BSO/Classical New England — 2017/06/24

This week's BSO rebroadcast by WCRB is the concert of November 26, 2016, the one that came right after the Brahms mini-fest we've been hearing the past three weeks. Here's the program, as "printed" in the station's encore broadcasts page:

Pressler Plays Mozart

Moritz Gnann, conductor
Menahem Pressler, piano

MENDELSSOHN Overture, The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave)
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 27
DVORAK Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Of course I posted about it when it was originally performed, so you can check the link to see what I and the reviewers thought about it. As I mentioned in my post at the time, the Mozart concerto is a favorite of mine. It was the first thing I played when my great aunt gave us a new record player in the 1950's and I fell in love with it.

It's a very fine concert, and I'm confident you'll enjoy it. As always, the show begins at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, June 24.

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/06/17

As noted in the previous two posts, last fall's Brahms mini-fest included performances of his two piano concertos and four symphonies. The concertos and symphonies 2 and 4 were programmed for Fridays and Saturdays, while the concertos and symphonies 1 and 3 were on the bill for Tuesdays and Thursdays. So the odd-numbered symphonies didn't make it to the Saturday concerts. But WCRB recorded them in performance and broadcast them on March 4 of this year, when the orchestra was away on tour. This week, those recordings will be the "encore broadcast" while we wait for the Tanglewood season to begin. Of course, I posted about it at the time.

Here's a link to the page which gives the programs of all this spring's encore broadcasts; and here's one for WCRB's home page, where you have the button to listen live to the webstream at 8:00 p.m. on June 17 if you can't, or don't want to, listen via radio at 99.5 FM in the Boston area.

Enjoy, Brahms lovers!

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/06/10

This evening's BSO rerun continues the Brahms mini-festival from last fall. The WCRB encore broadcasts page tells us:

Grimaud, Nelsons, and Brahms

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hélène Grimaud, piano

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

That page also tells us what's coming up on the next two Saturdays. The concert was originally given on November 19, 2016, and I posted about it at the time. As you can see, the Globe reviewer and I both liked the new work that opens the concert, as well as the rest pf the show.

You can hear it all over WCRB Saturday evening , June 10, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time (= EDST).

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/06/03

Last fall the BSO gave a Brahms "mini-fest" consisting of all four symphonies and both piano concertos over a two week period. Each week's concerts also had a curtain raiser composed for the occasion on commission from the orchestra. This week WCRB gives us the first broadcast of the mini-fest, originally performed and recorded on November 12, 2016. WCRB's encore broadcast page lists the pieces and performers:

June 3

Hélène Grimaud Plays Brahms

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hélène Grimaud, piano

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

I posted about it at the time.

The broadcast and webstream will begin at 8:00 this evening, June 3, over WCRB.

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/05/27

This week the encore broadcast gives us Charles Dutoit and Yo-Yo Ma in music of Walton, Elgar, and Holst. Here's the listing from WCRB's Encore Broadcasts page, which also tell us what's coming up in June.

Yo-Yo Ma Plays Elgar

Charles Dutoit, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus

WALTON Portsmouth Point Overture
ELGAR Cello Concerto
HOLST The Planets

As usual, I posted about it when it was performed, on October 22, 2016. As you can see, although I didn't care much for the Elgar concerto, I quite enjoyed the Walton overture and the Holst, particularly the ending. The reviewers were much more favorable. So give it a listen on WCRB on air or online at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. The program notes will add to the enjoyment of the Holst, but aren't necessary.

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/05/20

In this week's BSO broadcast/webstream, as WCRB tells us on their homepage:

Nelsons Conducts Bruckner

May 20, 2017: In an encore broadcast, Music Director Andris Nelsons conducts the Symphony No. 3 by Bruckner, and Concertmaster Malcolm Lowe and Principal Violist Steven Ansell are the soloists in Mozart's Sinfonia concertante.

(Emphasis added.)
The Mozart comes first, the Bruckner after intermission. The concert was given on April 9, 2016, and I posted about it at the time. I enjoyed both parts and recommended listening. You can check the original post for specifics and links,

The concert will be broadcast and streamed on May 20 at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time (no Monday repeat).

The schedule of remaining encore broadcasts is here.

Enjoy.

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/05/13

The Boston Symphony 2016-17 season ended last week, and Tanglewood will begin on July 7. Meanwhile, WCRB will fill the Saturday time slot with rebroadcasts. This week it's the concert of March 5, 2016 — with music of  Ravel and Falla — which I posted about at the time. Check out the station's schedule of May and June BSO "encore broadcasts," and listen on air or on line at 8:00 p.m., May 13 over WCRB. There will not be a Monday repeat.

BSO — 2017/05/06

This concert is the season finale for the BSO. The remaining Saturdays of May and those of June will have the time slot filled with "encore broadcasts" of concerts previously given. Here's a complete list; I'll have something to say about each on its weekend. But today the concert being broadcast and streamed is live. Here's the description from the orchestra's program detail page (going in reverse order of performance):

Soprano Kristine Opolais returns to Symphony Hall as soloist in Mahler's mellifluous Symphony No. 4, a musical journey from earth to heaven that is also the last of Mahler's symphonies to use words from the folk poetry collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Youth's Magic Horn). On this same program, Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes performs Rachmaninoff's last piano concerto, the Fourth, which the composer worked on over the course of ten or more years before giving the premiere in Philadelphia in 1927. Even after that he revised the piece extensively twice, creating the final version in 1941. Opening the concert is a suite of orchestral music from Shostakovich's score for Grigory Kozintsev's 1941 stage production of Shakespeare's King Lear, to be recorded for the BSO's ongoing Shostakovich cycle under Andris Nelsons for Deutsche Grammophon.

(Some emphasis supplied.)

The usual links to background information are available on the program detail page.

The review in the Globe is very enthusiastic and points out a number of elements which the reviewer found especially good. The Boston Musical Intelligencer gives a lot of information about the music, as well as the performance, and is generally quite favorable.

Due to a slight indisposition, I decided not to go to the Thursday performance. The reviews have me wishing I had been there; and I'm looking forward to hearing it this evening at 8:00 over WCRB, which will rebroadcast the concert on May 15, also at 9:00. Check out their website for links to other information, including the podcast in which conductor and pianist talk about pieces on this program.

Spring Orgy® Period 2017

This year's Spring Orgy® on WHRB has begun with the Warhorse Orgy, which started at 1:00 and will run to 10:00 this evening, Boston Time.

Subsequent orgies will be:

• Monteverdi — May 2
• Beach (Mrs. H.H.A. Beach) — May 3
• Telemann — May 4-7
• Ravel — May 7-9
• Dinu Lipatti — May 10
• Vienna Philharmonic — May 12-14

In most cases, they run from 1:00 to 10:00 p.m. (with some irregularities) on the days noted. There are other orgies, featuring rock and jazz music, during other hours. Most notably, there is an Ella Fitzgerald Orgy from 5:00 to 11:00 a.m. on May 10, 11, and 12. For more specific information as well as for listings of works and performers, go to the station's program guide.

BSO — 2017/04/29

This week's concert was definitely okay, and I'll listen to the broadcast this evening; but I'm not at all tempted to get a ticket and go back and hear it again in the hall on Tuesday. Here is how the orchestra's program detail page describes it (with a notable omission):
Continuing Andris Nelsons' and the BSO's traversal of the complete Shostakovich symphonies is the composer's Symphony No. 6, composed on the eve of World War II and following on the unmitigated success of his Symphony No. 5. Although overshadowed by the Fifth and Seventh (Leningrad), the Sixth is unmistakably Shostakovich in its sardonic humor and melancholy slow movement. The superb German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter opens the concert with Tchaikovsky's evergreen Violin Concerto, among the most popular works in the repertoire. Known for her exploration of contemporary repertoire, Ms. Mutter also performs Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu's 1987 homage to the phenomenal Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky [Nostalghia (In Memory of Andrej Tarkovskij)]. Takemitsu, himself a celebrated film composer, titled this atmospheric piece for violin and strings after one of Tarkovsky's late masterpieces.
(Most emphasis added.)

The omission is that the blurb fails to mention the Shostakovich Festive Overture, which opens the program. I guess the curtain raiser was an afterthought. It is, however, listed at the bottom of the page as part of the program. The page contains the usual links to podcast, performer bios, program notes, and audio previews.

The generally favorable reviews in the Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer, although differing on certain points, at least give a good idea of the music itself.Overall, though, I just didn't enjoy most of it. The opening Festive Overture was fun — nothing too serious, just loud, lively, and cheerful. In the Tchaikovsky, I found Ms. Mutter's tone harsh much of the time, especially on the lower strings, except in the second movement. The familiar sections often seemed strangely played, and the surrounding parts didn't seem related to them. I think the BMInt reviewer had the same feeling.

After intermission, the Takemitsu piece was better than I expected. I think of his music as unpleasant, but "Nostalghia" was calm and almost beautiful. But to me it was also dull and overlong. The first movement of the Shostakovich was also dull and overlong. The rest was livelier. Some of, as suggested by the program note sounded like "Rossini meets Prokofiev." So, while it had its moments, overall it was a disappointment.

As I said at the beginning, I will be listening to this evening's performance over WCRB at 8:00 Boston Time (EDT) and/or the rebroadcast/webstream on Monday, May 8. Maybe it will sound better the second time around. Listen in and see what you think, although I wouldn't blame you for deciding at some point that you've  heard enough and switching to something else. Maybe listening to the station's podcast in advance will make it more enjoyable.