BSO — 2021/10/02

 Live, from Symphony Hall, it's the Boston Symphony Orchestra!

That's right, folks: the BSO 2021-22 subscription season has begun with concerts in front of live audiences. Oprning night was Thursday, and we get to hear the program performed again this evening.

Here's the synopsis from WCRB, who will transmit it via radio and internet:

Saturday, October 2, 2021
8:00 PM

In a return to concerts at Symphony Hall after 19 months, Anne-Sophie Mutter is the soloist in John Williams’s Violin Concerto No. 2, led by the composer, and Andris Nelsons conducts Beethoven and Bartók, live on Saturday night at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons and John Williams, conductors
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin

BEETHOVEN Overture, The Consecration of the House
John WILLIAMS Violin Concerto No. 2
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra

More is available through various links at the BSO's performance detail page, which describes the proceedings thus:

Led by both Music Director Andris Nelsons and Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams, the BSO presents a special pair of concerts to welcome back live audiences to Symphony Hall after a nearly 20-month absence. Opening the concert, Mr. Nelsons leads Beethoven’s Consecration of the House Overture, the first work ever performed by the BSO in 1881. Mr. Williams then takes the podium for the first Boston performances of his own Violin Concerto No. 2, written for superstar violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, which she premiered at Tanglewood in 2021. Completing the program is Bartók’s uniquely dramatic Concerto for Orchestra, one of the BSO’s most famous commissions, originally premiered by Serge Koussevitzky in 1944.

I was there on Thursday, and I found the Beethoven very enjoyable. It's a fine piece, and they played it well. The Williams violin concerto was unenjoyable. As the Boston Globe reviewer says, it's too long. Worse than that, I didn't detect any musicality in it. In a way, I suppose, it showcased Ms. Mutter's talent, but it seemed incoherent. Where were the themes? Where was the development? At least the sounds weren't unpleasant to hear. For an encore, they played an arrangement of something by Williams from "The Long Goodbye," which had a tune and was nice to hear.

The Bartók concerto is something I've heard a number of times. It's one of the BSO's signature pieces. Thanks to the program notes, (which I recommend reading, especially the actual description of the piece toward the end) I was able to follow it better than on previous occasions, and I found it interesting to listen to as the elements referred to in the program notes unfolded. Even though it's "modern music," it was pretty good — certainly way better than the Williams piece.

The reviewer in the Boston Musical Intelligencer really liked the Williams violin concerto — both the work and the performance — although even he at one point used the word "bewildering" to describe it. He seemed to think the other pieces were not performed vigorously enough, but didn't detect any actual mistakes.

The Globe reviewer didn't want to be crowded in with all those people, even though they were all vaccinated and masked. She spent a lot of time complaining about it. Apart from not liking the Williams, she was unenthusiastic about the performances given the other two pieces, although she had no specific criticisms. She just wished she weren't there.

But you don't have to be there to enjoy the return of the BSO to Symphony Hall. Just go to WCRB at 8:00 this evening, Boston Time (EDT) and enjoy (at least the first and last pieces flawlessly, if unspectacularly, performed). The BSO is back!

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/09/25

 Sibelius tonight (and others).WCRB gives the essentials, plus an interview with the conductor, on their BSO page:

In an encore broadcast from 2019, John Storgårds leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Finnish music past and present, including works by Saariaho and Sibelius, Saturday night at 8pm.

John Storgårds, conductor
Martin Helmchen, piano

Kaija SAARIAHO Ciel d'hiver
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 6
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 7

Encore broadcast from January 26, 2019

Hear an interview with conductor John Storgårds and CRB's Alan McLellan about this program in the audio player above.

TRANSCRIPT:

Alan McLellan [00:00:00] I wanted to ask you about yourself. You've had a career as a violinist as well as a conductor. How did you get from violin to conducting?

John Storgårds [00:00:08] It was stepwise thing because I was, already as a student, I 

Here's what I wrote about it (minimally edited):

This week the BSO gives us three works by Finnish composers and one by Mozart. The orchestra's program detail page has the usual links to background information, including all the program notes. It also provides this synopsis of the concert:

Making his BSO subscription series debut, conductor John Storgårdsleads pianist Martin Helmchen in Mozart's gregarious, large-scale Piano Concerto in E-flat, K.482, composed in late 1785 when Mozart was also working on his comic opera The Marriage of Figaro. The Finnish Storgårds also brings three Finnish works to Symphony Hall, beginning with Kaija Saariaho's gorgeous study of orchestral color Ciel d'hiver ("Winter Sky"), an arrangement of a movement from her earlier, symphony-like Orion. Jean Sibelius's final two symphonies, nos. 6 and 7, are two of the greatest works in the symphonic literature. Though very different from one another, both demonstrate the composer's distinctively rich orchestration and organic, fluid transformations of material.

(Some emphasis added.)

Whether the Sibelius symphonies are "two of the greatest works in the symphonic literature" and "very different from one another" are matters of opinion, and mine differs from that of the writer of those words. To me, these symphonies were not nearly as engaging or interesting as his earlier symphonies. There was nothing very unpleasant in them, so they are certainly easier to listen to than a lot of 20th century music, but at one point I was reminded of what a critic said of a symphony of Bruckner: it's like a walk in the forest — you see nice things, but nothing happens. In other words, I found them dull. Perhaps I will feel differently if I can listen to them again during the rebroadcast on February 4. The Saariaho piece could have seemed dull too, but for whatever reason, it didn't. I thought it lived up to its name.

The reviewers don't agree with me about the Sibelius being dull, although the Globe doesn't seem to think they are very different from one another. Other than thinking that the Mozart concerto, while well performed, didn't belong with the other three works, the reviewer was very happy. The Intelligencer gives extensive analyses of the Finnish pieces (expressing more positively my Bruckner comparison). Overall, the review is positive, with some specific reservations.

By the way, there were women freelancers playing second flute, third horn in the Saariaho, and second, third, and side horns in the Sibelius. There was also a freelance tympanist for the Saariaho and the Sibelius 7th. In the 6th, percussionist Kyle Brightwell did the honors on the kettledrums, and gave an interesting contrast to the stranger. Throughout the symphony, young Mr. Brightwell could be seen almost constantly checking the tuning of his instruments by putting his ear close to the surface of a drum and tapping it with a finger. Usually, it was okay, but occasionally, he adjusted the tuning with a mechanism at the top of the instrument. The interloper, OTOH, apparently didn't have perfect or absolute pitch, so he relied on a little electronic device to check the pitches of the drums, and he felt no need to keep checking. He checked them before the symphony began, and only once during the piece.

Anyway, I think the concert, even if it isn't quite at the "must hear" level, is worth listening to when WCRB provides it on air and over the internet at 8:00 p.m. EST [this evening].

There you have it — not the greatest concert ever, but worth hearing. Enjoy.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/09/18

 This evening's repeat is Brahms and Prokofiev from 2018. WCRB tells the essentials:

Saturday, September 18, 2021
8:00 PM

In a 2018 concert at Symphony Hall, Vadim Gluzman is the soloist in the Violin Concerto by Brahms, and Tugan Sokhiev conducts Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony, Saturday night at 8pm.

Tugan Sokhiev, conductor
Vadim Gluzman, violin

BRAHMS Violin Concerto
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 5

Encore broadcast from Saturday, April 28, 2018

Hear Vadim Gluzman previewing Brahms's Violin Concerto in the audio player above.

Tugan Sokhiev previews Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5:

bso180428_sokhiev_edit.mp3

Transcript of Gluzman interview:

You can go to their web page for the links.

Here, lightly edited, is what I wrote back then:

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….

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.

After I wrote my preview a review did appear in the Intelligencer, mixed about the Brahms, raving about the Prokofiev.

This music isn't my favorite, so I'll probably keep my Sox on as they play the Orioles, but you definitely could do worse than listen to this concert: Brahms is a staple and the Intelligencer review says the Prokofiev gets a superlative performance.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/09/11

 In observance of 9/11 WCRB is rebroadcasting a performance of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony.

Here's what they say:

In an encore broadcast from 2018, and in memory of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and soloists in Mahler's Symphony No. 2. Also, BSO Choral Director James Burton conducts the TFC in Einfelde's "Lux aeterna," Saturday evening at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons and James Burton, conductors
Ying Fang, soprano
Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano
Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Maija EINFELDE Lux aeterna, for unaccompanied chorus
MAHLER Symphony No. 2, Resurrection

Encore broadcast from Saturday, October 27, 2018

Here's what I wrote back then:

This week's concert begins with Lux Æterna, by Maija Einfelde,conducted by James Burton, the conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. That brief work is followed by Mahler's massive Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection," conducted by Music Director Andris Nelsons.The BSO's [performance] detail page has the usual links to further information. It also has this blurb about the concert:

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler's all-embracing ninety-minute Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, featuring the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, along with Chinese soprano Ying Fang and Argentine-born mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink. The fourth movement is a setting of "Urlicht," a poem from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a source of texts for many of Mahler's songs, and the vast finale includes a setting for chorus and soprano of verses from Klopstock's poem "Resurrection." James Burton will conduct Maija's Einfelde's Lux aeterna, for mixed chorus, the first of two Latvian works performed this year to mark the centenary of the country's independence.

Reviews are in. The reviewer in the Globe gave a decidedly critical review of the performance of both works, but the reviewer for the Boston Musical Intelligencer was happy with the result. It wasn't part of my subscriptions, so I can't settle the disagreement.

You can hear the show beginning at 8:00 p.m., EDST, on air or on line via WCRB. …

If it were not being given this evening in connection with the anniversary, I'd say for me Mahler is okay but not must listen music. Perhaps you might want to listen because of the occasion even if Mahler isn't your favorite composer, but I wouldn't blame anyone who wants to do something else (9/11 related or not) at that time.

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.