BSO/Classical New England — 2018/05/19

This week's encore broadcast is the concert of September 30, 2017. It consists of Piano Concerto No. 4 by Beethoven and Symphony No. 11 by Shostakovich. My post at the time had links to the orchestra's program detail page, as well as to reviews in the local publications. Neither of them had any serious complaints. I recommend listening this evening at 8:00 EDST via WCRB on line or on air. They also offer a link to an interview with Paul Lewis, the pianist, and Andris Nelsons, the conductor. They also have links to additional information about their other programming (including a performance of "HMS Pinafore" on Sunday). The BSO performance detail page, accessible via my post, also gives background material as usual.

It appears from WCRB's program schedule that they are not giving the repeat on a later Monday, as they do after the original broadcast.

A Concert in Rockport

Last Sunday, May 13, there was a concert I wanted to attend in Rockport. The Boston Artists Ensemble was presenting, inter alia, a new work which they had commissioned, "Songs Without Words,"* by Scott Wheeler. It's a three movement piece for cello and piano which the composer also calls "Cello Sonata #2." I would have liked to be present for the world premier on April 20, but I was in Colorado for a wedding that weekend. I was glad that there was this chance to hear it performed by the original performers, including the dedicatee.

Getting there was an adventure. I hadn't been to Rockport in over 60 years and had no memory of the town, so several days earlier I got directions to the Rockport Music Shalin Liu Performance Center. Unfortunately, I  neglected to print out the map. I had no trouble getting to downtown Rockport in good time, just as I had planned. But then I had two problems. First, I couldn't find a parking space downtown and had to park several blocks outside the downtown area. Second, I misremembered where the performance center — which is known for its spectacular view of the harbor — was located, and spent nearly a half hour searching for it around the harbor before I realized that there was a second harbor. By the time I got there, at about 3:10, the concert had begun and I was pretty frazzled.

Fortunately, "Songs Without Words" wasn't the first piece on the program, and during what remained of Prokofiev's Cello Sonata, I calmed down. In a program note, the composer writes:

The first movement is entitiled "Among the Trees." It begins "like a hymn" but quickly moves into a sort of recitative. The piano sometimes provides the hymnal accompaniment and sometimes a more sparkling background. The second movement, "Forest at Night," begins with misterioso pizzicato and soon becomes passionate. The third movement, "Barcarolle," is the most expansive part of the sonata,  and perhaps the most songful.

At this first hearing, it didn't seem very melodic, but it was very listenable and interesting. It was definitely more entertaining than what I heard of the Prokofiev. I'm glad I got there in time to hear it.

After intermission, Bach's Suite for Unaccompanied Cello No. 4 and Kodály's Duo for Violin and Cello, Opus 7, completed the concert.

It would be good to be able to hear "Songs Without Words" several more times, to get to really know it and be able to form a more definite opinion of how good it is. The problem for this and many other compositions is that there is so much music available for a limited number of places on concert programs. There are many works which have entered the standard repertory, and they occupy most of the available space. In my opinion, there are many fine works by "second string" composers (I'm thinking of Weber as I write this) which are rarely performed, while less deserving works by "first stringers" get played regularly. With known works languishing, it is regrettably difficult for a new work to get enough hearings to become established, no matter how good it is.

*I'm well aware that Mendelssohn composed "Songs Without Words." Apparently, the title does not belong to him.

BSO/Classical New England — 2018/05/12

As I mentioned last week, it is now the period between the BSO's Symphony Hall season and their summer season at Tanglewood. Over the next several weeks, WCRB will be rebroadcasting concerts from the first weeks of the past Symphony Hall season. The schedule is here.  As you can see there, this week we get to hear again the concert of September 23, 2017. (For some reason, I can't get the second page to open, so I'm not sure about what comes toward the end of the period.)

I posted about it at the time. And here's a link to the orchestra's performance detail page for that concert. Since opening night (with a different program) had been the evening before this concert, there had been no previous performances of this program and therefore no reviews when I wrote my post. Subsequently, the Boston Globe had a favorable review, while the Intelligencer wasn't completely satisfied, but gave extensive descriptions of the music and the way it was performed. Between reviews and program notes, there's plenty of preview material, if you're interested.

The show begins on air and on line over WCRB at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time. I'm not sure if they'll do it again on the 21st.

Enjoy.

BSO — 2018/05/05

It's all Brahms this week: an outstanding concert in several respects, as the reviews below explain. First, however, the usual quote from the BSO's performance detail page (which also has the usual links to background information):

BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink leads the final series of the 2017-18 season, an all-Brahms program featuring beloved pianist Emanuel Ax in the composer's monumental Piano Concerto No. 2. The turbulent First, the Second Concerto is a magisterial, far-ranging work of symphonic proportions, in four movements rather than a typical concerto's three. Brahms's Symphony No. 2 was composed relatively quickly in 1877, following his extended, years-long effort to complete the long-awaited First. The lilting Second Symphony is generally regarded as the most genial and relaxed of Brahms's four great works in the genre.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviews in the Globe and the Intelligencer note that Maestro Haitink is not scheduled to conduct at Symphony Hall next season, and, given his age, it is at least possible that this will prove to be his final concert with the orchestra. That alone is a reason to listen. Beyond that, the concerts this week are the first in which new principal cellist Blaise Déjardin takes his chair at the head of the celli — with a prominent solo in the piano concerto. Both reviews speak highly of the work of all concerned, so this is a concert not to be missed.

WCRB will bring it to you live this evening on air and on line at 8:00 Boston Time (EDST). Even though Brahms is far from my favorite composer, I'm planning to be listenng to this rather than the Red Sox game.

This is the final concert of the subscription season, with Spring Pops taking over Symphony Hall. I haven't looked to see what WCRB will present in the Saturday evening time slot between now and the beginning of the Tanglewood season, but I expect "encore broadcasts." Monday, May 7, will bring the usual encore broadcast of last week's concert of  Brahms and Prokofiev; and today's concert will be rebroadcast on May 14 — both at 8:00 p.m.

Enjoy!

Spring Orgy® Period 2018 — Update

The WHRB Program Guide for the Spring Orgy® Period has arrived in the mail. It shows that there are no Orgies scheduled after the end of the Leonard Bernstein Orgy® on May 12. So between then and the Phi Beta Kappa exercises on May 22, they will be giving regular programming. This is different from prior years, when the Orgy Period® extended to the beginning of events surrounding commencement.

Spring Orgy® Period 2018

It's Spring Orgy® Period on WHRB. https://www.whrb.org/archive/2018-spring-orgy-season

The station's website gives this explanation of Orgy Periods:

What is a WHRB Orgy®?

Legend has it that the WHRB Orgy® tradition began over sixty-five years ago, in the Spring of 1943. At that time, it is said that one Harvard student, then a staff member of WHRB, returned to the station after a particularly difficult exam and played all of Beethoven's nine symphonies consecutively to celebrate the end of a long, hard term of studying. The idea caught on, and soon the orgy concept was expanded to include live jazz, rock, hip-hop, blues, and even sports Orgies.

The Orgy® tradition lives on even today at WHRB. During the Reading and Exam Periods of Harvard College, WHRB presents marathon-style musical programs devoted to a single composer, performer, genre, or subject. The New York Times calls them 

“idealistic and interesting,” 

adding, 

“the WHRB Orgies represent a triumph of musical research, imagination, and passion.”

It is evolving slightly through the years. At one time, an orgy would go around the clock. The Bach Orgy® of a couple of decades took a couple of weeks, as I recall. More recently, they've gone to doing the classical orgies during daytime hours, and jazz and rock at night and morning, similar to the ordinary daytime routine. I note in the schedule at the above link, that now some classical orgies run in tandem, with Rossini and Bernstein sharing May 8, 9, and 10.

Apparently, the full Program Guide isn't available yet, but you can see the schedule through May 12 at the above link. Right now, the Warhorse Orgy is in progress (until 10:00 p.m.). In coming days, we'll get Grieg, Rossini, and Bernstein. Tomorrow and Thursday afternoons and evenings there's also an Overshadowed Orgy, which may well be about classical music or musicians.

It all makes for enjoyable and informative listening as they explore the output of a particular composer, performer, or category of music. Although the available listings only go through the 12th, the Spring Orgy Period® usually extends until Harvard's Commencement in late May, so stay tuned.

BSO — 2018/04/28

This week the BSO gives us two works both of which received their American premieres from this orchestra: the Brahms Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 5 by Prokofiev. The orchestra's performance detail page has the usual links to background information and the following synopsis:

For his second week of concerts this season, Tugan Sokhiev leads the BSO in Brahms's towering Violin Concerto, with the outstanding, Ukrainian-born, Israeli violin soloist Vadim Gluzman in his BSO winter season debut. Brahms wrote his concerto in 1878 for his lifelong friend Joseph Joachim. Closing the program is Prokofiev's wartime Symphony No. 5, a powerful, searching, and expansive work premiered in January 1945 with the composer conducting.

(Emphasis added.)

You can hear it this evening at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time (EDST) over WCRB, broadcast or streaming on line, with a second transmission at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, May 7. Note the other programming information on their website. I especially recommend the Monteverdi Vespers, which will be part of the 9:00–12:00 "Voices" program on Sunday evening, April 29. If you're unfamiliar with Renaissance music, this will be amazing.

No review of the concert has appeared yet in the Musical Intelligencer. The Globe's review is favorable, but not a rave. I wasn't there on Thursday, so I can't give you my own impressions, but I guess it should be worth hearing.

BSO — 2018/04/21

Last week I went to Colorado for the wedding of a cousin and didn't have time to post about last Saturday's concert. The same program was given on Tuesday this week, and I heard it then. I'm sorry I wasn't around to recommend it last week, because it was a gem. Fortunately there is still the rebroadcast on Monday, April 30. Listen if you can. Here's how the BSO's program detail page describes it:

Russian-Ossetian conductor Tugan Sokhiev and Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki both make their BSO debuts in these concerts, working together in Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1. Already acclaimed as a prodigy, Chopin was just twenty when he wrote and premiered this concerto in 1830. The piece blends Classical concerto form with the composer's entirely individual piano writing and lyrical Romanticism. Felix Mendelssohn began his Symphony No. 4, ["Italian"] also in 1830 during an extended stay in Italy. The predominantly cheerful opening movement reflects his pleasure in the Mediterranean environs. Opening the program is Benjamin Britten's  Simple Symphony, an utterly charming string-orchestra work created from fragments of his youthful compositions.

(Some emphasis added.)

The Britten piece was light and full of youthful good spirits — a very enjoyable beginning to the evening. It's a piece I wasn't familiar with, so it was a very pleasant surprise, given my general impression of later Britten. On the other hand, my father had a recording of the Chopin concerto, and we played it fairly regularly. The performance in this concert lived up to my expectations. While I don't have the expertise to pick up all the subtleties the reviewers noted in the piano playing,, it seemed excellent to me. The only problem was that in several places where a solo horn was playing along with the piano, the horn drowned out the piano. Maybe the radio engineers can fix that. After intermission, Mendelssohn;s Italian Symphony,was just what I expected. So it was thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.

The reviews were enthusiastic, both in the Globe and in the Musical Intelligencer. So if you listen to WCRB at 8:00 p.m EDST on April 30, you're in for a treat.

BSO/Classical New England — 2018/04/14

This week the BSO is on tour to Carnegie Hall, so WCRB is giving us a "encore broadcast" and webstream of the concert given last July 16 at Tanglewood. Andris Nelsons conducts the world premiere of Markings for violin, strings, and harp by John Williams, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist, and, after intermission, Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. I posted about it at the time, but there wasn't any further information, except the links on the performance detail page.

I can't find any reviews in the Globe or the Intelligencer, and frankly, I don't have any specific recollection of the new Williams piece, but of course, the other two are standards of the repertoire, so it should be worthwhile listening, beginning this evening at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2018/04/07

This week the BSO is giving an all-Wagner program. The BSO performance detail page puts it like this:

Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is a hymn to the intense spirituality that accompanies transcendent earthly love. Musically and operatically innovative, it remains a watershed in the history of music; to hear its music live is an unforgettable experience. Andris Nelsons leads an outstanding cast of singers-including the great German tenor Jonas Kaufmann (taking the role of Tristan for the very first time) and the acclaimed Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund-in Act II of the opera, in which the title characters come together under the spell of a love potion, only to be discovered by King Marke, Tristan's uncle and lord, to whom Isolde is betrothed. The concert opens with one of Wagner's few purely instrumental works still heard today, the Siegfried Idyll, which he composed in 1869 and had performed as a surprise birthday gift for his wife Cosima. The "Siegfried" of the title is the couple's son, born the previous June, though Wagner later incorporated some of the Idyll's music into the third of his Ring operas, Siegfried.

(Some emphasis added.)
See the performance detail page for the usual links to audio previews, program notes, and performer bios.

The reviews are lukewarm. The Globe likes Jonas Kaufmann's performance more than the Intelligencer does. Both praise the singers in the secondary roles of Brangäne and King Marke.

The broadcast and webstream over WCRB begin at 8:00 p.m. EDST, and the rebroadcast/stream will be at 8:00 on April 16. The rebroadcast on April 9 will be last week's concert of Mozart, Widmann (American premiere) and Strauss.)