BSO/Classical New England — 2021/04/17

 WCRB says:

Saturday at 8pm, in a 2016 Boston Symphony Orchestra concert, Hélène Grimaud returns as the soloist in the German composer's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Symphony No. 4.

Saturday, April 17, 2021
8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hélène Grimaud, piano

Timo ANDRES Everything Happens So Much (world premiere; BSO commission)
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4

I wrote:

This week's broadcast (and webstream) is the second half of the second week of the BSO's Brahms mini-festival. The curtain-raising new composition is "Everything Happens So Much," by Timo(thy) Andres. Then we get Brahms's Piano Concerto № 2 and, after intermission, Symphony № 4 (replacing the 3rd, which was played Tuesday and Thursday and is reviewed in the linked material).

The orchestra's program detail page has the usual links to program notes, audio previews, performer bios, and podcasts (including an informative interview with Timo Andres). It also has this synopsis:

The second program of the BSO's two-week Brahms mini-fest encompassing Brahms's symphonies and piano concertos opens with a brief new work commissioned from the Brooklyn-based American composer Timo Andres (the first program having included a new work by American composer Eric Nathan). Andres's new piece opens this week's programs, which feature Hélène Grimaud as soloist in Brahms's magisterial Piano Concerto No. 2. The Third Symphony concludes the concerts of November 15 and 17; the Fourth Symphony completes the concerts of November 18 and 19.

I was there on Thursday and enjoyed the show. "Everything Happens So Much" was very accessible. It was easy to follow the opening theme as it was reworked through the piece. It was well received by the audience. By the way, the notes say the piece opens with arpeggios played by piccolo. It turns out they were played by two piccolos.

It seems I am mellowing in my old age: I didn't dislike the Brahms. While I've long considered much of Brahms's music to have an unpleasant "straining" quality to it, this week and last, I didn't hear it in the piano concertos or the Third Symphony. Like the reviewer, I found Martha Babcock's cello solos in the piano concerto very beautiful, and she was warmly applauded for them.

There were some things that I found interesting in my "orchestra watching." Many of the section principals did not play the Andres piece — first violin, cello, bass, horn, trumpet, possibly others — but they were there for the Brahms. Saving their energy? In the concerto and the first movement of the symphony, when just two of the four horns were playing, most of the time it was Mike Winter and Jason Snider, in the third and fourth chairs, not James Somerville and Rachel Childers, the principal and second, as one might expect. At the end of the first movement of the symphony, James Somerville half stood up, turned, and said something to the others. During the second and third movements Snider didn't play a note, and Winter only played a three or four note phrase in the second movement, and a longer phrase at the end of the third. They both did more playing in the finale. I wonder what was going on there.

So far, no review has appeared in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Boston Globe's reviewer liked the Andres piece, and joins me in hoping it will become popular. She liked the rest of the concert as well, except for some of the piano playing in the second movement of the concerto.

This concert is well worth listening to, from beginning to end, when WCRB broadcasts and streams it at 8:00 p.m., EST[…].

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/04/10

This evening's rebroadcast is of the concert of November 12, 2016. It's mostly Brahms. Surprisingly, I seem to have liked it. I'll let WCRB give you the essentials:

Tonight at 8pm, in the first of two encore Boston Symphony broadcasts celebrating the German composer, Hélène Grimaud is the soloist in Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Symphony No. 2.

Saturday, April 10, 2021
8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hélène Grimaud, piano

Eric NATHAN the space of a door (world premiere; BSO commission)
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2

You can find out more about it from what I wrote at the time (including the reviews I linked):

This is an unusual week in the way it is scheduled. There are concerts on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. But instead of the Tuesday concert repeating last week's program, which is what has normally been done, it presented this week's program. Also, the Friday and Saturday programs aren't just the same as that of Thursday (and, this week, Tuesday). What we have is the first week of a "Brahmsmini-festival," presenting both of his piano concertos and all four of his symphonies. They do this by giving one concerto each week, and two performances of each symphony. Each week's concerts begin with a work commissioned by the BSO for the occasion and getting its world premiere at these concerts. (I think this arrangement is more convenient for the piano soloist, who can do her performances within a two week period, rather than two and a half.)

As usual, the orchestra's performance detail page gives links to performer bios, program notes, and podcasts. I especially recommend the podcast with an interview with Eric Nathan — actually, there are two versions: one with just the composer talking, linked with the screenshot above the written synopsis; another, which I prefer, that includes Brian Bell as interviewer, accessible through the "Listen" button farther down the page. Via that button, you can also get interviews with the soloist and the conductor. And, of course, there is the usual synopsis of the program:

With these concerts, BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons opens a two-week Brahms mini-festival traversing all four of the composer's symphonies and his two piano concertos. In addition, these concerts feature the world premieres of two brief, complementary works commissioned for the occasion from the young American composers Eric Nathan and Timo Andres. Nathan's piece begins the first of these programs, which continues with the French pianist Hélène Grimaudperforming the intense, craggy Piano Concerto in D minor. Brahms's First Symphony concludes the concerts of November 8 and 10; the Second Symphony completes the concerts of November 11 and 12.

(Emphasis added.)

I was there on Friday afternoon and I found "the space of a door" very engaging. Sometimes it's loud, and sometimes it's soft. Although it's definitely "modern," in ways the interview and program notes describe, I never found it unpleasantly dissonant or simply noisy. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing it again […] so I can get a clearer view of how it all goes together.

The reviews were written after the Tuesday concert, so they tell us about the Symphony № 1, which won't be played on Saturday, as well as "the space of a door" and the First Piano Concerto, which we will hear before intermission. I don't expect review of the Second Symphony to be published, but if I see any, I'll revise this post. The Globe reviewerenjoyed the Nathan piece and loved the Brahms concerto, especially the soloist's playing. The Boston Musical Intelligencer's reviewer gives a bit more detail about "the space of a door" and was also pleased with it. He also has high praise for the pianist.

So the concert comes well recommended. As always, you can listen on air or on line over WCRB at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time on Saturday, [April 10]. […]

Enjoy the show.

I was definitely happier with the Nathan piece than I am with most new compositions, and Brahms is a perennial fan favorite, so I think you'll like this one. Oh, and by the way, I decided to see if the BSO's performance detail page for the concert was available, and it is. So I hope that now that resource can be used as we listen to the rebroadcasts.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/04/03

 This evening WCRB gives us the concert of November 5, 2016, which consists of two fairly unfamiliar works and one that is quite recent. Here's their description:

Saturday at 8pm, in a 2016 concert, Artistic Partner Thomas Adès leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in "Totentanz," his 2013 meditation on the indiscriminate nature of Death, with mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn and baritone Mark Stone, as well as works by Britten and Sibelius.

Saturday, April 3, 2021
8:00 PM

Thomas Adès, conductor
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano
Mark Stone, baritone

BRITTEN Sinfonia da Requiem
SIBELIUS Tapiola
ADÈS Totentanz

This concert is not available on-demand.

Thomas Adès previews the program with WCRB's Brian McCreath (transcript below):

I recommend listening to or reading the transcript of the interview with Maestro Ades for the background info on all three pieces, especially since the BSO performance detail page and program notes are no longer available.

My post from the time of the concert follows, edited to remove now inapplicable content:

This week the Boston Symphony gives us an early work of Benjamin Britten, a late one of Jean Sibelius, and a recent one of Thomas Adès, who also did the conducting. The BSO performance detail pageprovides these specifics:

British composer/conductor/pianist Thomas Adès joins the BSO family in the role of "Artistic Partner" this season, collaborating with the orchestra and its musicians in a variety of capacities. In these concerts he conducts his own 2013 Totentanz ("Dance of Death") for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra. Set to a text accompanying a 15th-century German frieze depicting Death (represented by the baritone) dancing with individuals from all strata of humanity (represented by the mezzo-soprano), the work is both macabre and funny-the Dance of Death is the one dance none of us may refuse. Opening the program is Britten's dramatic early orchestral work, Sinfonia da Requiem, premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1941 during Britten's time in the U.S. as a conscientious objector. (Its performance soon afterward by Serge Koussevitzky and the BSO led directly to Koussevitzky's commissioning Britten's opera Peter Grimes.) Also on the program is the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius's late tone poem Tapiola, which atmospherically depicts the realm of the forest spirit Tapio from the Finnish epic Kalevala.

[…]

The reviews in the Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer are limited to descriptions of the music, with almost no comments on how well it had been performed. That is natural enough, since none of the pieces is familiar. When you don't know a piece, it's hard to say whether it is being done well.

I was in the audience on Thursday and I found it all interesting. "Tapiola" was the most accessible: Sibelius composed in a "late Romantic" style. The "Sinfonia da Requiem" had clear contrasts of mood between the three parts, and while the middle section was fairly harsh, the outer parts weren't bad. All of them seemed to fit the mood of the texts that supplied their titles. "Totentanz" was difficult to appreciate simply as music, but it was interesting to get some sense of the different types of music for the different individuals. Still, it may require several hearings to be able to really "get" the music and maybe even enjoy it.

You can hear it all via WCRB on Saturday, [April 3} at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time[…]You might also want to check out the remaining concert schedule for this season and poke around the website for other things they do.

I'd listen, but the Easter Vigil at church starts at 8:00, so I'll have to miss it, but don't let that stop you.

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 — 2021/03/13

 It's too late to write anything of substance.

Here's WCRB's description::

Saturday at 8pm, in the final program of the 2015-2016 season, soprano Kristine Opolais sings Rachmaninoff's Zdes' khorosho ("How fair this place") and the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, and Andris Nelsons conducts three French masterpieces: Debussy's La Mer, Ravel's La Valse, and Métaboles, by Dutilleux.

Saturday, March 13, 2021
8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Kristine Opolais, soprano

DUTILLEUX Metaboles
RACHMANINOFF Zdes’ khorosho ("How fair this place"), Op. 21, No. 7
TCHAIKOVSKY "Letter Scene" from Eugene Onegin
DEBUSSY La Mer
RAVEL La Valse

You may find it interesting. It should be tolerable.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/02/27

This evening WCRB gives us the Boston Symphony concert of April 9, 2021. Here's what they say about it:

Saturday at 8pm, in an encore broadcast from 2016, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner's Symphony No. 3, and now-former Concertmaster Malcolm Lowe and Principal Violist Steven Ansell are the soloists in Mozart's Sinfonia concertante.

Saturday, February 27, 2021
8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Malcolm Lowe, violin
Steven Ansell, viola

MOZART Sinfonia concertante in E-flat for violin
   and viola, K.364
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 3 (1889 version)

They don't add any interviews or links to other background material. There is some in what I wrote at the time, although I've had to edit out references to items that ar no longer accessible:

We get two very different works this week: Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, and Symphony №3 by Bruckner in the 1889 version. Boston Symphony principals Malcolm Lowe and Steven Ansell perform the violin and viola solos, while Music Director Andris Nelsons conducts the concert. The orchestra's performance detail page […] give[s] the following description:

BSO concertmaster Malcolm Lowe and principal viola Steven Ansell join Andris Nelsons and the BSO for one of Mozart's greatest concertos, the Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola. Mozart wrote this exemplar of Classical form and style during a lengthy trip to Paris. Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 was originally composed in 1872 but was subjected to a number of revisions by the composer (the present version being the "1889 version"). The symphony everywhere reveals its deep debt to Richard Wagner, to whom Bruckner dedicated the work "in deepest reverence.

(Emphasis in original.)

I was there for the Thursday concert and, to my surprise, found both pieces enjoyable. It was no surprise with the Mozart. Watching the performers did add to the enjoyment. But I was expecting the Bruckner to become tedious. A colleague once quoted a critic as saying that Bruckner's symphonies are like a walk in the woods: you see many nice things, but nothing happens. But somehow on Thursday evening it held my attention and did not seem too long. It was interesting music. As far as I could tell, both pieces were well played. I was especially impressed by the solos by James Somerville on horn and Elizabeth Rowe on flute.

The review in the Boston Globe is favorable — faintly so for the Bruckner. The reviewer spends more time describing the Mozart. So far, there is no review in the BMInt.

I definitely recommend listening on WCRB at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. […]

Need I say more?

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/02/20

 I'm running out of time. here are the essentials

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/post/haitink-leads-bso-mahlers-titan

Saturday at 8pm, Bernard Haitink leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mahler's colossal Symphony No. 1, and Murray Perahia is the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4.

Saturday, February 20, 2021
8:00 PM

Bernard Haitink, conductor
Murray Perahia, piano

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
MAHLER Symphony No. 1

This concert is no longer available on-demand.

In an interview with WCRB's Brian McCreath, Bernard Haitink describes his long experience with Mahler, his 45-year (at the time of the interview) relationship with the BSO, and the first time he heard the BSO in person:

Listen 

Listening...

0:00

TRANSCRIPT:

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/02/13

 This week we get a rebroadcast of the Boston Symphony concert of March 26, 2016. Here's WCRB's blurb:

Saturday at 8pm, pianist Nikolai Lugansky is the soloist in Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 and Giya Kancheli's Dixi, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

Saturday, February 13, 2021
8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Betsy Burleigh, guest conductor

KANCHELI Dixi, for chorus and orchestra (American premiere)
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 8

As you see, there are no interviews or other explanatory material. "Just the facts." My own preview, edited to be relevant to the rebroadcast, follows:

This week's concerts start with the American premiere performances of Dixi by Giya [Kancheli] and continue with the too often performed Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff, featuring Nikolai Lugansky as piano soloist. After intermission, we'll get Shostakovich's Symphony № 8. All is under the baton of Music Director Andris Nelsons. [The BSO's performance detail page describes] the concert (in reverse order) thus:

Continuing the BSO's survey of the Stalin-era works of Dmitri Shostakovich, Andris Nelsons leads the composer's wartime Eighth Symphony. Written only a decade earlier, Rachmaninoff's perennially popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, here played by the Russian virtuoso Nikolai Lugansky, is a tour de force of compositional craft. Georgian-born Giya Kancheli, one of the world's most esteemed living composers, remained primarily in Tbilisi until 1990 but has developed a significant worldwide reputation. He developed a personal style that draws strongly on the music of the Christian Orthodox church. Dixi(2009) is a 22-minute work for chorus and orchestra setting fragments of Latin text.

(Emphasis in original.)

This concert wasn't part of my subscription, and it's just as well, since it's Holy Week, and I wouldn't have gone. I always attend the Holy Thursday evening Mass. So I can't give any personal observations. I won't even hear much or any of it during the live broadcast since I'll be in church for the Easter Vigil, and then there will be the weekly call from my brother in Japan. I did, however, buy a ticket for the concert next Tuesday, which will include the Kancheli and Shostakovich pieces, but will drop the Rachmaninoff and open with Shosty's Suite from the incidental music to Hamlet, which they played, and I heard, in February. I'm glad to be able to hear that unfamiliar music again, rather that having to sit through the Rhapsody once more.

The Globe reviewer leans more to describing the music than the way it was performed, but he finds elements of the latter to admire and nothing to criticize. He is bemused, however, by the Kancheli piece (unsurprisingly, given how it's described in this review and the BMInt's). The Boston Musical Intelligencer, as usual, has a longer review. Like the Globe, it is not highly impressed by "Dixi," but the reviewer has praise for elements of the performance, as well as for the playing in the Rachmaninoff. He saves his warmest praise, however for the orchestra's handling of the Shostakovich, section by section, and soloist by soloist. He is however mildly critical of the conductor for somehow failing to develop an overall cohesive approach to the symphony, despite his impressive handling of various sections.

In the light of all that, I'm prepared to be unimpressed by "dixi," when I hear it next Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to some impressive playing in the Shostakovich 8th. As always, you can hear the Saturday performance live over WCRB (broadcast or webstream) at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time[…].

Overall, then, I'd say this probably isn't quite at the level of "must hear," but it seems there will be some good playing and singing. Despite my carping, the Rachmaninoff will probably be the easiest to take for many listeners (myself included, probably, although I'm developing a tolerance for Shostakovich).

If you're interested, you know where to find it.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/02/06

 This evening WCRB rebroadcasts the BSO concert of March 19, 2016. Here's the description from WCRB:

Saturday at 8pm, the Boston Symphony Orchestra performs the Violin Concerto by John Williams with soloist Gil Shaham, and Stéphane Denève conducts Jennifer Higdon's Blue Cathedral and the Symphony No. 3, the "Organ" Symphony, by Saint-Saëns.

Saturday, February 6, 2021
8:00 PM

Stéphane Denève, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin

HIGDON blue cathedral
WILLIAMS Violin Concerto
SAINT-SAENS Symphony No. 3, "Organ"

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Stéphane Denève describes the connections between the first two pieces in the concert and reveals the way a single note in Saint-Saëns's "Organ" Symphony carries that theme into the second half (transcript below):

 

Gil Shaham previews the Violin Concerto by John Williams and describes the process of learning the piece with the composer (transcript below):

There are transcripts of the interviews on that page, and they are interesting to read.

Here, edited, is what I wrote back then:

This week's BSO concert provides some interesting music. The orchestra's performance detail page […] gives this description:

French conductor Stéphane Denève, a frequent BSO guest in recent seasons, leads this diverse program including John Williams's Violin Concerto, a soaring and heartfelt work that has been championed by Gil Shaham-and which he recorded with John Williams and the BSO. Opening the program is music by another American composer, Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon, whose colorful, atmospheric tone poem Blue Cathedral is her most frequently performed orchestral work. Closing the program and featuring the grand Symphony Hall organ is the sonorous, ultimately uplifting Symphony No. 3 by Camille Saint-Saëns.

(Most emphasis added.)

The Globe review finds nothing to dislike. So far, the Boston Musical Intelligencer hasn't published a review. If they do, I'll note it.

I was there on Thursday evening and found it all okay. The first piece, "Blue Cathedral," is pretty well described in the program notes, and it was nice to be able to follow it as it unfolded. I noticed that the four horn players had the glasses with water in them, which they were to play by dipping a finger in the water and rubbing the rim. (You can try this at home.) They didn't actually play them until toward the end, as it got quiet, but even the quiet music drowned them out for a while. Eventually they were faintly audible for five or ten seconds. Other musicians then started playing the chinese bells. The whole effect was charming. The Williams violin concerto didn't remind me of his movie music. Gil Shaham seemed to do a very nice job with it, but the piece itself isn't something I feel I need to hear again (although I'll give it another hearing during the broadcast — it isn't unpleasant). In the Saint-Saëns I had never actually noticed the organ before it enters loudly in the final movement. But this time I heard it quietly accompanying some of the softer parts earlier in the piece. Listen carefully, and you may hear it too. The sound is just a bit different from the woodwinds.

The place to listen is WCRB via radio or web at 8:00 p.m. EST (Boston Time)[…].

The BMInt did publish a favorable review. In the absence of program notes, its description of the pieces, along with WCRB's interviews, will give some sense of what's happening.

Perhaps the music isn't the greatest of all time, but it should be good listening, and the unifying theme may give some additional meaning to it.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/01/30

 This evening, for your enjoyment, it's all Beethoven under the baton of the Massachusetts born Swede, Herbert Blomstedt.  As WCRB informs us:

Saturday at 8pm, in an encore broadcast from 2016, Herbert Blomstedt leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, as well as the Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Garrick Ohlsson.

Saturday, January 30, 2021
8:00 PM

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

The page also has a transcript of an interview with the conductor as well as a link to a recording of it.

Here's my own rave review from back in March 2016, edited to remove no-longer-applicable content:

This week we have an all Beethoven concert from the BSO. Herbert Blomstedt conducts and Garrick Ohlsson solos. The BSO performance detail page, [no longer available on line], offers this description:

Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt returns to Symphony Hall for this Beethoven pairing. American pianist and audience favorite Garrick Ohlsson performs Beehoven's C major concerto-which shows the composer clearly moving beyond the models of Haydn and Mozart but still maintaining the clarity and balance of Viennese classicism. The beloved Seventh Symphony features a remarkable blend of lyricism and rhythmic drive.

(Emphasis added.)

I enjoyed it so much that I'm seriously considering getting a ticket for the Tuesday performance next week.

The Globe review is favorable, but with cautions. The reviewer liked the symphony more than the concerto. Boston Musical Intelligencer gives us a rave. I agree with BMInt. Frequently, when the music is from the 20th or 21st Century, I find myself grasping at straws to give faint praise — it wasn't so bad as ___ or ___, or there were pleasant moments, or it was tolerable, or it was appropriate for the subject. But in this concert the music was just plain great, and it was superbly performed. The piano concerto was not only pleasant music, but it was masterfully performed. I could hear things in the piano part that sounded similar to things in one of the greatest concertos of all time, Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto. From my seat, I could see the keyboard, and it enhanced the experience being able to see Garrick Ohlsson's hands move up and down the keyboard and his fingers hit the keys to produce the excellent music. In the symphony, it seemed possible to hear every element that went to make up the symphony. Beethoven's skill as a composer was on clear display. It all cohered into a fulfilling whole: satisfying, compelling, and thrilling. This was a performance which showed how great this piece is.

By all means, if you can get to Symphony Hall on Saturday or Tuesday, go. Otherwise, be sure to listen over WCRB, radio or web. […] On their BSO page there [… are] links to other features available from the station.

My performer watch continues. In the horn section, Richard Sebringplayed first horn in the concerto, James Sommerville in the symphony. Rachel Childers played second horn in both, and delivered the low notes of the symphony's third movement with great aplomb. You can hear them: it's two notes that are repeated in the middle of a contrasting passage (the "trio") which is played more than once. In the oboes, Associate Principal Keisuke Wakao took first chair in the concerto and John Ferrillo, Principal, in the symphony. Clint Foremanwas in the first chair of the flutes all evening. While the concerto didn't give very much opportunity to shine he played his part well. There was so much solo work for flute in the symphony that it occurred to me that it could be called (with some exaggeration) the "Flute Symphony." Clint Foreman nailed it all, as well as the duets with the oboe, so much so that when Maestro Blomstedt returned to the stage for a bow, the first orchestra member he had stand for a solo bow was Clint Foreman — then John Ferillo. And it seemed to me that he gave Rachel Childers a solo bow even ahead of Jamie Sommerville. What usually happens is that the first chair player gets a solo bow if s/he had a prominent part, then the whole section is asked to stand. In several other sections, I also noticed that the Principals didn't play until after intermission.

So this is a must hear concert, IMO. Enjoy.