BSO — 2016/03/24-26

This week's concerts start with the American premiere performances of Dixi by Giya Kancheki 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. Go to the BSO's performance detail page for links to program notes, audio previews, performer bios, and a podcast. They describe 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 (with a rebroadcast/stream on April 4, also at 8). Also, check out their BSO page, with its links to their weekly podcast (including an interview with the pianist) and other features.

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).

BSO — 2016/03/17-19

This week's BSO concert provides some interesting music. The orchestra's performance detail page — where you can also find the usual links to their podcast, performer bios, audio previews, and program notes — 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) on Saturday, March 19, with a rerun on Monday, March 28 (same time of day, same station). Their BSO page has a link to their podcast, "The Answered Question," with interviews with the conductor and the violinist. There is also the schedule for the rest of the season as links to previews of the upcoming Pops and Tanglewood seasons.

BSO — 2016/03/10-15

This week we have an all Beethoven concert from the BSO. Herbert Blomstedt conducts and Garrick Ohlsson solos. The BSO performance detail page, where you also find links to their podcast, program notes, audio previews, and performer bios, 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. If you can't listen on Saturday, there will be a rebroadcast and webstream on Monday, March 21. On their BSO page there is a link to a very lengthy (just over one hour) podcast which includes an interview with Maestro Blomstedt about the concert. I haven't heard it, but it's probably worth listening to if you've got time for it. The page also gives you the broadcast schedule for the rest of the season and links to other features available from the station.

My performer watch continues. In the horn section, Richard Sebring played 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 Foreman was 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.

BSO — 2016/03/03-05

Charles Dutoit guest conducts for a second week. This time it's music about Spain by Ravel and Falla. Read all about it on the BSO's program detail page, where you can also go to find links to program notes, audio previews, performer bios, and their podcast:

For Charles Dutoit's second week of concerts this season, the Swiss conductor leads three Spain-centered works. Maurice Ravel's delightful one-act comic opera L'Heure espagnole, presented here in a concert performance, details the amorous intrigues of a clockmaker's wife (mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as Concepción) and her gentleman friends. Rapsodie espagnole balances impressionistic atmosphere with Spanish dances. In between the Ravel pieces is the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla's magical Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a sparkling work for piano and orchestra here featuring Spanish soloist Javier Perianes in his BSO debut.

(Some emphasis added.)

The reviews in the Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer are favorable. The reviewers write more about the composers and the pieces than they do about the performers and performance. The Globe is briefer, due to their space limitations, and finds no fault. The BMInt goes into greater detail (including some irrelevant personal details about the reviewer), and finds flaws in some elements of the performance. Still, it's a wealth of background information, and it the criticisms are specific, not general. I wasn't there (instead attending a performance in Russian of Chekhov's "Three Sisters") so I can't comment.

The BSO has posted a couple of brief video clips from Thursday, so you can get an idea of what some of it is like. I can't find them on their website, but they are on the Boston Symphony Orchestra facebook page.

As always, WCRB will broadcast it live and stream it over the world wide web, beginning at 8:00 p.m., and they'll rerun it on Monday the 14th. Go to the station's BSO page for a link to interviews with conductor and pianist on "The Answered Question" as well as the schedule of upcoming broadcasts/webstreams and other links. This sort of music isn't my favorite (nor my "least favorite") but I think it's worth listening to, so I'll have my radio on.

BSO — 2016/02/25-27

I wish this were one of the concerts the BSO is performing on the following Tuesday as well as on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the current week. I'd love a chance to hear it again in Symphony Hall. The BSO program detail page provides this description, mixing up the order in which the pieces are being performed:

Charles Dutoit returns to the BSO podium for two weeks in the 2015-2016 season. In this first program he leads two Berlioz works for chorus and orchestra: the major, wide-ranging, and highly dramatic Te Deum, featuring solo tenor Paul Groves, and the lesser-known Resurrexit, a movement from a Missa solennelle complete Mass setting from 1824. Henri Dutilleux's masterful Timbres, espace, mouvementcontinues the BSO's recognition of the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. This beautiful 1978 work was inspired by Van Gogh's most famous painting, The Starry Night.

(Some emphasis added.)
In performance, "Resurrexit" and "Timbres, espace, mouvement" will precede the intermission and "Te Deum" follow it. As usual, there are links to audio previews, program notes, performer bios, etc. on that detail page.

Reviews were mixed. In the Globe, we read of "verve" in the conducting of the opening piece and attention to atmosphere and detail in the second, but the reviewer found "more than a few patchy moments" in the singing of the adult chorus, while the children's chorus was fine. The Boston Musical Intelligencer loved the "Resurrexit" and raved over the "Timbres, espace, mouvement," but found the "Te Deum" "all too often leaning precariously on the brink of unintelligibility. Berlioz’s bigness was too much for the place." Perhaps the sound will be clearer when filtered through the radio or the web.

At any rate, I didn't have the dissatisfaction the BMInt reviewer did. Berlioz knew how to write good loud music, with enough quieter stuff so that the loud parts are really fun. The "Resurrexit" and "Te Deum" are good examples: glorious masses of sound. I ought to complain about Berlioz taking liberties with the texts: inserting words into the "Resurrexit" and rearranging the order of the "Te Deum" and leaving out a couple of lines. On the other hand, he wasn't composing either for an actual liturgy when he did those things, so maybe it's alright. Anyway, I loved wallowing in it. As for the Dutilleux, I may have been trying too hard to hear what the program notes talked about. I was underwhelmed, but had the feeling that I didn't get it. Maybe listening without specific expectations will work better. I'll be out on Saturday evening, but I hope I'll be able to listen to the rebroadcast on March 7.

So by all means, listen if you can. If you're within striking distance of Symphony Hall, get a ticket and go. Otherwise, enjoy it over the facilities of WCRB. Their BSO page gives a link to their podcast with interviews with Maestro Dutilleux and second chair horn player Rachel Childers. It also gives the broadcast/webstream schedule for the remainder of the BSO season and other features.

BSO — 2016/02/18-20

The BSO's program detail page for this week's concerts has the following description:

In a concert of distinctly opposed moods, Russian conductor Vladimir Jurowski leads two rarely heard works of Haydn's. His three-movement Symphony No. 26, Lamentatione, takes its nickname from its use of a Gregorian chant melody linked to the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Poised between the Baroque and Classical eras, Haydn's Violin Concerto No. 1 was written early in Haydn's service to the Esterházys. Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova, in her BSO debut, plays this and the important German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concerto funebre, the composer's 1939 meditation on the approach of war [extensively revised in 1959, per the program notes]. Concluding the concert is Beethoven's high-spirited Symphony No. 2.

(Some emphasis added.)

The actual order of performance is as shown on the performance detail page, where you can also find the usual links to background information.

The Globe's brief review is favorable — somewhat more so of the conductor than of the soloist. The more extensive and insightful Boston Musical Intelligencer review (of the Friday matinee) is also very favorable, but not without minor criticisms. On Thursday, I enjoyed the concert. I thought the violinist played very well, as did the orchestra. I'm not a musicologist, but as an amateur listener, I found no fault. The Haydn was genial; the Hartmann was serious, but not unpleasant to hear; and the Beethoven was full of good cheer. My only complaint is that the audience should have given longer ovations. I was happy to see a couple of younger players getting first chair duties. Wesley Collins, visible behind the conductor in the Globe photo, was first chair viola in all four pieces; and Clint Foreman was first chair flute in the Beethoven, which was the only piece with flutes in it, and handled his solos flawlessly to my ears.

So by all means, listen in on Saturday over WCRB radio or webstream at 8:00 p.m. and/or to the repeat on Monday, February 29, also at 8. Their BSO page has brief descriptions of this and upcoming concerts, as well as a link to their podcast preview which includes interviews with conductor and soloist.

Also worth noting is that at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday Feb. 21, WCRB will be presenting their recording of the performance last season by the Handel and Haydn Society of Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah. I didn't get to it and I very much want to hear the broadcast. There's a link to the program book here on the station's website.

BSO — 2016/02/11-13

The Shakespeare festival concludes this week. Go to the orchestra's program detail page for the usual links. Their description of the program is as follows:

Completing the BSO's three-program celebration of Shakespeare's work, Andris Nelsons and BSO English horn player Robert Sheena give the world premiere of New York-based composer George Tsontakis's Sonnets, Concerto for English horn and orchestra, inspired by several of Shakespeare's poems. Tsontakis's music is dynamically expressive and architecturally satisfying. Shakespeare's tragedies inspired the other three works on the program. Tchaikovsky's alternately aggressive and love-struck Romeo and Juliet needs no introduction; much less familiar is Strauss's overtly dramatic Macbeth, the composer's first tone poem. Dvořák's Othello Overture conveys the passions of love and its darker emotions.

(Some emphasis added.)

As so often happens, they don't list things in the order they're performed. The concert opens with the Strauss Macbeth, followed by Dvořák's Othello. After the intermission we get the Tsontakis Sonnets, and the concert concludes with the Tchaikovsky.

I was there on Thursday and have no complaints. The Strauss Macbeth was worth hearing, as was the Dvořák Othello. While Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet is given too often, it isn't bad. All three seemed well performed. The Tsontakis Sonnets at a few points made me think of bits of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, which I guess means that the musical style is fairly accessible. You won't mistake it for Haydn, but you won't run screaming from the auditorium, or wherever you radio or computer speakers are located. In each sonnet, the music is softer at the beginning, corresponding to the first quatrian, and it intensifies for the second, and more so for the third. The it calms down for the final couplet. Glancing at the texts in the program notes, I could see some connection between the music and the theme of the sonnet. The BSO has posted a video of a bit of the second sonnet. It gives as good an impression of the piece as you can in a short time.

There's a favorable review in the Boston Globe, with a bit more description of the new piece, as well as references to some elements of the festival outside the regular concerts. The Boston Musical Intelligencer reviewer is even more enthusiastic about the Tsontakis piece than the Globe. Additional information about the new piece is in this article from The Arts Fuse with some words from Robert Sheena.

So by all means, listen to the broadcast or the streaming of the concert approximately live over WCRB on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, or the rerun on Monday, the 22nd, also at 8:00. On their BSO page, in addition to the list of the pieces being performed, there is a link to their podcast, "The Answered Question," this week featuring interviews with the conductor and the soloist. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but I expect it to be interesting. There you can also find what is scheduled for the remaining broadcasts of the season.

Enjoy.

BSO — 2016/02/04-06

The Shakespeare festival continues with "Hamlet" before intermission and "Romeo and Juliet" after. The BSO performance detail page offers the following description:

Continuing the BSO's survey of Shostakovich's Stalin-era symphonic works, as well as a three-week focus on works influenced by Shakespeare, Andris Nelsons leads the composer's rarely heard, emotionally charged and evocative incidental music for Shakespeare's Hamlet. His countryman Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ballet score was one of that composer's most popular works. In between comes a recent work by the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen, whose wide-ranging, imaginative, and beautifully poignant let me tell you (2014) is based on Paul Griffith's atmospheric novel told from the perspective of Hamlet's Ophelia. Here making her BSO debut, soprano Barbara Hannigan premiered the piece under Andris Nelsons' direction with the Berlin Philharmonic in 2013.

(Some emphasis added.)

See the page also for the usual links to podcast, performer bios, audio previews and program notes.

I was there on Thursday evening. It was surprising to read in the program notes that the "Hamlet" for which Shostakovich composed the music being played took the play as a satire on contemporary people and events. The music makes sense when you realize the play was performed for laughs, and it's pretty enjoyable. My reaction to "let me tell you" as it was being performed was largely negative: vocal line without melody or clear relation to the text, other than at a point in Part 2 where the music appropriately evoked an operatic "mad scene." After it was finished, I realized that it had been brilliantly sung and played (especially impressive quiet playing from the brass). One nice touch was the sliding of a piece of paper over the surface of the bass drum in the third part, suggesting the sound of shuffling through snow. On further reflection, I can concede that the musical style may be what is possible at this point: baroque or romantic melody may not be possible. I'm not sure that's true, but this is music of its time. Unlike the first two pieces, the Prokofiev is fairly familiar, and it was enjoyable to hear, if nothing about it was spectacular. There was a nice bit of solo playing from the first chair strings.

The Globe review was definitely favorable. The Boston Musical Intelligencer gives much detail about the music, especially the Abrahamsen, not so much about how it was performed. Both are worth reading for their insights into the music.

WCRB will broadcast and stream the concert live on Saturday, February 6, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, with a repeat on Monday the 15th, also at 8:00. On their BSO page there is a link to their podcast, "The Answered Question," with a lengthy interview with the soprano, Barbara Hannigan, and another with Andris Nelsons, preceded by a look back at last week's concert and followed by an interview about an opera that will be broadcast on Sunday. I think the Hannigan interview, especially, might be interesting. Surprisingly, she has exclusive rights to perform "let me tell you" for five years.

Despite my initial misgivings about "let me tell you," I think it could be interesting to hear if you can tolerate any contemporary classical music. But be sure to have the text from the program notes. I think it works best, perhaps only, when the words are associated with the music — unlike much 19th Century opera where the music is gorgeous even if you don't know what they're saying.

BSO — 2016/01/28-02/02

The Shakespeare Festival begins this week. We have three Midsummer-Night's-Dream-y pieces on the program. First up is Weber's "Oberon" Overture. Strictly speaking, this is only tangentially Shakespearian, since — although he is a character in the play — the opera has him involved in different action. But the music is worth bringing into the festival. Next comes Symphony № 8 by Hans Werner Henze, a BSO commission first performed in 1993. After the intermission we get Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with actors and singers dramatizing bits of the music and performing bits of the play.

In addition to the usual links to performer bios, program notes, audio previews, and podcast, the orchestra's performance detail page offers the following take on the program:

Three weeks of BSO concerts-January 28 through February 13-led by Andris Nelsons focus on music inspired by the work of William Shakespeare, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death. This program's focus is the great comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. Although Weber's German magical-romantic opera Oberon wasn't based specifically on Shakespeare, it shares its subject matter and sense of mystery. More explicit is Henze's Symphony No. 8, a BSO centennial commission premiered here in 1993. The symphony aims to illustrate certain moments of the play. Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream includes his youthful Overture-the play in a nutshell-as well as the familiar Wedding March, the most famous music Mendelssohn ever wrote.

(Some emphasis added.)

The show played to mixed reviews. The Globe was enthusiastic with minor unspecified reservation. The Boston Musical Intelligencer was dissatisfied with how the Weber was played, brought some astonishing associations to the music of the Henze symphony — completely disregarding the associations provided by the composer and presented in the program notes — and found the presentation of the Mendelssohn well done by some participants but flawed in concept.

I tend to agree with BMInt on the Mendelssohn. It makes sense to put music intended to accompany a play into context, but as constructed the whole seemed less than the sum of its parts. I wonder how it will all come across over radio or webstream without the action being visible. On Thursday, I was very satisfied with the Weber. James Sommerville nailed the horn solos. But I think I know what the BMInt reviewer meant. The Henze seemed to "sorta" fit the elements of the play that it was supposed to illustrate. For a modern piece, it wasn't too tough to take, but it isn't something I'd consider "must hear" music. It's unmelodic.

Listen and decide for yourself over WCRB — broadcast or webstream — at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time this evening and/or 8:00 p.m. on Monday, February 8. Also, visit their BSO page for their podcast about the current program as well as brief information about future BSO broadcasts/webstreams.

BSO — 2016/01/21-23

This week it's an all-Czech program under the baton of Ludovic Morlot, who has stepped in to replace Czech conductor Jiři Bělohlávek, who had been scheduled to conduct these concerts. First on the program is Vltava (The Moldau), by Smetana. That is followed by Martinů's Fantaisies symphoniques (Symphony № 6). After intermission, Johannes Moser is soloist in Dvořák's Cello Concerto. The orchestra's performance detail page has all the usual links to background information, which is well worth reading and listening to. It also has the following note about two of the pieces on the program (no idea why they don't mention the Dvořák):

Seattle Symphony Orchestra Music Director and former BSO Assistant Conductor Ludovic Morlot  leads an all-Czech program featuring three different generations of composers. Smetana was the first and most important Czech nationalist composer, and the tone poem The Moldau, from his large orchestral suite My Country, is by far his most familiar piece. Bohuslav Martinů studied in Paris and adopted a more cosmopolitan style, but a Czech flavor infuses much of his work. The rich and colorful, thirty-minute Fantaisies symphoniques was commissioned for the orchestra's 75th anniversary and was premiered in 1955.

I'm not familiar with the Martinů symphony, but the others are staples of the repertory and pleasant enough to listen to. The Globe's reviewer was pleased with the performances and even more pleased that the orchestra was playing the symphony they had commissioned over 60 years ago. The Boston Musical Intelligencer gives a very favorable review, including a very imaginative description if the Martinů. I had to miss the concert in order to attend a meeting I needed to be at, so I  can't add anything to the published reviews. Based on them, I'm looking forward to the broadcast on WCRB at 8:00 p.m. Saturday (to be rebroadcast on Monday, February 1, also at 8:00). It is also streamed over the web at those times.

WCRB also has their own Boston Symphony page with the broadcast/streaming schedule for the remainder of the season as well as links to their podcast, "The Answered Question," and on-demand access to a year's worth of previous BSO concerts. This week's podcast includes interviews with both the conductor and the soloist in the concert.

So I think this'll be worth hearing, although the Martinů may be a bit "advanced." Enjoy!