. […]

I may miss it because I'll be out to dinner this evening and might not be back in time for the Widmann, and my kid brother's call from Tokyo will keep me from hearing the Brahms. But I still encourage you to at least catch the Brahms, and if you can stand new music, give the Widmann a try. Read the review in the Intelligencer for its description, if you have time.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/03/21

The BSO has unsurprisingly cancelled the rest of their season, and WCRB has decided to give us BSO concerts six nights a week, beginning on Monday, March 23.. (They have other programming on Sunday evenings, which you might like to check out.) They will be presenting encore broadcasts of concerts conducted by Music Director Andris Nelsons. There's a link on their homepage. While this evening's concert is not listed as part of the series, it is de facto as they present the concert of March 31, 2014.

I posted about it at the time. The performance detail page has this description:

Andris Nelsons leads the American premiere of Partita, a new work co-commissioned by the BSO and the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig from esteemed German composer Jörg Widmann, whose powerful Trauermarschfor piano and orchestra was performed by Maestro Nelsons and the BSO with Yefim Bronfman in the fall of 2016. To conclude this program, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and BSO principal violist Steven Ansell are spotlighted in Richard Strauss's picaresque tour-de-force Don Quixote, a tone poem whose episodes illustrate scenes from Cervantes' famous novel. Opening these concerts is Mozart's brief, rarely performed Symphony No. 23, written in 1773 when he was just seventeen.

(Some emphasis added.)

The links to the reviews in the Boston Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer still work. On WCRB's page about the concert there are links to an audio interview of Yo-Yo Ma and Brian McCreath, and a video of Ma and Andris Nelsons talking about "Don Quixote."

You can hear it over WCRB this evening at 8:00, Boston Time. Enjoy!

BSO — 2018/03/31

Check out the BSO's program detail page for links to information about the concert and performers, as well as this synopsis of the program:

Andris Nelsons leads the American premiere of Partita, a new work co-commissioned by the BSO and the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig from esteemed German composer Jörg Widmann, whose powerful Trauermarsch for piano and orchestra was performed by Maestro Nelsons and the BSO with Yefim Bronfman in the fall of 2016. To conclude this program, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and BSO principal violist Steven Ansell are spotlighted in Richard Strauss's picaresque tour-de-force Don Quixote, a tone poem whose episodes illustrate scenes from Cervantes' famous novel. Opening these concerts is Mozart's brief, rarely performed Symphony No. 23, written in 1773 when he was just seventeen.

(Much emphasis added.)

The reviews are matter-of-fact, descriptive rather than critical. The Globe offers a very nice précis of the new piece and recognizes some good solo playing in all three pieces. The Intelligencer gives more detail about the Widmann, and has more to say about Ma's playing than the brief reference in the Globe. The latter review also tells of the recognition given to three players who are retiring at the end of this season.

I was in church for Holy Thursday when this program was first given, and I'll be there again for the Easter Vigil this evening, followed by my brother's call from Japan. Maybe I'll catch a bit between the two, but mostly I'll have to wait until WCRB rebroadcasts it on April 9 at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. You can catch the live performance this evening at 8:00. It seems the Widmann could be challenging, but the Mozart should be pleasant, and the Strauss is popular.

BSO — 2016/10/08

Something old following something new: responses to death make up the program from the BSO on Saturday evening. Jörg Widmann had planned to write a four movement piano concerto for Yefim Bronfman and the Berlin Philharmonic, but the slow introduction to the first movement took over. He set aside any thought of the remainder and developed that intended intro into "Trauermarsch" — Funeral March. After intermission, we get the "German Requiem" of Brahms. Here's what the orchestra's performance detail page (which also has links to performer bios, program notes, audio previews, and podcasts) gives as a summary:

Eminent Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO in Trauermarsch ("Funeral March") by the German Jörg Widmann, a composer new to the BSO. Writing this concerto-like piece for Bronfman and the Berlin Philharmonic, who premiered it in 2014, Widmann set out deliberately to evoke and engage with music of the Romantic era. A German Requiem, Brahms's largest work, originated with music he wrote following Robert Schumann's attempted suicide in 1854 and seems also to have been connected to the death of the composer's own mother. The result is an utterly personal, scarcely ceremonial Requiem for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus, and orchestra, episodically setting texts chosen by Brahms from the Bible. Its "German"-ness derives partly from the fact that, unlike the traditional Latin Requiem text, Brahms used Martin Luther's German translations of scripture. A German Requiem was the composer's first nearly universal success among his large-scale works, unequivocally fulfilling Schumann's early predictions of Brahms's greatness.

(Some emphasis added.)

I was at Symphony Hall for the Widmann on Thursday, but I didn't stay for the Brahms, partly as a protest against too frequent performances and partly because I had had a procedure performed on my eye just before I left for Boston, and discomfort was growing as the novocaine wore off. I didn't especially enjoy the Widmann piece. Much of it was noisy and without apparent rhyme or reason. Perhaps it will sound better over the radio. Perhaps listening to it a second time will disclose value not apparent at the first hearing. But at this point I don't want to hear it again after this concert. It's good to have a chance to hear new compositions, and I try to attend all world, American, or BSO premieres given by the orchestra, but there are some I hope they'll play again and some I don't.

On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with the Brahms German Requiem. Complaining about it's being performed too often is just my personal quirk. I'm sure almost everybody will be pleased to hear it.

Reviews of the concert were noncommittal about the Widmann. The Boston Musical Intelligencer was very pleased with the Brahms, while the Globe found fault here and there.

Listen at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, on October 8, over WCRB. If you'd rather skip the Widmann, be listening by 8:50 to make sure you catch all the Brahms. Check out their BSO page for the schedule of future broadcasts, and note that most concerts, including this one, are repeated nine days later and become available for on demand listening for a year. There's also a podcast about the concert linked on this page.