BSO/Classical New England — 2021/09/04

 Here's the scoop on this evening's concert, as given by WCRB:

Tonight at 8pm, in an encore broadcast, Juanjo Mena conducts Mendelssohn's gracefully lyrical Violin Concerto with soloist Julian Rachlin and the hyper-charged brass fanfares of Janáček's Sinfonietta.

Juanjo Mena, conductor
Julian Rachlin, violin

HAYDN Symphony No. 44, Trauer
MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
JANÁČEK Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen
JANÁČEK Sinfonietta

Encore broadcast from February 2, 2019

Hear a preview of the concert with Juanjo Mena in the audio player above.

TRANSCRIPT:

As indicated, if you go to their page, you can hear or read the interview, or do both.

Here's a somewhat fuller description from the orchestra's performance detail page:

The popular Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena collaborates with Lithuanian violinist Julian Rachlin in Mendelssohn's evergreen Violin Concerto, among the most charming works in the standard repertoire. Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 44, Trauer ("Mourning"), is one of the composer's most serious and closely worked symphonies, written during a period of experimentation that saw the composer rapidly expanding the potential of the genre. Closing the program are two works from the 1920s by the great Czech composer Leoš Janáček: a suite of music from his folk-tale opera The Cunning Little Vixen and his brass-dominated Sinfonietta, both of which feature the pungent influence of the Czech musical tradition.

The usual links are available there, for additional background if you want it.I didn't post anything about it at the time. Of course the Haydn and Mendelssohn are okay for most ears. Janáček is more advanced, but I find it tolerable — the music seems to be approaching standard repertoire status, but I won't promise you'll like it.

Apart from some unhappiness with parts of the Mendelssohn, the Globe review was favorable. The one in the Boston Musical Intelligencer was highly favorable about everything, including the Mendelssohn.

So it's probably worth listening to.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/08/28

 WCRB says:

In a concert originally broadcast in 2019, Andrew Davis leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Symphony No. 5 by Vaughan Williams and Harbison's Symphony No. 2, and Alessio Bax is the soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, Saturday at 8pm.

Andrew Davis, conductor
Alessio Bax, piano

John HARBISON Symphony No. 2
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 5

Encore broadcast from Saturday, January 12, 2019

John Harbison previews his Second Symphony and talks about his composing career on the occasion of his 80th birthday, in the audio player above.

WCRB's Brian McCreath talks with pianist Alessio Bax about Mozart's piano concertos and much more (transcript below):

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/08/21

 As I noted last week, this year's Tanglewood season didn't end with the usual performancve of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. So WCRB has decided to use the first "gap weekend" until Symphony Hall concerts resume by rebroadcasting the closer from 2019. Here's what they tell us:

In an encore broadcast of the final concert of the 2019 Tanglewood season, Giancarlo Guerrero conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Schoenberg's "Peace on Earth" and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the "Ode to Joy," Saturday at 8pm.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Nicole Cabell, soprano
J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
Nicholas Phan, tenor
Morris Robinson, bass
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
James Burton, conductor

SCHOENBERG Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth), for unaccompanied chorus
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

This concert was originally broadcast on August 25, 2019

In the audio player above: Giancarlo Guerrero describes his experiences at Tanglewood this summer and why this performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony carries extra significance.

TRANSCRIPT:

If you go to the web page which I have linked, you can listen to the audio of the interview or read the transcript. And here's what we find on the performance detail page:

With vocal soloists Nicole Cabell, J’Nai Bridges, Nicholas Phan, and Morris Robinson and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, returning guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the BSO in the orchestra’s traditional season-ending performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on Sunday, August 25. The concert opens with Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth) for unaccompanied chorus, also featuring the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden will be conducted by James Burton.

(Most emphasis added.)

A lengthy review of the whole weekend in the Globe finally got around to a few tepid words about the Beethoven with a bit of criticism of the tempo (too fast at one point). The Intelligencer doesn't seem to have published a review.

Well, the Beethoven Ninth isn't half bad, so why not listen this evening at 8:00?

Tanglewood — 2021/08/14-15

 It's the last weekend of the BSO's Tanglewood season. It will not close with the traditional Beethoven 9th Symphony, but with Herbert Blomstedt coming back to lead an all-Brahms program on Sunday. But first we get the Saturday concert with a mixi of the new and the familiar led by a BSO assistant conductor.

Saturday, August 14, 2021.  WCRB's capsule tells us:

Saturday night at 8pm, live from Tanglewood, the BSO Assistant Conductor leads Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce, and Ravel’s jazz-infused Piano Concerto in G, with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Elena LANGER Suite from Figaro Gets a Divorce
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G
ELGAR Enigma Variations

(Some emphasis added.)

I read the program note for the Suite from "Figaro Gets a Divorce," (accessible via the link on the BSO's performance detail page), and I still have no idea what to expect. Of course, it won't be as good as Mozart or Rossini, but I set the bar very low for new music: as long as it's tolerable, I'm content. I don't care about the Ravel concerto either. I just hope that they'll be able to give a good chunk of the Elgar before my brother calls from Tokyo.

Sunday, August 15, 2021.  As I mentioned, it's all Brahms. WCRB provides specifics:

In the closing concert of the 2021 Boston Symphony Orchestra season at Tanglewood, it’s an all-Brahms concert with Leonidas Kavakos as the soloist in the Violin Concerto and Herbert Blomstedt conducting the Symphony No. 4, Sunday evening at 7pm.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin

ALL-BRAHMS PROGRAM
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 4

(Emphasis added.)

Most people will probably like this one a lot. The performance detail page has the usual links. As you know, I don't care very much for Brahms' symphonies and concertos, but I'm definitely in the minority on that. So enjoy.

Traditions are generally a good thing, but the one of concluding the Tanglewood season with the Beethoven 9th is fairly recent. I won't be upset if they don't go back to it if there's a full season next summer.

Tanglewood — 2021/08/07-08

 This weekend we get famous string players Joshua Bell and Yo-Yo Ma in concerts featuring Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

Saturday, August 7, 2021. As usual, WCRB gives us the basics:

Saturday night at 8pm live from Tanglewood, Joshua Bell makes his return to the BSO’s summer home as the soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, and Herbert Blomstedt is the guest conductor for the Symphony No. 7.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 7

(Emphasis added.)

Two great pieces with a top-notch soloist and a remarkable conductor (a Massachusetts-born nonagenarian Swede) should make for a not-to-be-missed evening of musical enjoyment. Further information, if desired, is available via the links at the BSO's performance detail page. I may even leave the radio on in the background when my brother calls from Tokyo.

Sunday, August 8, 2021. The concert will be played at 2:30, and WCRB will transmit it at 7:00 Boston Time. Once more, we go to WCRB for a brief summary:

The American conductor [Karina Canellakis] makes her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut in a program featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, plus a work by Missy Mazzoli, Sunday night at 7pm.

Karina Canellakis, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Missy MAZZOLI Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)
TCHAIKOVSKY Variations on a Rococo Theme, for cello and orchestra
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

(Some emphasis added.)

In my book, Tchaikovsky is not quite at Beethoven's level, and I don't think I've heard of the conductor, but this should still be worth hearing. The program note for the Mazzoli piece, makes it sound "interesting." Using a bunch of harmonicas seems gimmicky and frivolous, We'll see if it turns out to be any good, but I have lowered expectations. You can read the program note via the link at the performance detail page.

Tanglewood — 2021/08/01

 WCRB summarizes this evening's broadcast from Tanglewood as follows:

Sunday, August 1, 2021
7:00 PM

Stefan Jackiw is the soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, and Alan Gilbert leads the Boston Symphony in rarely heard works by Schumann and Stenhammar, Sunday evening at 7pm.

Alan Gilbert, conductor
Stefan Jackiw, violin

SCHUMANN The Bride of Messina Overture
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 5
STENHAMMAR Serenade

For further information, see the BSO performance detail page with its links to program notes and performer bios.

This should all be enjoyable.

Tanglewood — 2021/07/31

 Tonight we have two symphonies by Haydn. WCRB says:

Saturday night at 8pm, BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in two symphonies by Haydn plus his own O Albion, and Kirill Gerstein is the soloist in Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds.

Thomas Adès, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

HAYDN Symphony No. 64, Tempora mutantur
STRAVINSKY Concerto for Piano and Winds
Thomas ADÈS O Albion
HAYDN Symphony No. 45, Farewell

The BSO performance detail page has the usual links, including those to the program notes.

I'll be interested to hear the Adès piece, and th e Haydn should be good. I'm looking forward to the "surprise" ending of the "Farewell" Symphony.

Tanglewood — 2021/07/24-25

This weekend the BSO is giving us a lot of new music. I recommend reading the program notes if you want an idea of what to expect — or you can just let it be unexpected as it is performed.

Saturday, July 24, 2021.  We get two new pieces, one from 80 years ago that is not often heard, and one from 100 years ago that can still be jarring. WCRB tells us:

Saturday, July 24, 2021
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, the superstar violinist [Anne-Sophie Mutter] is the soloist in the world premiere of John Williams’s Violin concerto No. 2, led by the composer, and Andris Nelsons conducts the BSO in 20^th- and 21^st-century pieces by Copland, Stravinsky, and Jessie Montgomery.

Andris Nelsons and John Williams, conductors
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Robert Sheena, English horn
Thomas Rolfs, trumpet

Jessie MONTGOMERY Starburst
John WILLIAMS Violin Concerto No. 2 (world premiere)
COPLAND Quiet City
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1919 version)

(Some emphasis added.)

Yes, that John Williams. You will be able to hear the world premiere of his concerto. Before that comes another piece that the BSO is giving for the first time in a live concert. I can't vouch for either of them, but after reading the program notes via the links on the orchestra's performance detail page, I think the Williams concerto should be okay, and I'm hoping the Montgomery will be tolerable.

Copland's "Quiet City" is quiet and pleasant. I don't think I had heard it until a couple of years ago. Then WCRB began playing it fairly frequently just before midnight. I like it, and I'm looking forward to hearing it live. As for "The Firebird," it's not as wild as "The Rite of Spring." I may switch stations and listen to the Red Sox. But I'll definitely be listening to WCRB at 8:00, Lenox/Stockbridge Time.

Sunday, July 25, 2021.  There will be two "warhorses" of the repertoire on Sunday after we sit through a new piece. Here's WCRB's synopsis:

Sunday, July 25, 2021
7:00 PM

Yefim Bronfman returns to the Berkshires as the soloist in Beethoven’s impassioned Piano Concerto No. 3, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a rhapsodic work by Iman Habibi, Sunday at 7pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

Iman HABIBI Jeder Baum spricht
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4

(Some emphasis added.)

You can't go wrong with Beethoven piano concertos and Schumann symphonies. The program note for "Jeder Baum spricht" — which you can find via the link on the performance detail page — doesn't give me great hope. When a contemporary composer is inspired by one of the classical masters, it's never as good as the original. Sometimes it turns out to be something I'd like to hear one more time or even become familiar with, but more often once is enough or too much (which is also true of new pieces in general). The thing is, you never know until you've listened to it that first time. So I'll have WCRB on at 7:00.

Tanglewood — 2021/07/17-18

It seems that we won't be getting much preview material from the BSO or WCRB for these Tanglewood concerts, and of course there are no reviews of concerts if the program hasn't been given earlier in the week. At Symphony Hall, the Saturday evening concert has already been played on Thursday and often on Friday afternoon, but each Tanglewood concert is only given once. The BSO performance detail pages aren't giving us a short introduction, and sometimes even the program notes aren't available. Similarly, WCRB just gives a bare-bones note. 

So I'll give you what those two supply and throw in any ideas I have, if I have something to say.

Saturday, July 17, 2021.  WCRB tells us:

Saturday, July 17, 2021
8:00 PM

[A] Russian pianist takes center stage for Brahms’s monumental Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Andris Nelsons conducts Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, Saturday night at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Daniil Trifonov, piano

PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, Classical
BRAHMS

(Some emphasis added.) 

I'm glad the Prokofiev comes first, since I like it better than Brahms, so it'll be okay if my brother's call interrupts the concerto. But lots of people like Brahms, so don't let me scare you off.

The BSO performance detail page has links to the program notes and performer bios (click the thumbnail photos).You can listen in at 8:00 this evening via WCRB.

Sunday, July 18, 2021.   Again we get a bit from WCRB:

Sunday, July 18, 2021
7:00 PM

Gil Shaham returns to the Berkshires as the soloist in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in pieces by a musical sibling pair: Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, Sunday night at 7pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin

MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL Overture in C
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 3
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 5, Reformation

(Some emphasis added.) 

The BSO performance detail page doesn't have much more detail, except in the program notes (not all of which are there via the links). Strangely, the annotator for the Mendelssohn symphony doesn't seem to have noticed that the second movement uses the tune for "Away in a Manger" but with a different rhythm (if I remember correctly).

I don't recall the Overture, but I'm confident people will like this concert, to be broadcast and streamed on Sunday at 7:00.

Tanglewood — 2021/07/10-11

 The Boston Symphony is back, giving live concerts at Tanglewood. WCRB is broadcasting the Saturday concerts live at 8:00 p.m. and the Sunday matinees at 7:00 p.m. Of course, there are no reviews to link for the Tanglewood concerts, since the same programs aren't already performed earlier in the week, as happens at Symphony Hall.

Saturday, July 10, 2021.  For Opening Night we get to enjoy an all-Beethoven concert. The BSO's performance detail page gives some links and summarizes:

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM
Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus
Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor
Symphony No. 5

(Some emphasis added.)
It's surprising that they don't have the sort of overview we got in pre-Covid days. Maybe there have been staff reductions, and nobody has time to produce the write up. As always, you can click on the link to progrsm notes for a description of each piece. But what's not to like in this program? I'm especially looking forward to the "Emperor" Concerto. Listen on line or on the air at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time to enjoy.

Sunday, July 11, 2021.   The performance detail page   lists the works being given only toward the end.

Carlos SIMON - Fate Now Conquers (2020)
SIBELIUS - Violin Concerto (32 min)
DVOŘÁK - Symphony No. 6

Andris Nelsons conducts and Baiba Skride is the violin soloist. I have no idea what the first piece will be like, but the program note promises that it will be short. The others should be pretty good. Don't forget, the Sunday broadcast is an hour earlier than the one on Saturday — 7:00 p.m.