BSO/Classical New England — 2026/02/21

 It seems from their website that the BSO ia taking the week off. WCRB steps up to the plate with an encore broadcast. They've chosen a concert from April of last year, which they describe as follows: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2024-11-04/elgars-violin-concerto-with-frank-peter-zimmermann

Saturday, February 21, 2026
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, Dima Slobodeniouk leads three works, all notable for their proximity to wartime. Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto can be seen in retrospect as an idyllic calm before the storm of World War I. Adolphus Hailstork’s Lachrymosa: 1919 explores the Red Summer of 1919, a deadly backlash against Black American prosperity in the wake of the war. Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements was the composer’s dark reaction to the universal devastation of World War II.

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Frank Peter Zimmermann, violin

Adolphus HAILSTORK Lachrymosa: 1919
Igor STRAVINSKY Symphony in Three Movements
Edward ELGAR Violin Concerto

This concert was originally broadcast on April 5, 2025, and is no longer available on demand.

In a preview of this program, conductor Dima Slobodeniouk describes the emotional power of Hailstork's Lachrymosa: 1919, the extreme shift in energy among the different works on the program and the audience's role in facilitating that energy, and the qualities Frank Peter Zimmermann brings to Elgar's Violin Concerto. To listen, use the player above and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath This program. Three pieces that are so different from each other. Adolphus Hailstork's "Lachrymosa: 1919." Not a piece that I had known before, but what a gorgeous, beautiful, moving piece of music.

I posted about it at the time. The links to the BSO performance detail page and the Intelligencer review still work but the program notes aren't linked anymore. It's interesting to see a couple of negative comments about Zimmermann's playing in response to the review. I don't know the piece, so I can't judge how the violinist did.

Overall I guess I'd say this could be interesting, but not quite to the level of "must listening." Enjoy your evening.