Tanglewood — 2024/08/24-25

 Regrettably, I failed to alert you to the Friday evening Tanglewood concert. It began with the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, and concluded with Elgar's Enigma Variations. To my taste it may have been the best concert of the weekend. My Dad bought a record of the Chopin (Eduard Kilenyi as soloist), and I always liked it, especially the third movement; and the Enigma is enjoyable. I hope you found it on your own. If not it should become available "on demand" fairly soon.

This the the final week of BSO at Tanglewood. Here's what's still to come.

 I don't fiind anything on WCRB's website about this evening's concert. here's what the BSO says on their performance detail page:

Boston Symphony Orchestra 
Karina Canellakis, conductor 
James Ehnes, violin
Tanglewood Festival Chorus 
 James Burton, conductor

BEETHOVEN The Creatures of Prometheus Overture 
BRAHMS Schicksalslied
-Intermission-
CHAUSSON Poème, for violin and orchestra 
RAVEL Tzigane, for violin and orchestra
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Tonight’s concert is generously supported by Rabbi Daniel Freelander and Rabbi Elyse Frishman, in memory of their daughter Devra Freelander.

This evening's performance by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

Unfortunately, Leonidas Kavakos has had to withdraw from this performance due to a shoulder injury sustained earlier this month, from which a full and complete recovery is anticipated. We are very fortunate that James Ehnes is able to step in on short notice. The program remains unchanged. 

Sat, Aug 24, 2024, 8:00pm EDT

Correction: With another approach, I was able to find the following from WCRB:

Saturday, August 24 , 2024
8:00 PM

Conductor Karina Canellakis returns to Tanglewood to lead the BSO and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in rhapsodic music by Brahms and Ravel, and violinist James Ehnes is the soloist in Chausson’s “Poème” and Ravel’s “Tzigane.”

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Karina Canellakis, conductor
James Ehnes, violin
Tanglewood Festival Chorus,
James Burton, conductor

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus
Johannes BRAHMS Schiksalslied
Ernest CHAUSSON Poème
Maurice RAVEL Tzigane
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

If you want to know more about any of those pieces, check out the program notes at the BSO site. IMO none of this is exactly must listen music, but nothing unpleasant either.

The season finale has included the Beethoven 9th for a number of years. This year we get apiece by Bruckner to open the concert. WCRB specifies:

Sunday, August 25, 2024
7:00 PM

In a time-honored Tanglewood tradition, soloists Ambur Braid, Jess Dandy, Elgan Llŷr Thomas, and Davóne Tines join the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and its “Ode to Joy,” conducted by Ludovic Morlot. The concert opens with a sacred motet by Bruckner, titled “Behold a great priest.”

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Ambur Braid, soprano
Jess Dandy, contralto
Elgan Llŷr Thomas, tenor
Davóne Tines, bass
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
James Burton, conductor

Anton BRUCKNER Ecce sacerdos magnus
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

Again, the BSO performance detail page offers more information, including links to program notes:

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Ludovic Morlot, conductor (Beethoven)
James Burton, conductor (Bruckner)
Ambur Braid, soprano 
Jess Dandy, contralto 
Elgan Llŷr Thomas, tenor
Davone Tines, bass-baritone
Tanglewood Festival Chorus

BRUCKNER Ecce sacerdos magnus
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

This evening's performance by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

Regrettably, Hannu Lintu has canceled his Tanglewood appearances, after recently sustaining a leg injury. We are grateful that Ludovic Morlot is available at short notice to conduct the BSO’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Sun, Aug 25, 2024

When I was a boy, "Ecce sacerdos magnus (Behold a high priest" was used to accompany the entrance of a bishop into a church and as the opening chant of a Mass honoring a saint who was a bishop. It's unfortunate that the program note doesn't give the text, but this article gives it. Here's a wki article about the piece. It should be interesting. I presume all are at least generally aware of the Beethoven.

As the Tanglewood season ends, there's still good listening this weekend.

BSO — 2024/02/17

 As usual, we can get the basics about this evening's Boston Symphony concert from WCRB's webpage:

Saturday, February 17, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, February 26

South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim won the gold medal in the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, becoming the youngest person ever to do so. His final round performance featured Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a piece he performs with the BSO at Symphony Hall with returning guest conductor Tugan Sokhiev. Sokhiev also leads a rarity: French composer Ernest Chausson’s only symphony and the composer’s masterpiece, the passionate Symphony in B-flat. 

Tugan Sokhiev, conductor
Yunchan Lim, piano

Sergei RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
Ernest CHAUSSON Symphony in B-flat

To hear a preview of the program with Tugan Sokhiev, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

See Chausson's brother-in-law Henry Lerolle's painting "The Organ Rehearsal," depicting Chausson at the organ console, a the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Tugan Sokhiev, who has returned to the Boston Symphony for the first time in a few years, I think Tugan

Further information is available at the BSO performance detail page, which tells us:

Tugan Sokhiev, conductor 
Yunchan Lim, piano

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
Intermission
CHAUSSON Symphony in B-flat

Friday afternoon’s concert is in memory of Jerome H. Grossman, MD, supported by the Grossman Family

Saturday evening's performance by Yunchan Lim is supported by Elizabeth W. and John M. Loder.

Saturday evening’s concert is in memory of Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn.

South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim — the youngest person ever to win the gold medal in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — joins returning guest conductor Tugan Sokhiev to perform one of the greatest, most popular, and most virtuosic works in the repertoire: Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3, which the composer himself played with the BSO in 1919 and 1935. Sokhiev also leads a rare gem of a piece: French composer Ernest Chausson’s passionate one and only symphony. The Symphony in B-flat (1890) was a favorite of former BSO Music Director Charles Munch, and the BSO last performed it in 1993.

See the page for links to performer bios and program notes.

The review in the Globe was enthusiastic, that in the Intelligencer a bit less so, but together they give me the impression that this is a concert not to be missed. Sotune in or connect on the web if you can (and don't forget the repeat on the 26th) and enjoy. I'm definitely looking forward to it.