BSO — 2026/05/02

 This evening's concert is the last of the season. WCRB gives us the basics; https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2026-01-08/slobodeniouk-and-beethovens-ninth-with-the-bso-and-tfc

Saturday, May 2, 2026
8:00 PM

1. For the final concert of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-2026 season, Dima Slobodeniouk conducts the BSO and Tanglewood Festival Chorus in John Adams’ spaciously pulsating Harmonium and, with four stellar soloists, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and its “Ode to Joy.”.

   Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
   Andrea Carroll, soprano 
   Zoie Reams, mezzo-soprano 
   Andrew Haji, tenor 
   Morris Robinson, bass 
   Tanglewood Festival Chorus 
   Jean-Sébastien Vallée, guest choral conductor

   John ADAMS Harmonium
   Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

The BSO performance detail page https://www.bso.org/events/apr-30-may-3-adams-beethoven?performance=2026-05-02-20:00 gives access to performer bios as well as program notes when you click on the arrows next to the names of the performers or the pieces. There we also read the following:

Boston Symphony Orchestra Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor Andrea Carroll, soprano Zoie Reams, mezzo-soprano Andrew Haji, tenor Morris Robinson, bass Tanglewood Festival Chorus Jean-Sébastien Vallée, guest choral conductorJohn ADAMS Harmonium       intermissionBEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9*  

*Performed in German with English supertitles

Returning for his second BSO program this season, Dima Slobodeniouk leads one of the American composer John Adams’ first major works, Harmonium for chorus and orchestra. Written in 1981 for the San Francisco Symphony, this grand, half-hour work sets a poem by John Donne and two by Emily Dickinson in gradually unfolding, majestic textures. With its slowly evolving harmonic fields and rhythmic energy, Harmonium marked the future Pulitzer Prize winner and composer of the operas Doctor Atomic and Nixon in China as an important and original voice in American music. Beethoven's larger-than-life, ecstatic Symphony No. 9 closes the season. 

I suppose we all know what to expect with the Beethoven, but the Adams will be new to me, so I found the program note worth reading.

The review in the Intelligencer is very descriptive. https://classical-scene.com/2026/05/01/brisk-symphony/

I recommend listening.

BSO — 2025/10/18

Something new and something old. Herre's what WCRB says: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-10/john-adamss-violin-concerto-with-bso-artist-in-residence-augustin-hadelich 

Saturday, October 18, 2025
8:00 PM

In the first of a season of collaborations with the Boston Symphony, Augustin Hadelich is the soloist in one of the most dynamic and fascinating concertos of our time. Afterwards, Andris Nelsons conducts Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, a meditation on fate and a richly melodic cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

John ADAMS Violin Concerto
Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5

In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, Augustin Hadelich describes the challenges of music by John Adams, as well as the rewards of the composer's Violin Concerto, and he looks ahead to the other concerto he'll perform with the BSO this season, Thomas Adès's Concentric Paths. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

I found the interview interesting to read, giving the performer's reaction to the music he'll be playing.

 Now for the BSO's performance detail page: https://www.bso.org/events/oct-16-18-adams-tchaikovsky?performance=2025-10-18-20%3A00

Andris Nelsons, conductor Augustin Hadelich, violin John ADAMS Violin Concerto       intermission TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5  

The BSO’s 2025-26 artist in residence Augustin Hadelich brings his passion and flair to John Adams’ Violin Concerto. Composed in 1993, the piece is a rhythmically vital and harmonically rich concerto that won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 is a meditation on fate; though Tchaikovsky himself wavered in his assessment of the work, its passionate themes, rich orchestral colors, and triumphant finale have cemented it as a cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire.

By clicking on the name of a performer, you can get their bio, and clicking on the name of a piece gets a link to the program note. (Why do they have to make it so complicated?) Or you can go the the full webpage and click away. The note on the Adams might be especially useful as preparation.

I can't find a review in the Globe, but here's an interesting one in the Intelligencer. https://www.classical-scene.com/2025/10/18/horizontally-symphony/ The reviewer liked the show.

It will be interesting to find out what the Adams concerto acrually turns out to be.

BSO — 2018/02/03

Two pieces from around 1900 make up the first part of this week's program. After intermission we get something from this decade. The BSO's program detail page has the usual links to background information and tells us this about the program:

Former New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert leads a recent work by California-based composer John Adams, his Scheherezade.2, a work composed for violinist Leila Josefowicz. Adams's four-movement work is a 21st-century response to the Arabian Nights paralleling Rimsky-Korsakov's 1888 symphonic score. Opening the program is Jean Siblelius's atmospheric tone poem En Saga ("A Saga"), which features many of the composer's characteristic touches of orchestration and folk-music-influenced melody. Claude Debussy's Jeux ("Games"), was enormously influential for later composers in its luminous and nuanced orchestration.

(Some emphasis added.)

My mother told me that my paternal grandmother used to say, "A little Sibelius goes a long way." Maybe it seemed so in the 1930's to someone born in the 1880's, but when I began to hear his music, I was pleasantly surprised. IMO it's quite good in the context of its own time, to say nothing of later composers' work. I found "En Saga" quite enjoyable. "Jeux," on the other hand, was unimpressive to me. Fans of Debussy might like it.

As for "Scheherazade.2," it did nothing for me. The music was a pretty good fit for the scenario — loud and soft, fast and slow, as appropriate — and it enabled the violinist to show her technical prowess. I enjoyed watching one of the percussionists playing the hanging gongs and a set of hanging polished pod-shaped pieces of wood. John C. Adams is a well known and respected composer of our time. Perhaps his best known work is the opera "Nixon in China," which is imagines the thoughts of several of the participants in Nixon's historic trip. It has some musically interesting pieces in a "minimalist" style. (I also like Nixon's explanation to his wife of why he didn't send many letters during his navy service in WWII: "The Pacific Theater was nothing to write home about.")  But "Scheherazade.2" just wasn't attractive to me as music.

The reviews are respectful, but difficult to summarize. It's fair to say they're supportive of the concept of Scheherezade.2 and admire Ms. Josefowicz's playing. They spend a fair amount of space describing the work. The Globe's reviewer was unimpressed by the playing of the Debussy but liked how they played "En Saga." The Intelligencer, with the freedom of an on line publication, has much more to say about the first two pieces, and was content with how both were performed.

The only piece on the program I really want to hear again is "En Saga." My brother's phone call will keep me from listening to "Scheherazade.2" during the live broadcast this evening, but if I'm free on March 12 I'll listen to the rebroadcast to see if it is more satisfying on a second hearing.

You can hear the whole concert this evening, starting at 8:00, Boston Time, and again on March 12 at 8:00 p.m. EST. WCRB will broadcast and stream it at both those times. Note the interviews with conductor and violinist which are linked on the page about this concert, as well as other information about programming, also linked.

Tanglewood — 2016/08/05-07

Friday, August 5.  Here's how the BSO's performance detail page — with its usual links — describes the program:

Costa Rican conductor  Giancarlo Guerrero  leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in two programs, August 5 and 6, both featuring world-class pianists. On Friday, August 5, at 8 p.m., Mr. Guerrero is joined by  Yefim Bronfman for Liszt's innovative and sparkling one-movement Piano Concerto No. 2. The program will also feature the BSO in Dvořák's Serenade for Winds, Britten's arrangement of Mahler's  What the Wild Flowers Tell Me (the original second movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 3), and Brahms' Serenade No. 2, which was dedicated to Clara Schumann and represents one of Brahms's various developmental steps in orchestral composition along his long path to completing his First Symphony.

(Some emphasis added and some changed.)

Regular readers may recall that I don't care for Brahms' symphonies and concertos. But several years ago James Levine led the orchestra in a performance of "Serenade № 2," and I found it delightful. More precisely, it was all pleasant enough, but the final section was a joy. The rest of the concert should be okay, although I don't really need to hear the Dvořák again, but it's not bad. I don't recall the Liszt concerto. It'll be interesting to hear what Britten does with the Mahler.

It's another of the unnecessary Underscore Fridays, but I'm actually looking forward to this one, partly because the last time some of the comments from the stage actually were worth hearing and more because I met Jamie Sommerville at a Harvard Musical Association concert and found him pleasant to talk to so I want to hear what he will say. Maybe he can even make the Dvořák interesting for me.


Saturday, August 6.  This time, the performance detail page says nothing about the pieces to be played, just about the change in scheduled artists:

Pianist Daniil Trifonov, who was scheduled to perform a recital on Thursday, August 4, and feature with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, August 6, has, with great regret, been forced to withdraw from these concerts due to an ear infection. Marc-André Hamelin replaces Mr. Trifonov for the recital at Ozawa Hall on August 4, and Ingrid Fliter performs as soloist in Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in her BSO and Tanglewood debuts on August 6. Changes have been made to the August 4 recital repertoire, while the August 6 program remains the same.

(Emphasis added.)

What is the unchanged program, you ask? Well, it opens with a piece titled Harmonienlehre, by John Adams. I recommend reading the program note linked on the detail page. It sounds fascinating. After intermission comes the Chopin, and the show wraps up with Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks by Strauss — another one of the pieces that this curmudgeon thinks is much overplayed, but at least doesn't need a lot of rehearsal time, and it's not too long. We had recordings of the Chopin piano concertos which got played fairly regularly when I was young — one much more than the other. I'm not sure which one this is, but I'm looking forward to hearing it anyway and maybe experiencing a bit of nostalgia for the younger days when I used to hear it occasionally. Again, the program note may be useful reading. All is once more under the baton of Maestro Guerrero. The program detail page also has the usual links to background information.


Sunday, August 7.  On Sunday, we get Mozart and Mahler, The program detail page informs us:

On Sunday, August 7, at 2:30 p.m., BSO assistant conductor  Moritz Gnann makes his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut at Tanglewood with works by Mozart and Mahler. Acclaimed Brazilian pianist  Nelson Freire joins Mr. Gnann and the orchestra for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9, considered the composer's first masterwork of the piano concerto genre, written in 1777 when he was just 21 years old. The program closes with Mahler's at times brooding, at times vigorously energetic Symphony No. 1. Completed when the composer was in his late twenties, it is in a four-movement, mostly traditional form, but already hints at the expansiveness and innovation of his later symphonies.

(Emphasis added or modified.)

I think both should be worth hearing


The Friday and Saturday concerts can be heard via WCRB radio or web at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, and the Sunday program will be aired and streamed at 7:00, p.m. (not live at 2:30). Their home page, in addition to the link to listen over the web, gives information about other special programming which may be of interest. Their BSO page, in addition to brief descriptions of the Saturday and Sunday concerts, gives similar information about the remaining Tanglewood concert broadcasts and various other interesting items and links.

Tanglewood — 2014/07/05-06

It's the Boston Symphony's season opener at Tanglewood, with programs Saturday evening at 8:30 and Sunday afternoon at 2:30.

The BSO program detail page describes the opening night program as follows:

Celebrated soprano Renée Fleming opens the 2014 BSO season at Tanglewood in an all-American program. With the Boston Symphony, she will present great works of the American concert hall and opera stage, plus favorites from musical theatre and popular genres. 

(Emphasis added)

The program detail page has links to performer bios (click on the pictures) and program notes Composers are Schwantner, Copland, Barber, Adams, Gershwin, and Rodgers, conductors William Eddins and Rob Fisher.

The page for Sunday afternoon has this to say:

Jerusalem-born conductor Asher Fisch leads a Romantic program fitting for a mid-summer Berkshires' evening. "I've just finished a tiny, tiny piano concerto," Brahms wrote to a friend, referring with great understatement to his piano concerto number 2, a piece as expansive and passionate as a symphony and as intimate at times as a string quartet, and performed alongside the BSO by the magisterial American pianist, Garrick Ohlsson. The preface to the score of Liszt's Romantic symphonic poem Les Preludes reads, in part, "Love is the enchanted dawn of existence," a sentiment echoed in the closing excerpts from Wagner's sunniest opera, Die Meistersinger, a tale of love fulfilled.

(Some emphasis added, and editorial corrections made)

Go there for the usual links, including an audio preview of the Brahms.

As usual, it's all available approximately live on radio and over the web via WCRB. Their BSO page has the whole Tanglewood season broadcast/webstream schedule, as well as links to an interview with Miss Fleming and lots of other things (including recent Pops concerts).

BSO — 2010/10/28-30, 11/2

This weekend's BSO concert is described as follows on their website.

American conductor David Robertson returns to the BSO podium and is joined by the remarkable English pianist Nicolas Hodges in his BSO debut. Hodges has previously performed at Tanglewood in recital and with the TMC Orchestra; here he is soloist with the BSO in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Robertson also leads a work dedicated to the conductor himself—the American composer John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony, which is drawn from the composer’s 2005 opera about the building of the first atom bomb. Brahms’s dramatic Tragic Overture begins the program, and Bartók’sMiraculous Mandarin ballet suite closes it.

It's not part of my subscription series, so I haven't heard it. I'll be listening on WCRB, and I'm glad the new piece, the Doctor Atomic Symphony, comes before intermission, because that means I'll be able to hear it before my brother calls from Japan.

The Boston Globe's reviewer liked the symphony, but found the playing in the other three pieces not up to BSO standards. http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/....tomic_symphony/

I'm thinking of getting a ticket for Tuesday night.