BSO — 2022/09/24

 This evening WCRB gives the first broadcast of the Bston Symphony 2022-23 season. Here's their summary:

Saturday, September 24, 2022
8:00 PM

In the opening to the 2022-23 Season, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony and the Lorelei Ensemble in Gustav Holst’s sweeping The Planets,and Awadagin Pratt makes his BSO debut with a concerto by J.S. Bach and Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano
Lorelei Ensemble

John WILLIAMS A Toast
Johann Sebastian BACH Keyboard Concerto in A, BWV 1055
Jessie MONTGOMERY Rounds
Gustav HOLST The Planets

To hear a preview of Jessie Montgomery's Rounds with pianist Awadagin Pratt, click on the player above, and see the transcript below.

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall, where I talked with pianist Awadagin Pratt today about

This is actually a rebroadcast of Thursday's opening night concert, which I attended. I found it enjoyable overall. The "Toast" by John Williams was typical cheerful brass music. My seat in the front row of the second second balcony afforded a good view of the pianist's right hand, and it was interesting to see his fingers fly over the keys in the Bach, which is part of the standard baroque repertory, and in the Montgomery, which was not bad for something just written. After intermission, "The Planets" was fun to hear. At the end, the women sang so softly that I wondered if they could even be heard at the back of the auditorium. Hopefully, the mics picked it all up. To me, the Bach concerto was the best piece on the concert, and while the rest isn't quite must listening it's all okay, and there's a reason "The Planets" is frequently played.

Jeremy Eichler reviewed the concert favorably in the Boston Globe, although he had a couple of minor quibbles. He is descriptive of "Rounds." David Patterson, writing in the Boston Musical Intelligencer, was favorable as well. For more information, you can access the BSO's performance detail page. There are brief descriptions of each piece there, and the full program notes can be accessed by clicking on the title of each piece. (I'm not sure how long they'll leave this page up, but at least it's there now.)

WCRB doesn't say they will rebroadcast the concert on October 3, so I wouldn't count on it, but there has also been an "on demand" feature which I've never used. So if you want to hear it again or at another time, check that out. At any rate, I give ths concert a "thumbs up."

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/09/17

 This is the last week of rebroadcasts before the Symphony Hall season begins. Here's WCRB's synopsis of this concert:

Saturday, September 17, 2022
8:00 PM

In her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut, conductor Elim Chan leads a pair of powerhouse works in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with soloist Igor Levit.

Elim Chan, conductor
Igor Levit, piano

Johannes BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2
Brian Raphael NABORS Pulse
Piotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 2

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Concert originally broadcast live from Symphony Hall in Saturday, January 22, 2022.

To hear conductor Elim Chan previews the program, describes the spark of her conducting career while a student at Smith College, and her work with conductor Bernard Haitink, click on the link above.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Elim Chan, who's here with the Boston Symphony, leading the orchestra for the very first time. Elim, thanks so much for your

For whatever reason (I can't remember it at the moment) I didn't post about the concert when it was happening. The concert was favorably reviewed in the Globe and glowingly and with much detail in the Intelligencer.

It should be enjoyable listening this evening at 8:00, Boston Time.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/09/10

 Briefly:

Saturday, September 10, 2022
8:00 PM

The Czech conductor returns to Symphony Hall to lead the BSO in a celebration of Czech music through Janáček’s Jealousy and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6, juxtaposed with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring the BSO debut of Lukáš Vondráček.

Jakub Hrůša, conductor
Lukáš Vondráček, piano

JANÁČEK Jealousy
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 6

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Concert originally broadcast live from Symphony Hall on Saturday, February 5, 2022.

Hear a preview of this concert, in which Jakub Hrůša describes the character of Janáček’s Jealousy, why he loves to perform Dvořák's Symphony No. 6, and recounts the origins of his artistic collaboration with Lukáš Vondráček with the audio player above.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Jakub Hrůša, who's here for the second time. Jakub, thanks so much for your time today, I appreciate it.

Jakub Hrůša My pleasure.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/09/03

 Tanglewood Season is over and the Symphony Hall Season doesn't resume until later this month so, as usual, WCRB will fill the Saturday evening time slot with rebroadcasts of past concerts. This evening's is worth hearing, IMO. WCRB tells us:

Saturday, September 3, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, German pianist Martin Helmchen returns to Symphony Hall as the soloist in Mozart’s effervescent Piano Concerto No. 17, and Herbert Blomstedt leads the BSO in Bruckner’s colossal "Romantic" Symphony.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Martin Helmchen, piano

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K.453
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4, Romantic

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Concert originally broadcast live from Symphony Hall on Saturday, February 19, 2022.

Hear a preview of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 with Martin Helmchen with the audio player above, and read the transcript below:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Martin Helmchen, who is happily back in Boston. And on his first trip to the United States since the pandemic began. Martin, thanks so much for your time today.

Martin Helmchen Yes, thank you. It's great to be back. Wonderful.

My post last February was very brief, and I never gave the promised additional material. I've finally figured out how to access the archive, which is on the BSO database HENRY, which my brother helped create. Here's a link to the program booklet for the February 19 concert, so you can read about the pieces. The descriptions run from p. 17/18 to p. 27/28 (depending on whether you're looking at the page numbers in the pdf ssidebar or the numbers on the full page images). It seems that there is also an encore after the Mozart, — a piece by Bach — but of course it's not listed in the booklet.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer has a rave review from early music master Joel Cohen. The review in the Globe is also highly favorable (but the encore on Thursday — Mozart — was different from the one on Saturday —Bach). You can also listen to or read the interview with Martin Helmchen from the WCRB page linked at the beginning of this post.

As what I wrote back then suggests, I was at the Thursday performance, and marvelled at Maestro Blomstedt's ability to conduct that massive symphony without opening the score. But more importantly, it was a performance that held my attention, which isn't always the case with Bruckner's lengthy works. So I unreservedly recommend this concert.

Tanglewood — 2022/08/26-28

 It's the last weekend of the Tanglewood season, ending with the traditional Beethoven Ninth Symphony on Sunday. I think I heard Laura Carlo say this morning that Ron Della Chiesa  would be retiring as "the voice of the BSO' after these performances, which, if I heard correctly, gives a further incentive to listen.

Friday, August 26, 2022. We look to WCRB for the outline:

Friday, August 26, 2022
8:00 PM

Anna Rakitina leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances” and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 3, “The First of May,” and violinist Gil Shaham is the soloist in Dvorak’s rustically brilliant Violin Concerto.

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin 
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor 

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH Waltz No. 2 from Suite No. 1 for Variety Orchestra
Antonín DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 3, The First of May 
Alexander BORODIN Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor 

Some descriptive verbiage is to be found on the orchestra's own performance detail page:

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina leads frequent Tanglewood guest soloist Gil Shaham in Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s great Violin Concerto, which sings with pungent Czech traditional rhythms and melodies. Three Russian works complete the program. Part-time composer and full-time scientist Alexander Borodin wrote his tremendously energetic and popular Polovtsian Dances for his opera Prince Igor, which remained unfinished at his early death. Two Dmitri Shostakovich rarities demonstrate his fantastic range. Purely for entertainment, the Suite for Variety Orchestra is a mishmash of pieces from various contexts—the Waltz is from his score from the 1955 film The First Echelon. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 3, The First of May is a serious work for chorus and orchestra in praise of the Soviet revolution predating Joseph Stalin’s cynical crackdown on artistic creativity, which would have dangerous consequences for Shostakovich. This is the first performance of this piece by the BSO, part of its multi-season traversal of the composer’s complete symphonies.

As usual, full program notes are linked there.

I'm not a big fan of the Borodin, although it's generally pretty well liked. On the other hand the Shostakovich symphony will probably be an adventure. The Dvořák should be good.

Saturday, August 27, 2022.  Again, we turn first to WCRB:

Saturday, August 27, 2022
8:00 PM

Michael Tilson Thomas returns to the Berkshires to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Copland’s inspirational Symphony No. 3, and pianist Alexander Malofeev is the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s mighty Piano Concerto No. 3.

Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor  
Alexander Malofeev, piano

Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Dubinushka 
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
Aaron COPLAND Symphony No. 3

For more information on Tanglewood concerts, visit the BSO box office.

Click on the player above to hear a preview of the concert with Michael Tilson Thomas, who connects Rimsky-Korsakov's Dubinushka to great musical figures of the past, describes the special qualities he hears in Alexander Malofeev's playing, and recalls conversations with Aaron Copland that reveal the essence of the composer's music.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath Michael Tilson Thomas, it's so good to talk with you. Thank you for a little bit of your time today. We'll talk about the programs that you're conducting at Tanglewood. And the first piece that you'll conduct on Saturday night is Dubinushka.

Michael Tilson Thomas "Du-BEE-nushka."

BMcC "Du-BEE-nushka." Thank you. Thank you for the correction.

As you see, there's a bonus: an interview with the conductor. If you go to the WCRB page, you can see the video or read the transcript. I haven't read the whole thing, but he mentions that he likes to find unfamiliar things. He did that about fifty years ago withthe BSO when he led a performance of "Vespro della beata vergine," composed in 1610 by Claudio Monteverdi. I had never heard anything like it, and I was blown away. It has since been recorded commercially, and I have a couple of those recordings, but I wish I could hear that live performance again sometime.

Further information is available, including a link to the program notes, on the BSO performance detail page:

Renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, whose rich association with the BSO dates back to his time as a TMC Fellow (1968-69), is joined by the remarkable young Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev in his BSO and Tanglewood debut for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Sparkling and lush, it is one of the most beloved and challenging concertos in the repertoire. Aaron Copland’s orchestral music epitomizes a distinctly American sound that persists in the concert hall and in film soundtracks. His Third Symphony, premiered by the BSO and Serge Koussevitzky in 1946, incorporates the bold and familiar Fanfare for the Common Man. The concert opens with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s brief, rousing Dubinushka, based on a tune he heard marching workers sing during the Russian Revolution of 1905 and not performed by the BSO since 1944.

Sunday, August 28, 2022.  Michael Tilson Thomas returns to close out the season: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2022-06-13/beethovens-ninth-at-tanglewood

Sunday, August 28, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

An incredible cast of soloists joins Michael Tilson Thomas, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor 
Jacquelyn Stucker, soprano
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Ben Bliss, tenor
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor 

Charles IVES Psalm 90
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

There's more at the performance detail page:

Bert L. Smokler Memorial Concert

Michael Tilson Thomas leads the BSO in Tanglewood’s traditional season-ending performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s intensely expressive, innovative, but ultimately uplifting Symphony No. 9. Following three questing instrumental movements, the finale is a setting for soloists and chorus of the German playwright and poet Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.” The symphony—Beethoven’s last, composed in 1825—was an immense success at its premiere and has since become a symbol of hope for the universal togetherness of humankind.

Ives is unique. His music may take some getting used to, and it would be good if his compositions were played more often so people could get used to it. I recommend reading the program note. I don't think I've ever heard "Psalm 90," and I'm looking forward to it. If you find it too strange, stick around for the Beethoven.

So it's a weekend with the familiar and the adventurous, with the great Ron Della Chiesa as the announcer. Don't forget that the Sunday concert will be delivered an hour earlier than the Friday and Saturday ones.

T Tanglewood — 2022/08/20-21

 Tonight the BSO celebrates John Williams' 90th Birthday and tomorrow we get a new piece and a couple of 19th Century staples of the repertory.

Saturday, Auguat 20, 2022. WCRB gives us the basics:

Saturday, August 20, 2022
8:00 PM

Ken-David Masur and the Boston Symphony Orchestra celebrate the iconic film composer's 90th birthday, joined by a stellar cast of soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Branford Marsalis, and James Taylor, tonight at 8!

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Ken-David Masur, conductor 
Martin Grubinger, percussion
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Branford Marsalis, saxophone
Eric Revis, bass
James Taylor, vocalist
Jessica Zhou, harp

ALL John WILLIAMS program:

Sound the Bells!
Tributes (For Seiji)
Highwood’s Ghost
Pickin’ from Three Pieces for Solo Cello
JUST DOWN WEST STREET...on the left
To Lenny, To Lenny (For New York)
Escapades from Catch Me If You Can
Presenting James Taylor
"Throne Room" & Finale from Star Wars: A New Hope

The BSO performance detail page has nothing about this concert. So just relax and enjoy, with the comments of Ron Della Chiesa to add some information.

Sunday, August 21, 2022. Again we turn to WCRB for the essentials:

Sunday, August 21, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman is the soloist in Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto, and Dima Slobodeniouk conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 and Unsuk Chin’s “subito con forza.”

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor 
Itzhak Perlman, violin

Unsuk CHIN subito con forza 
Max BRUCH Violin Concerto in G minor
Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

For this one we do have a performance detail page from the BSO. There we find a link to the program notes. There is not much description of "subito, con forza," but maybe you can get some idea. Well it's not long, so you might as well llisten, to be sure you get the whole violin concerto. Notes on that and the Brahms symphony are more extensive.

Again, I'll be at my high school class's 80th birthday celebration this evening, but I'm looking forward to the Sunday broadcast at 7:00. I hope you'll enjoy both.

Tanglewood — 2022/08/19

 I've got to head out to the first evening of my high school class's 80th birthday party (= 62nd reunion), so for now I'll just preview this evening's Tanglewood rebroadcast.

Friday, August 19, 2022.  WCRB tells us:

Friday, August 19, 2022
8:00 PM

Joshua Bell is the soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, and Herbert Blomstedt is the guest conductor for the Symphony No. 7, in an encore Tanglewood broadcast Friday at 8pm.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 7

This concert is an encore broadcast recorded Saturday, August 7, 2021 at Tanglewood.

What's not to like?

The link in my post about it last summer to last year's performance detail page no longer works, but they're both great pieces.

Since it's a rebroadcast from last year, I can link reviews. Here's one from the Boston Globe, and one from the Intelliigencer.

I'm sorry to have to miss much of it. Hopefully you can hear it all.

Tanglewood — 2022/08/13-14

 Once again, I failed to postabout the Friday concert at Tanglewood. This time it wasn't because I was doing lots of other things. I just clean forgot. I'm afraid that with my Fridays away, I haven't gotten into a rhythm of producing posts on Friday. Not only did I clean forget to post, I also clean forget to listen.

Saturday, August 13, 2022. Per WCRB:

Saturday, August 13, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, Dima Slobodeniouk leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in music by Dutilleux and Debussy, as well as Ravel’s “Mother Goose,” and Leonidas Kavakos is the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin

Henri DUTILLEUX Métaboles
Felix MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
Claude DEBUSSY Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun 
Maurice RAVEL Mother Goose (complete)

All standard repertory, except for the Dutilleux, which I'm not familiar with. But some of his stuff has been pretty good, IRC.

Here's what the BSO says about it:

Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk returns to Tanglewood and is joined by violinist Leonidas Kavakos in Felix Mendelssohn’s buoyant Violin Concerto, one of the most popular works in the genre. Henri Dutilleux’s 1964 Métaboles features the French composer’s intricately imaginative scoring and his innovative, organic approach to form. Claude Debussy’s revolutionary Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun, a contemplation of a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, is one of the clearest sources of 20th-century musical modernism. Maurice Ravel composed his Mother Goose for a friend’s children to play on piano, but its incisive character sketches and the brilliant orchestral canvas he later created make it a satisfying piece for any listener.

All in all, I think this should be worth listening to.

Sunday, August 14, 2022. Again, WCRB summarizes:

Sunday, August 14, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Sunday at 7pm, Yo-Yo Ma returns to the Boston Symphony’s summer home as the soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, and Cristian Măcelaru conducts works by Debussy and Ensecu, as well as Anna Clyne’s “Masquerade.”

Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Anna CLYNE Masquerade 
Edward ELGAR Cello Concerto
Claude DEBUSSY La Mer 
George ENESCU Romanian Rhapsody No. 1

As on Saturday, it's standard repertory except for the first piec, and I can't even give a generality about the composer.

The BSO performance detail page gives the following:

Romanian conductor Cristian Măcelaru, a 2010 Tanglewood Music Center Fellow, makes his BSO debut. Masquerade, by the U.S.-based English composer Anna Clyne, evokes the unique milieu of mid-18th-century London promenade concerts; this is the BSO’s first performance of Clyne’s music. Tanglewood favorite Yo-Yo Ma joins for Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, one of the English composer’s final works, in part a profoundly lyrical meditation on a world in turmoil after the devastation of World War I. Claude Debussy’s La Mer—a work given its American premiere by the BSO in 1907—is virtually a three-movement symphony miraculously depicting in music the changing states of the sea and sun over the course of a day. Closing the concert is Romanian composer Georges Enescu, one of the 20th-century’s greatest musicians. His familiar Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, based on his country’s folk music, is a delightful and finely wrought staple of Pops orchestras.

For more info, you can check out the program note linked on the BSO page.

Tanglewood — 2022/08/06-07

 A couple of concerts from Tanglewood round out the weekend.

Saturday, August 6, 2022. WCRB says:

Saturday, August 6, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, in a much-anticipated annual tradition, violinist Joshua Bell returns to Tanglewood as the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, and JoAnn Falletta conducts the Boston Symphony in timeless works by Respighi celebrating Roman scenery and nature.

JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin

Roberto SIERRA Fandangos 
Peter TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
Ottorino RESPIGHI Fountains of Rome 
RESPIGHI Pines of Rome 

Joshua Bell. Need I say more? Respighi is not in the first rank of composers, but his music is good.

For a bit more information, we can go to the BSO's performance detail page, where we read:

In her BSO debut, Grammy Award-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta is joined by violinist Joshua Bell, a Tanglewood mainstay since 1989, performing Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto. In the symphonic poems Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome, Ottorino Respighi sought to capture the beauty of his country’s culture and landscape with colorful orchestral cityscapes evoking some of Rome’s most prominent features at different times of day. Opening the concert is the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra’s Fandangos, an engaging, exploratory riff on one of the most characteristic Spanish dance forms. Sierra blends a classical approach with elements of Afro-Caribbean, South American, Central American, and Spanish musical traditions.

With the link to the program notes, you can read about "Fandangos." I'd be pleasantly surprised if it's really good, but it's only 11 minutes long, and then we get to the good stuff. You can also read up on the Respighi pieces.

Sunday, August 7, 2022. Sunday at 7:00 p.m., as we learn from WCRB, we get the following:

Sunday, August 7, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Thomas Adès conducts his own “Shanty – Over the Sea,” Holst’s spectacular “The Planets,” and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, with violinist Leonidas Kavakos and violist Antoine Tamestit, Sunday at 7pm.

Thomas Adès, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Antoine Tamestit, viola
Lorelei Ensemble

Thomas ADÈS Shanty – Over the Sea
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola, K.364
Gustav HOLST The Planets 

Of course, the Mozart is excellent, and the Holst is a "warhorse." As for the Adès piece, see the program notes from the orchestra's performance detail page. Their synopsis is as follows:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès is joined by Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos and French violist Antoine Tamestit in Wolfgang Mozart’s abundantly tuneful Sinfonia concertante. English composer Gustav Holst’s The Planets covers a vast range of musical territory, from the fleet energy of Mercury through the pounding aggression of Mars to the ethereal mysticism of Neptune, which here features the versatile women’s vocal group Lorelei Ensemble for the wordless choral part. Opening the concert is Adès’ own Shanty – Over the Sea. In this atmospheric string orchestra piece, many lines interweave to “create a widening seascape.”

Check out the link to the program notes you find there.

All in all, it should be worth listening to, even though "Shanty," which I don't know, isn't to everybody's taste.

Tanglewood — 2022/07/30-31

 My apologies for not posting yesterday. For me this was going to be the highlight weekend of the summer: all five Beethoven piano concertod performed over the course of the three concerts. But then I was so distracted by serving on the Race Committee yeaterday, the Red Sox game in the evening and preparations for a trip that I never thought of Tanglewood until after the game was over, and I said to myself, "Darn! I forgot to lidten to the Tanglewood concert." In addition to the Beethoven, they are giving performances of works by women composers to open each program. On Friday, the Beethoven was Concertos Nos. 2 and 3. I'm sorry to have missed them and sorry not to have called your attention to them.

Saturday, July 30, 2022. Here's WCRB's synopsis:

Saturday, July 30, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, Paul Lewis is the soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 4, and Andris Nelsons leads the world premiere of the orchestral version of Caroline Shaw’s “Punctum.”

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano

Caroline SHAW Punctum (world premiere of orchestral version; BSO commission)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4

For further information, including links to the program notes, see the BSO performance detail page. They summarize it with the following blurb:

Andris Nelsons and English pianist Paul Lewis collaborate on the second of three concerts encompassing all five of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano concertos in one weekend. Each of these concerts opens with a BSO co-commissioned piece by an American woman. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s Punctum, originally for string quartet, is a meditation on a brief moment in J.S. Bach’s St. MatthewPassion. Beethoven’s First Concerto (actually composed later than No. 2) is strongly anchored in the Viennese Classicism of Wolfgang Mozart and Joseph Haydn. The Fourth Concerto, written at the same time as Beethoven’s opera Leonore, is in the composer’s warm, lyrical style, but also makes room for brilliant virtuosity.

I can't tell you anything about "punctum," but the program notes will. Of course, the piano concertos are well worth hearing.

Sunday, July 31, 2022. Sunday at 7:00 p.m we get the following, as WCRB tells us:

Sunday, July 31, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Sunday at 7pm, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony in the world premiere of "Starling Variations," by Elizabeth Ogonek, as well as Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3 and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, with soloist Paul Lewis.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano

Elizabeth OGONEK Starling Variations (world premiere; BSO co-commission)
Louise FARRENC Symphony No. 3
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor 

Further information, including links to the program notes, can be found at the orchestra's performance detail page:

Andris Nelsons and English pianist Paul Lewis collaborate on the third of three concerts encompassing all five of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano concertos in one weekend. Each of these concerts opens with a BSO co-commissioned piece by an American woman. Elizabeth Ogonek was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 2012. She has been a composer in residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also been commissioned by the BBC, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra. The French composer Louise Farrenc was one of the most accomplished musicians of the early Romantic era—an outstanding pianist, composer, and teacher. She wrote her Third Symphony in 1847. Completed in 1811, Beethoven’s Emperor was his final concerto, a work perfectly balancing virtuosity with substance and depth and epitomizing the composer’s “heroic” period.

I'm sure I'm not alone in considering the "Emperor" (a name not given to it by Beethoven, but still fitting) the greatest piano concerto of all time. My freshman college roommate had a recording of it which he played every Sunday. I never got tired of it.

I won't be able to post next Friday, so here's WCRB's scoop on August 5, 2022.

Friday, August 5, 2022
8:00 PM

Friday at 8pm, Christina and Michelle Naughton are the soloists in Poulenc’s firecracker Concerto for Two Pianos, and Earl Lee leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and “Pulse,” by Brian Raphael Nabors.

Earl Lee, conductor
Christina and Michelle Naughton, pianos

Brian Raphael NABORS Pulse
Francis POULENC Concerto in D minor for two pianos and orchestra
Felix MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, Scottish 

The BSO adds:

BSO Assistant Conductor Earl Lee makes his BSO debut, joined by the virtuosic piano duo of twins Christina and Michelle Naughton in their Tanglewood debuts performing Francis Poulenc’s impish neoclassical Concerto for Two Pianos. American composer Brian Raphael Nabors’ exciting and rhapsodic Pulse reflects on the varieties of experience that we might encounter every day. Felix Mendelssohn found inspiration for his intensely Romantic Symphony No. 3 on a trip to Scotland in 1829. Composed a decade later, it was his last completed symphony.

While it's not at the pinnacle of Beethoven, the Mendelsohn symphony is quite good, IMO. The BSO gave a performance of the Poulenc concerto with the Jussen brothers on piano in September 2019. At the time I wrote, "The Poulenc concerto was enjoyable to listen to. Unfortunately over the radio you probably won't be able to tell which one is playing — which was a good part of the enjoyment — but it should be okay as a strictly aural experience." For information about "Pulse," I refer you to the program notes via the link on the performance detail page for next Friday"

So I recommend it overall, even though I can't say more about "Pulse" than, "Why not give it a try?"