BSO/Classical New England — 2023/12/16

 As Holiday Pops continues to hold the stage in Symphony Hall, WCRB treats us to another "encore broadcast." This time it's the concert of last April 22, which they describe as follows:

Saturday, December 16, 2023
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, Anne-Sophie Mutter is the soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Thomas Adès’s Air, a work inspired by Sibelius. Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in Sibelius’s Luonnotar, with soprano Golda Schultz, and in his Symphony No. 5.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Golda Schultz, soprano
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin

SIBELIUS Luonnotar (translation)
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 1
Thomas ADÈS Air, for violin and orchestra
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

This concert was originally recorded on April 22, 2023, and is no longer available on demand.

Hear a preview of Thomas Adès's Air with Anne-Sophie Mutter using the audio player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Anne-Sophie Mutter, who is back with the Boston Symph

I wrote about it at the time, and I'm connfident all the links in my post will still work, so check them out. It was good last spring, so it should be good now.

Enjoy.

BSO — 2023/04/22

 This evening it's Sibelius, Mozart, Adès, and Sibelius live from Symphony Hall. Here's what we read on WCRB's page about it:

Saturday, April 22, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, May 1

Anne-Sophie Mutter is the soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Thomas Adès’s Air, a work inspired by Sibelius, and Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in Sibelius’s Luonnotar, with soprano Golda Schultz, and Symphony No. 5.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Golda Schultz, soprano
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin

SIBELIUS Luonnotar (translation)
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 1
Thomas ADÈS Air, for violin and orchestra
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

To hear a preview of Thomas Adès's Air with Anne-Sophie Mutter, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Anne-Sophie Mutter, who is back with the Boston Symphony with a couple of pieces. Anne-Sophie, thanks a lot for your time today. I appreciate it.

Anne-Sophie Mutter Great pleasure, Brian.

Brian McCreath We're going to talk about Thomas Adès's Air, this new piece. But first, I want to ask you about Mozart and whether this concerto number one, the Violin Concerto No. 1, is a specific choice to accompany Thomas's piece, or if there's any other particular reason you chose it for this concert.

Anne-Sophie Mutter Yeah. This is a very good question, actually. 

TO go a bit more in depth, here's what you get at the BSO performance detail page (with links to the program notes):

Andris Nelsons leads superstar violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in the American premiere of English composer Thomas Adès’ new Sibelius-inspired Air for violin and orchestra, a BSO co-commission written for Mutter. In her BSO debut, the young South African soprano Golda Schultz sings Jean Sibelius’ Luonnotar, a dramatic tone poem with voice based on Finnish creation myth. Though his Fifth Symphony was an enormous success at its 1915 premiere, Sibelius extensively revised the original four-movement work, completing the final three-movement version in 1919.

Friday afternoon's performance by the vocal soloist is supported by a generous gift from the Ethan Ayer Vocal Soloist Fund.

---

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Golda Schultz, soprano

SIBELIUS Luonnotar
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 1
Intermission
Thomas ADÈS Air, for violin and orchestra (American premiere; co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director, through the generous support of the New Works Fund established by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency and the Arthur P. Contas Commissioning Fund.)
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

There is a favorable review in the Globe and a very favorable and detailed one in the Intelligencer.

I enjoyed my evening in Symphony Hall on Thursday. Jeffrey Gantz in the Intelligencer put it very well when he wrote, "Air (think also “Aria” and perhaps Shakespeare’s Ariel) is 15 minutes of slow spirals and concentric circles." There was nothing offensive in any of it, and I thought the soprano did very well in Luonnotar.

So give it a listen, and don't forget the rebroadcast.

BSO — 2023/03/25

 This evening's concert could be "challenging." Here's the word from WCRB:

Saturday, March 25, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, April 3

Thomas Adès returns to the Boston Symphony to conduct Igor Stravinsky’s dreamy retelling of Perséphone and two of his own works inspired by Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century Italian epic poem Commedia.

Thomas Adès, conductor
Edgaras Montvidas, tenor
Danielle de Niese, narrator
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor

STRAVINSKY Perséphone (libretto and translation)
Thomas ADÈS Inferno Suite
ADÈS Paradiso

To hear a preview of Inferno Suite and Paradiso with Thomas Adès, use the player above or the tab below. For a preview of Stravinsky's Perséphone with Danielle de Niese, use tab below:

Interview With Thomas AdèsInterview With Danielle De Niese 

And here's the BSO performance detail page:

English composer Thomas Adès returns to lead two works from The Dante Project, a three-part ballet score from 2021 based on Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century Italian epic poem Commedia. The piece was written to mark the 700th anniversary of the poet’s death. Igor Stravinsky’s mythology-based Perséphone for narrator, tenor, chorus, and orchestra is a magically surreal neoclassical retelling of the goddess Persephone’s abduction by Hades, god of the underworld.

Sung in French with English supertitles

Friday afternoon’s appearance by Edgaras Montvidas is supported by a gift in loving memory of Alan J. Dworsky.

---

Thomas Adès, conductor
Edgaras Montvidas, tenor
Danielle de Niese, narrator
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
 James Burton, conductor
The Boys of the St. Paul’s Choir School
 James Kennerly, director

STRAVINSKY Perséphone
Intermission
Thomas ADÈS Inferno Suite
Thomas ADÈS Paradiso

The reviews are in. The Globe's is a rave, while in the Intelligencer we are exhorted to listen even though music of these styles may not be our cup of tea.

I didn't hear it, but Stravinsky is Stravinsky, it seems, and, if nothing else, Adès is apparently loud. So maybe give it a try, but don't be surprised if you don't like it.

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.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/05/07

 This evening, while the BSO is on break for a few weeks, WCRB takes us to the BSO's "golden grooveyard." In other words (from WCRB):

Saturday, May 7, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, it's an evening dedicated to the BSO's rich recording discography, centered on Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 2 and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 with Music Director Andris Nelsons, plus works by Thomas Adès and Ferruccio Busoni.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor

Thomas Adès, conductor (Adès)
Kirill Gerstein, piano (Adès, Busoni)

Sakari Oramo, conductor (Busoni)

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture
Thomas ADÈS Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: I. Allegramente
Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No. 2
Ferruccio BUSONI Piano Concerto in C: IV. Tarantella
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 1

Recordings courtesies of Deutsche Grammophon, BSO Classics, Oberlin Music, and Myrios.

What more can I say? Since it's not a concert, there are no reviews, nor a BSO performance detail page. I can't say any of these pieces are favorites of mine, but I'll probably leave the radio on. Of course "everybody" likes Brahms.

BSO — 2022/01/29

 As I have long imagined, WCRB records the BSO Thursday concerts as a backup in case something untoward happens to prevent a live broadcast of the same program on Saturday. Today it happened. The frightful weather we're having in the Boston area has occasioned the cancellatioon of this evening' performance, but we will be able to hear the same music, as recorded on Thursday evening. Good going, WCRB!

Here's how they synopsize it on their BSO page:

Saturday, January 29, and Monday, February 7, 2021
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès conducts an evening of modern pieces, including Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and his own Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, both with soloist Kirill Gerstein.

Thomas Adès, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

BERG Three Pieces for Orchestra
RAVEL Piano Concerto in D for the left hand
Thomas ADÈS Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
RAVEL La Valse

To hear Thomas Adès describe the connections among the different works on this program, the continually fascinating performances of Kirill Gerstein, and a look ahead to his BSO program at Tanglewood, click on the player above.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Thomas Adès, who's back in Boston here for a really fascinating

As I often do, I've also included the first words of an interview with Maestro Adès. You can read the whole thing or listen to it at the WCRB page.

I wasn't there on Thursday  (not part of my subscription) but there are reviews in both the Globe and the Intelligencer. Both note some problems with balance between sections, but are overall favorable. In the BMInt, Mark DeVoto writes like the musicologist that he is, with lots of specifics. The Globe's reviewer, Jeremy Eichler, writing at the layman's level, was enthusiastic for the selection of pieces and very happy with the performance — almost a rave review. There are some interesting comments on the article, as well.

The BSO itself has this description of the program:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès is joined by pianist Kirill Gerstein in reprise performances of Adès’s own Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, a BSO-commissioned work written for Gerstein and premiered at Symphony Hall in 2019. Gerstein and Adès have since performed the concerto worldwide to great acclaim, and the BSO’s recording of it was nominated for a Grammy Award. Gerstein also performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, which Ravel completed in 1930 for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm due to an injury in World War I. Ravel’s fascination with jazz shows up in the concerto’s syncopated rhythms and energy. Exhibiting stark differences as well as fascinating similarities, both Ravel’s La Valse and Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra—written a few years apart during and after World War I—seem to be modern commentaries, both admiring and critical, of the music and society of a bygone 19th century Europe.

As of this writing, they're still letting us see their program notes here,

So, if "modern music" doesn't send you screaming from the room, this should be worth hearing. In fact, the Ravel pieces are at least semi-tame. So why not give it a listen this evening and/or February 7 at 8:00 EST.

P.S. Don't forget the rebroadcast of last week's concert of music by Brahms, Nabors, and Tchaikovsky on January 31 at 8:00 p.m.

Tanglewood — 2021/07/31

 Tonight we have two symphonies by Haydn. WCRB says:

Saturday night at 8pm, BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in two symphonies by Haydn plus his own O Albion, and Kirill Gerstein is the soloist in Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds.

Thomas Adès, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

HAYDN Symphony No. 64, Tempora mutantur
STRAVINSKY Concerto for Piano and Winds
Thomas ADÈS O Albion
HAYDN Symphony No. 45, Farewell

The BSO performance detail page has the usual links, including those to the program notes.

I'll be interested to hear the Adès piece, and th e Haydn should be good. I'm looking forward to the "surprise" ending of the "Farewell" Symphony.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/04/03

 This evening WCRB gives us the concert of November 5, 2016, which consists of two fairly unfamiliar works and one that is quite recent. Here's their description:

Saturday at 8pm, in a 2016 concert, Artistic Partner Thomas Adès leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in "Totentanz," his 2013 meditation on the indiscriminate nature of Death, with mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn and baritone Mark Stone, as well as works by Britten and Sibelius.

Saturday, April 3, 2021
8:00 PM

Thomas Adès, conductor
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano
Mark Stone, baritone

BRITTEN Sinfonia da Requiem
SIBELIUS Tapiola
ADÈS Totentanz

This concert is not available on-demand.

Thomas Adès previews the program with WCRB's Brian McCreath (transcript below):

I recommend listening to or reading the transcript of the interview with Maestro Ades for the background info on all three pieces, especially since the BSO performance detail page and program notes are no longer available.

My post from the time of the concert follows, edited to remove now inapplicable content:

This week the Boston Symphony gives us an early work of Benjamin Britten, a late one of Jean Sibelius, and a recent one of Thomas Adès, who also did the conducting. The BSO performance detail pageprovides these specifics:

British composer/conductor/pianist Thomas Adès joins the BSO family in the role of "Artistic Partner" this season, collaborating with the orchestra and its musicians in a variety of capacities. In these concerts he conducts his own 2013 Totentanz ("Dance of Death") for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra. Set to a text accompanying a 15th-century German frieze depicting Death (represented by the baritone) dancing with individuals from all strata of humanity (represented by the mezzo-soprano), the work is both macabre and funny-the Dance of Death is the one dance none of us may refuse. Opening the program is Britten's dramatic early orchestral work, Sinfonia da Requiem, premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1941 during Britten's time in the U.S. as a conscientious objector. (Its performance soon afterward by Serge Koussevitzky and the BSO led directly to Koussevitzky's commissioning Britten's opera Peter Grimes.) Also on the program is the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius's late tone poem Tapiola, which atmospherically depicts the realm of the forest spirit Tapio from the Finnish epic Kalevala.

[…]

The reviews in the Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer are limited to descriptions of the music, with almost no comments on how well it had been performed. That is natural enough, since none of the pieces is familiar. When you don't know a piece, it's hard to say whether it is being done well.

I was in the audience on Thursday and I found it all interesting. "Tapiola" was the most accessible: Sibelius composed in a "late Romantic" style. The "Sinfonia da Requiem" had clear contrasts of mood between the three parts, and while the middle section was fairly harsh, the outer parts weren't bad. All of them seemed to fit the mood of the texts that supplied their titles. "Totentanz" was difficult to appreciate simply as music, but it was interesting to get some sense of the different types of music for the different individuals. Still, it may require several hearings to be able to really "get" the music and maybe even enjoy it.

You can hear it all via WCRB on Saturday, [April 3} at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time[…]You might also want to check out the remaining concert schedule for this season and poke around the website for other things they do.

I'd listen, but the Easter Vigil at church starts at 8:00, so I'll have to miss it, but don't let that stop you.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/07/18

WCRB reaches back two years to July 22, 2018, for this week's "encore broadcast." Here, somewhat edited, is how I previewed it at the time:

…Thomas Adès conducts his own music and that of Sibelius. This synopsis appears in the orchestra's performance detail page:

Thomas Adès conducts Adès and Sibelius with Christian Tetzlaff

Tanglewood 

Koussevitzky Music Shed - Lenox, MA - View Map

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès makes his first Tanglewood appearance of 2018, taking the podium to lead the BSO in his own Suite from Powder Her Face, the composer's 1995 chamber opera, which helped cement an already impressive reputation. Mr. Adès will also lead the orchestra in Sibelius's Symphony No. 5, and renowned German violinist Christian Tetzlaff joins the orchestra for Sibelius's Violin Concerto.

(Some emphasis added.)

I make no guarantees about "Powder Her Face," but I like Sibelius. His music is among the most tonal and least dissonant of works by prominent composers of the early 20th Century.

There isn't much of my own that I can add now. The Boston Mysical Intelligencer published a highly favorable review. The Globe also has a review which says nothing about "Powder Her Face," but is very complimentary toward the interpretations of the Sibelius.

To conclude, then, it seems that the two Sibelius works are must listening, and the Adès should be at least okay. Tune your radio, computer, or other device to WCRB at 8:00 p.m. to enjoy it.

BSO/Classical New England — 2019/09/14

Today's "encore performance" comes from March 9 of this year. WCRB gives the basics on their website:

Saturday, September 14, 2019
8:00 PM

Recorded on March 9, 2019

Thomas Adès, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Thomas ADÈS Piano Concerto
   (world premiere; BSO commission)
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

(Emphasis added);

and the BSO program detail page provides further information:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns for a concert featuring the world premiere of his Concerto for piano and orchestra , commissioned by the BSO and composed for Kirill Gerstein, a frequent collaborator. Mr. Adès also leads the orchestra in two Romantic-era scores. Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz depicts a scene from Nicolaus Lenau's 1836 poem Faust in which Mephistopheles plays demonically on a fiddle during a wedding. Tchaikovsky's emotionally intense and magnificently orchestrated Fourth Symphony, completed in 1878, represents the culmination of a traumatic period in the composer's life.

The WCRB page also has a link to a conversation with the soloist, and the BSO page has the usual links to background information.

My review at the time gives you my reaction to the performance two days earlier as well as links to the published reviews. It should be worth hearing (again) this evening at 8:00 via WCRB on air or on line. The WCRB home page also has a link to an article about Malcolm Lowe, the long-time concertmaster of the BSO, who will retire before the season opener next week. It includes the audio of an interview with him, and it should be interesting and informative.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2019/03/09

This week the BSO sandwiches the world premiere of a piano concerto, conducted by the composer, between two late 19th Century orchestral pieces. Here's how the orchestra's performance detail page synopsizes the concert:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns for a concert featuring the world premiere of his Concerto for piano and orchestra , commissioned by the BSO and composed for Kirill Gerstein, a frequent collaborator. Mr. Adès also leads the orchestra in two Romantic-era scores. Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz depicts a scene from Nicolaus Lenau's 1836 poem Faust in which Mephistopheles plays demonically on a fiddle during a wedding. Tchaikovsky's emotionally intense and magnificently orchestrated Fourth Symphony, completed in 1878, represents the culmination of a traumatic period in the composer's life.

(Some emphasis added.)

I was there for theThursday concert, which had the very first performance of the piano concerto. It struck me as 21st Century Gershwin. There was some jazzy rhythm, there was a modicum of tune, but it was all overshadowed by noise. I couldn't say if it was exactly atonal, but it didn't seem very harmonious. It was tolerable and even interesting. Maybe a second hearing this evening will lead to greater understanding and appreciation. The Liszt was vigorous — happy to see Clint Foreman get some solo work in it, although most went to Elizabeth Ostling. The first movement of the Tchaikovsky went too long — his fault, not theirs.

The Globe review, which I hadn't read before writing the above paragraph, also notes Gershwinesque qualities in the concerto. The reviewer likes the Liszt and appreciates a couple of unusual touches in the Tchaikovsky. The Musical Intelligencer was also pleased.

Listen in this evening at 8:00 over the facilities of WCRB, see what you think of the concerto, and enjoy the classics. Don't forget the repeat on March 18 at 8:00 p.m. On the 11th, you have another chance to hear the Dvořák "Stabat Mater."

Enjoy!

Tanglewood — 2018/07/20-22

This weekend the broadcasts/online streams from Tanglewood will include an all-Mozart program, more Mozart along with Bernstein and Haydn, and Adès and Sibelius. All three should be well worth hearing.



Friday, July 20, 2018.  The orchestra's program detail page has the usual links to background information and gives the following description of the program:

All-Mozart Program with Emanuel Ax
UnderScore Friday Concert

Tanglewood 

Koussevitzky Music Shed - Lenox, MA - View Map

The Jackie and Larry Horn Family Concert

Patrons will hear comments about the program directly from onstage BSO musician Kathryn Sievers (viola). 

Herbert Blomstedt, a longtime collaborator with the BSO, conducts the orchestra in an all-Mozart program. Emanuel Ax joins the orchestra for the Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K.453, a work Bernstein returned to frequently and performed several times at Tanglewood. The second half of the program is dedicated to the Symphony No. 41, Jupiter, the composer's final work in the genre and one of history's great symphonies.

(Some emphasis added.)

As noted last time Maestro Blomstedt conducted the BSO, although he is Swedish and grew up in Sweden, he was born in the U.S.A. — Springfield, MA IIRC.

I'll be listening to this even during the Red Sox game, although I may have the TV on in the living room and multitask until it's time to prepare dinner.


Saturday, July 21, 2018.  Again, from the performance detail page:

Herbert Blomstedt conducts Mozart, Bernstein and Haydn

Tanglewood 

Koussevitzky Music Shed - Lenox, MA - View Map

Maestro Blomstedt conducts the BSO in a second performance, featuring Haydn's majestic Missa in angustiis(Lord Nelson Mass)-a work Bernstein conducted at Tanglewood in 1977 as part of a years-long survey of the Haydn masses-with soprano Hannah Morrison, mezzo-soprano Elisabeth Kulman, tenor Nicholas Phan, baritone Michael Nagy, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. At the heart of the program is Bernstein's own Ḥalil, Nocturne for flute and orchestra, with BSO principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe as soloist. Maestro Blomstedt begins the program by conducting Mozart's Symphony No. 34.

(Some emphasis added.)

Don't forget, you can see performer bios for conductor and soloists by clicking on the thumbnail photos.

My brother's call from Japan will take me away from the Haydn Mass, but I've heard it before and I think it's well worth hearing — as are his other Masses — so stick around after intermission. I'm not familiar with the Bernstein, and I'm looking forward to hearing it. Again, the concert will crowd out the Red Sox on the airwaves.


Sunday, July 22, 2018.  On Sunday, we get to hear a delayed broadcast as Thomas Adès conducts his own music and that of Sibelius. This synopsis appears in the orchestra's performance detail page:

Thomas Adès conducts Adès and Sibelius with Christian Tetzlaff

Tanglewood 

Koussevitzky Music Shed - Lenox, MA - View Map

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès makes his first Tanglewood appearance of 2018, taking the podium to lead the BSO in his own Suite from Powder Her Face, the composer's 1995 chamber opera, which helped cement an already impressive reputation. Mr. Adès will also lead the orchestra in Sibelius's Symphony No. 5, and renowned German violinist Christian Tetzlaff joins the orchestra for Sibelius's Violin Concerto.

(Some emphasis added.)

I make no guarantees about "Powder Her Face," but I like Sibelius. His music is among the most tonal and least dissonant of works by prominent composers of the early 20th Century.


Again, a reminder that WCRB presents the Friday and Saturday evening concerts virtually live at 8:00, Boston Time, and the Sunday concert at 7:00 p.m. This looks like a great weekend for listening to the BSO.

BSO — 2018/01/27

This week, the BSO gives us something old, somethings new (but not brand new) something borrowed, but nothing blue, so far as I can tell; so it isn't a wedding. What it is, we learn from the orchestra's performance detail page:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns to lead music of his own-a suite from his acclaimed 1995 chamber opera Powder Her Face-and joins with violinist Augustin Hadelich for György Ligeti's 1993 Violin Concerto, a wonderfully varied work that touches on virtually all of Ligeti's late musical concerns in material ranging from poignant, folk-like melody to delighted virtuosity. These performances will include a cadenza written by Thomas Adès for the finale. Opening the program is Beethoven's most boisterous and jolly symphony, No. 8. Closing the program is music from Stravinsky's 1928 ballet The Fairy's Kiss, an homage to Tchaikovsky drawing liberally on the latter's music.

(Some emphasis added.)

The old is the Beethoven, which opens the concert. The new are the Ligeti and Adès on either side of the intermission. The borrowed is music of Tchaikovsky which Stravinsky used in his ballet and divertimento. Read more about them via the links on the BSO page. Also, click on thumbnail photos for performer bios.

There is a mixed review (loved the Ligeti, liked the Adès, disappointed in the Beethoven, and doesn't like the Stravinsky) in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Globe reviewer found no fault with (said almost nothing about) the Beethoven and Stravinsky, liked the Adès, and raved about the Ligeti. Both found Hadelich's playing spectacular. The BMInt suggests you need to be in Symphony Hall to get the full effect of the violin in the Ligeti, but the reviews give good information about the pieces.

I'll be listening to WCRB this evening from 8:00 Boston Time until 9:00, when my brother calls from Tokyo. I'll try to catch the rest when the show is rebroadcast/streamed on Monday, February 5 at 8:00. The middle pieces may not be everybody's figurative cup of metaphorical tea, but you never know until you give it a try. I'm not sure I'll like them, although my interest is piqued for the Ligeti. They probably won't reach that spectacular cadenza the reviewers tell about before 9:00. It definitely gives me a reason to listen to the rebroadcast. If you decide to leave during the Adès, the Stravinsky will probably begin about 10:05.

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/12/16

This week, as the Holiday Pops season continues at Symphony Hall, WCRB returns us to Tanglewood with a recording of the concert of Friday, July 14, 2017. Here's what I wrote back then:

Here's how the BSO performance detail page describes this evening's concert:
Andris Nelsons opens the weekend on Friday, July 14 at Tanglewood with performances of two pieces written as an homage to French Baroque composer François Couperin, composed nearly 90 years apart: Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin and BSO Artist Partner Thomas Adès's Three Studies from Couperin. Also on the program is Haydn's Symphony No. 83, La Poule ("The Hen"), last performed by the BSO in 1990, and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467, featuring Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov.
(Some emphasis added.)
The BSO page also has the usual links to audio previews, program notes and performer bios.
The Adès piece was performed in Symphony Hall in the concerts of April 23-28, 2015. In my review at the time I wrote,
Thomas Adès's orchestration of harpsichord music of Couperin was very successful, in my opinion. One interesting feature was the use of alto and bass flutes. Both are longer than regular flutes, so much so that the tubes are bent back on themselves; and they have a greater diameter than ordinary flutes. They are held like regular flutes, with the player blowing over the mouthpiece on the top section, and the keys [are] on the lower section.
You can see links to other reviews if you go back to my post [from April, 2015].

The order is Ravel, Haydn, intermission, Adès, Mozart.

Unfortunately, neither the Globe nor the Intelligencer reviewed the performance, but except for the Adès, it's all familiar stuff, and my recollection was that the Adès wasn't bad. So have a listen this evening over WCRB at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. And check out their website for information about other programming.

Tanglewood — 2017/07/21-23

It looks like a good weekend at Tanglewood, including one of my favorite pieces of all time (which will be played during my brother's weekly phone call from Tokyo). All three concerts include a solo piano in one of the pieces.


Friday, July 21, 2017.  The BSO performance detail page informs us:

Captivating French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the BSO and conductor Gustavo Gimeno-who returns to the Tanglewood podium after making his debut with the orchestra last summer-for Bernstein's Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety, a piece dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and premiered by the BSO in 1949. Mr. Gimeno also leads the BSO in Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.

(Some emphasis added.)

That's right, folks: a symphony with a solo piano. From the brief audio preview available via the program detail page, it sounds not too tough to take, and the program note makes it sound interesting. I'm going to dinner at the yacht club with a bunch of people from the Race Committee. I might be able to get home in time to hear the whole thing. If not, there's always the "on demand" feature on WCRB so I can catch it later.

By the way, this is one of the BSO's "Underscore Fridays." To enhance the audience's enjoyment, a member of the orchestra introduces the program briefly just before the performance begins. This evening, it will be Assistant Tympanist Daniel Bauch. His take should be interesting to hear.


Saturday, July 22, 2017.  We start with some 20th century music that I don't think I've ever heard, and end with that favorite of mine. Per the performance detail page:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès opens the Saturday, July 22 BSO program leading his own …but all shall be well, a piece inspired by lines from T.S. Eliot's quotation of Julian of Norwich in Four Quartets: "Sin is Behovely, but All shall be well, and All manner of thing shall be well." The program also features Emanuel Ax in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, the last and most monumental of Beethoven's concertos; as well as the dramatically expressive Sinfonia da Requiem by Benjamin Britten, a composer for whom Mr. Adès has a great affinity.

(Some emphasis added.)

Apparently, the order of performance was revised after the program detail page was written. At any rate the season brochure and the program notes agree that the Britten work will precede the Adès. We'll find out who's right on Saturday. As always there are links to audio previews, program notes, and performer bios on the detail page.


Sunday, July 23, 2017.  Again, the performance detail page gives us the basics, with further information available via the links on the page.

On Sunday, July 23, BSO Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur is joined by Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky for Prokofiev's sparkling Piano Concerto No. 3. Mr. Masur opens the afternoon program with Aaron Jay Kernis's airy and moving Musica Celestis ("Heavenly Music"), written by the Grawemeyer Award-winning composer in 2000. Closing the concert is Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2, Little Russian.

(Some emphasis added.)

From the program note and the audio preview, it seems that the Kernis piece should be fairly easy listening, but I've never heard the whole thing, so I can't make any guarantees. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing it. Remember, the Sunday concert is recorded when performed and broadcast and streamed 4 1/2 hours later, at 7:00 p.m., Boston Time, by WCRB. The other concerts are transmitted live at 8:00 Friday and Saturday.