BSO/Classical New England — 2019/12/28

Next week, the BSO resumes their season at Symphony Hall. This week's "encore broadcast," while the Holiday Pops conclude, is the concert performed on January 26, 2019 — about 11 months ago. I think it's worth tuning in for the repeat. I wrote about it at the time, and you can go there for links to reviews as well as for my thoughts about it. Just to expand a bit: I thought "Ciel d'hiver" actually did  evoke a winter sky.

In case you don't feel like tracking down my post from last January, here's the synopsis from the performance detail page.

Making his BSO subscription series debut, conductor John Storgårds leads 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.)

As always, you can hear it all on air or over the web on WCRB at 8:00 p.m. EST. They also have links to features about this concert and other broadcasts they offer.

BSO/Classical New England — 2019/12/14

Sorry I didn't have a chance to past about last week's "encore broadcast" concert.

Now that Holiday Pops has taken over Symphony Hall, WCRB takes us for a meander down our musical memory lane. This week we can hear the concert of November 10, 2018. It starts with the American premiere of a work co-commissioned by the BSO — Māra, by Andris Dzenītis. That is followed by Symphony No. 1 by Shostakovich. After intermission they play the music for the second act of Tchaikovsky's ever popular ballet, The Nutcracker, which may help encourage people to attend a performance of the full ballet, which Boston Ballet gives every December.

You can find a bit more information as well as the usual links at the performance detail page. My post at the time (with links to reviews) recommends listening, and I have no reason to change that recommendation. As always, you can hear it at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, over WCRB online or on air.

I neglected to hit the "Publish" button on Saturday. I'm doing it now, Monday morning, for posterity and on the off chance that they'll retransmit the concert a week from today.

BSO — 2019/11/30

In 2008 I heard the Second Serenade by Brahms conducted by James Levine at Symphony Hall. I was delighted (which is not a word that normally fits my reaction to music of Brahms). If you listen, I'm confident you'll like it too. It opens the program, which continues with two pieces by Schumann. So we have a respite from music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Here's the synopsis from the performance detail page:

The German pianist and conductor Christian Zacharias returns to Symphony Hall as both conductor and pianist in a rarity for piano and orchestra by Robert Schumann, his Introduction and Allegro appassionato, which his wife Clara premiered with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig in 1850. The BSO has only played it on two occasions, both at Tanglewood more than 50 years ago. Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 was actually the second symphony he wrote. He completed its original version in 1841, just after finishing his Symphony No. 1, but was dissatisfied with it, publishing its revised, final form only a decade later. Schumann’s use of recurring thematic ideas creates an innovative, interconnected overall form. Opening the program is Brahms’ five-movement Serenade No. 2, substantial in length but generally light in mood, like the Classical-era serenades that were the composer’s models. Brahms omits violins from the orchestra for this piece, resulting in a mellow, dark-hued tone.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviewer in the Intelligencer liked the concert, especially the Schumann and recommends listening to it. I haven't found a review in the Globe yet.

I join with the reviewer in recommending that you listen to this one. It should be good all the way through (although I'm not actually familiar with the Schumann pieces). The show begins on WCRB at 8:00 p.m., EST, and will be repeated through the miracle of recording technology on December 9, also at 8:00.

Not to be missed. Enjoy!

BSO — 2019/11/16

This week's concert is pleasant enough. As the performance detail page informs us:

Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO for his countryman Edvard Grieg’s powerful Piano Concerto, a staple of the virtuoso repertoire. Austrian soprano Genia Kühmeier makes her BSO debut as soloist in the last movement of Mahler’s sunlit, expansive Symphony No. 4, completed in 1900. The Fourth is the last of the composer’s three Wunderhornsymphonies, which feature vocal settings of texts from the folk-poem collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a preoccupation of Mahler’s for more than a decade. The final movement is an expansion of his 1892 song “Das himmlische Leben” (“Heavenly Life”).

(Some emphasis added.)

So far, there is no review in the Intelligencer.  The one in the Globe is generally quite favorable, especially for the Grieg. I was there on Thursday, and was quite satisfied.

So give it a listen over WCRB tonight and/or Monday, November 25. Both shows start at 8:00 p.m., EST. I think you'll like what you hear.

And don't forget the links available on both the WCRB and BSO websites.

BSO — 2019/11/09

One of the reviewers said there are two concerts this evening; before intermission it is music by French composers, and afterwards it is Russian (or perhaps we should say Soviet). Anyway, there are three pieces on the program. Here is how the performance detail page summarizes it:

Andris Nelsons and the BSO continue their survey of the complete symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich with his Twelfth, The Year 1917, composed in 1961. Its subtitle refers to the successful Bolshevik Revolution that resulted in the establishment of the communist Soviet Union. These are the BSO’s first performances of the complete symphony. (Its third movement, “Aurora,” named for a warship whose crew took part in the Revolution, was performed during a series of BSO Youth Concerts marking the composer’s centenary in November 2006.)

Opening these concerts are the American premiere performances of the French-American composer Betsy Jolas’ Letters from Bachville, a BSO commission. Jolas, who celebrates her 93rd birthday in 2019, has been on the faculty of the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center on several occasions. The outstanding Mitsuko Uchida joins the BSO and Mr. Nelsons for Ravel’s scintillating and poignant Piano Concerto in G.

(Some emphasis added.)

Don't forget the links to additional information which can be found on that page as well as on WCRB's page describing this concert.

The reviews are in. The Globe reviewer found the last three movements of the Shostakovich and the slow movement of the Ravel well played, and found no fault with any of the rest of it. As for the new piece by Betsy Jolas, he was noncommittal. The reviewer in the Musical Intelligencer gave Jolas even shorter, and equally noncommittal, shrift. He enthused over the playing of the Ravel, then dismissed the Shostakovich as too long and, except in the slow movement, too loud.

I was there on Thursday and, like the reviewers, found little in "Letters from Bachville" that could be recognized as Bach. So I'd suggest just listening to it as a piece of music with no associations, and see how it feels. I didn't notice anything really terrible on Thursday, so it may be okay. Like the reviewers, I think the slow movement of the Ravel was the highlight of the evening.

You can listen (and enjoy at least some of it, I hope) this evening and again on Monday, November 18, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, over the broadcast and streaming facilities of WCRB.

BSO — 2019/11/02

Tonight we get to hear two orchestras for the price of one as the GHO (Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) joins the BSO for the final concert of "Leipzig Week in Boston." Here's the blurb from the performance detail page:

To conclude “Leipzig Week in Boston,” an intermixed orchestra of BSO and Gewandhausorchester members plays three concerts under Andris Nelsons’ direction. Haydn’s 1792 Sinfonia concertante—here featuring soloists from both the BSO and the GHO—was written during the first of the composer’s wildly successful visits to England, for which he also wrote the twelve “London” symphonies. Richard Strauss’ Festive Prelude for organ and orchestra, featuring French organist Olivier Latry as soloist, was written for the opening of Vienna’s Konzerthaus in 1913; its only BSO performances were later that same year. The organ also has a major role in the Russian composer and mystic Alexander Scriabin’s lushly exotic Poem of Ecstasy (1908), which features kaleidoscopic orchestral effects and rich, post-Romantic harmonies. Completing the program is Schoenberg’s intoxicating Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”) for strings, an 1899 tone poem considered to be the composer’s first masterpiece.

(Some emphasis added.)

Maestro Nelsons has the clout to bring this collaboration about since he is Kapellmeister of the GHO as well as Music Director of the BSO.

The Thursday concert wasn't part of my subscription, so I'm looking forward to hearing it for the first time this evening. I have heard the Scriabin and Schoenberg pieces before and I'd say they're okay. The first half of the concert will be new to me, and I expect it to be good.

The review in the Globe is definitely mixed. The reviewer finds combining the two orchestras less than a complete success (not saying anything was actually bad), although he found the Haydn good. The Boston Musical Intelligencer hasn't yet posted a review of this concert.

You can check out the links on the performance detail page as well as on WCRB's website.

And as always, you can hear it on air or over the web via WCRB tonight or November 11 at 8:00 p.m.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2019/10/26

The centerpiece of this week's concert is likely to be challenging, maybe even unpleasant. I refer to the piano concerto by Dieter Ammann. Normally, I go to concerts where a piece is to be given its world, American, or BSO premiere. But I was otherwise engaged on Thursday and Friday, so I'll be hearing it for the first time over the radio this evening. We have to rely on the program note (linked on the performance detail page) and the reviews to get an idea of what we are in for. Here's the synopsis of the concert from the performance detail page:

Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki returns for a program of sensually colorful French music as well as the American premiere of Swiss composer Dieter Ammann’s new work for piano and orchestra, written for the German-born Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger. Boasting both jazz and modernist credentials, Ammann writes music of great spontaneity and verve. Debussy’s three-movement La Mer—which was given its American premiere by the BSO in 1907—is among the greatest of all French orchestral works, a musical depiction of the changing states of the sea over the course of a day. The program also includes two shorter works: Fauré’s stately, gorgeous, and familiar Pavane, as well as the third movement of Olivier Messiaen’s early orchestral work L’Ascension (1932), which already demonstrates the composer’s unique voice as well as his Debussy-influenced musical heritage.

(Some emphasis added.)

Here are the reviews. The Globe is generally favorable, while the Intelligencer gives a lengthy description of "The Piano Concerto" and is less than thrilled with the conducting of the French pieces.

If the new piece proves intolerable, you can always come back after intermission. I'm not familiar with the Messiaen work, but from the descriptions, I'm guessing that it won't be quite so "advanced" as some of his later compositions.

As always, WCRB will transmit it all live this evening at 8:00 p.m. and retransmit it at the same time on Monday, November 4.

BSO — 2019/10/19

Sorry I missed last week, but I was away.

This week it's "the four B's," extending Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms with some Bartók. The performance detail page describes it like this:

The eminent Hungarian-born pianist András Schiff made his BSO debut in 1983 and last appeared with the orchestra in 2008. In his first appearances with the BSO as a conductor, he leads Bach’s F minor concerto and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 from the keyboard. After intermission, he takes the podium to conduct Brahms’s Haydn Variations and Bartók’s pungent folk-influenced Dance Suite. The Haydn Variations are based on the “Chorale St. Antoni,” a well-known melody once attributed to Haydn. Composed in 1873, this was Brahms’ biggest foray into purely orchestral music prior to completing his first symphony three years later. Based on a variety of traditional dance melodies, Bartók’s Dance Suite was immensely successful at the time of its 1923 premiere.

(Some emphasis added.)

The page has the usual links to program notes and related media. WCRB has a page with a link to an interview with Maestro Schiff.

I was still away on Thursday, so I didn't hear the performance, but the reviewer in the Globe was deeply impressed with Maestro Schiff's performance. The review in the Intelligencer is equally favorable, if less extensive.

So, by all means give a listen over WCRB this evening at 8:00, Boston Time. You can also hear the rebroadcast at 8 p.m. on Monday, October 28.

BSO — 2019/10/05

Sorry. I've run out of time. Here's the basics.

https://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/102512/  See this page for the usual links to additional information.

Firebrand Chinese pianist Yuja Wang returns to Symphony Hall to perform Shostakovich’s brightly powerful Piano Concerto No. 1, which includes virtuosic exchanges between the pianist and a solo trumpet, here the BSO’s principal trumpet, Thomas Rolfs. Opening the program is American composer James Lee III’s celebratory, at times mysterious Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula, a ten-minute work referring to the autumnal Feast of the Tabernacles. (Lee was a 2002 Fellow of the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center.) Closing the program is music from Bedřich Smetana’s patriotic orchestral cycle Má Vlast (“My Country”), colorful and widely varying musical pictures evoking the composer’s Czech homeland.

BSO — 2019/09/28

One great piece and one okay one (my opinion) are on the program this evening. Fortunately, the great one comes before my brother calls from Tokyo, so I get to hear it and only have to miss the okay one. Here's the description from the performance detail page (which also has the usual links to program notes etc.):

The outstanding Italian-born violinist Augustin Hadelich returns to Symphony Hall to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, a pinnacle of the violin repertoire. It is also one of the most challenging violin concertos, demanding the utmost sensitivity and sense of line in its many lyrical passages, as well as pinpoint intensity in its faster episodes. Richard Strauss wrote a series of tone poems in the 1890s depicting larger-than-life concepts via such characters as Don Juan, Don Quixote, and—in the somewhat tongue-in-cheek Ein Heldenleben (“A Heroic Life”)—himself. By contrast, in his 1903 tone poem Symphonia domestica he turns his unsurpassed orchestral imagination to “a day in my family life,” depicting the ordinary interactions of himself, his wife Pauline, and their young son. These performances are part of Andris Nelsons’ and the BSO’s ongoing focus on Strauss’ works.

(Some emphasis added.)

Again, the Boston Globe either couldn't be bothered to review the BSO performance on Thursday, or  they've skillfully hidden the review from me. The reviewer in the Boston Musical Intelligencer is ravished by the violin concerto and chuckles with amusement at the well played symphony.

The glitch with WCRB's home page continues, but there is this. I hope those of you who are outside the range of their radio signal can find your way to a Listen Live button. Or try WAMC in Albany, NY. Maybe they also have a webstream.

You may note that the page I linked also talks of the encore broadcasts on the Moday nine days after the actual performance. For some reason, it doesn't say anything about it until next week's concert. But I suppose it will do no harm to listen in on Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 at 8:00 p.m. to see if they give us the encores of last week's concert and this.