BSO/Classical New England — 2023/07/01

WCRB gives us something different this evening: a retrospective on the Ozawa years through recordings and interviews. Here's the program:

Saturday, July 1, 2023
8:00 PM

Seiji Ozawa's 29 years as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is the longest tenure for any conductor in that position in BSO history. He also led more BSO recordings of individual works than any other conductor. In this program, four members of the orchestra - Principal Horn Richard Sebring, violinists Tatiana Dimitriades and Bonnie Bewick, and Associate Principal Double Bass Lawrence Wolfe - along with BSO Vice President for Artistic Planning Tony Fogg, tell the stories of the most memorable recordings they made with Ozawa.

On the program:

MAHLER - Symphony No. 3, movements IV and V 
with soprano Jessye Norman, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and the American Boychoir

MAHLER - Symphony No. 4, movements III and IV
with soprano Kiri Te Kanawa

RAVEL - Alborada del Gracioso

BARTÓK - Violin Concerto No. 2, movement III
with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter

DUTILLEUX - The Shadows of Time

BERLIOZ - The Damnation of Faust, Part 1
with tenor Stuart Burrows and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Since this is not a (re)broadcast of a live concert, there is no performancse detail page nor review to link. These are not pieces of music that are on my personal favorites list, although Mahler is pretty good and Berlioz usually gives us something worth hearing. I just don't remember anything specific from these pieces. The reminiscences could be very interesting, so on balance, I think this should be a good show.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/06/10

 More from last summer at Tanglewood:

Saturday, June 10, 2023
8:00 PM

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)

This concert was originally broadcast on August 13, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

From the performance detail page:

The Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Memorial Concert

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 Métabolesfeatures 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.

Enjoy.

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.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/03/13

 It's too late to write anything of substance.

Here's WCRB's description::

Saturday at 8pm, in the final program of the 2015-2016 season, soprano Kristine Opolais sings Rachmaninoff's Zdes' khorosho ("How fair this place") and the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, and Andris Nelsons conducts three French masterpieces: Debussy's La Mer, Ravel's La Valse, and Métaboles, by Dutilleux.

Saturday, March 13, 2021
8:00 PM

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Kristine Opolais, soprano

DUTILLEUX Metaboles
RACHMANINOFF Zdes’ khorosho ("How fair this place"), Op. 21, No. 7
TCHAIKOVSKY "Letter Scene" from Eugene Onegin
DEBUSSY La Mer
RAVEL La Valse

You may find it interesting. It should be tolerable.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/12/12

 This week, the encore broadcast is the second of the two programs François-Xavier Roth led to begin January 2016.

Here's what WCRB says about it now:

Saturday at 8pm, the American soprano joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in works by Dutilleux and Canteloube, and François-Xavier Roth leads the BSO in music by Debussy and Stravinsky.

Saturday, December 12, 2020
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast from January 16, 2016

Boston Symphony Orchestra
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Renée Fleming, soprano

DEBUSSY Jeux
DUTILLEUX Le Temps l'Horloge
CANTELOUBE Selections from Songs of the Auvergne
STRAVINSKY Petrouchka

Here, edited, is what I said nearly five years ago:

In a desperate — but not really necessary, IMO — attempt to attract new audiences, the BSO will be giving a different program on Friday from that on Thursday and Saturday — an amalgam of last week and this week's regular programs. They'll be giving last week's Mozart and this week's Stravinsky at 8:00 p.m. They call it a "Casual Friday," which is laughable, because every concert is casual as far as acceptable dress is concerned: shirts and shoes are required for "gentlemen" but t shirts will do, and hats are permitted indoors. What is different from normal breaches of etiquette is that the use of electronic devices will be permitted, nay, encouraged, during the show. As they put it on their [performance detail] page for Friday:

This evening's concert is the first of three in our "Casual Fridays" Series. There are two more concerts this season- one in February and one in March. Tickets range between $25 to $45, include a complimentary pre-concert reception and patrons are invited to wear their favorite casual attire. This series also includes the use of tablets in a designated area in the rear of the orchestra floor where you can view customized content, designed to enhance the concert experience, to include an in-depth look at the conductors and soloists, and informative notes on the program. Then, immediately after the performance, head to Higginson Hall in Symphony Hall's adjacent Cohen Wing, where, besides enjoying live music, snacks, and a cash bar, you are invited to mingle and share what you've just experienced at the BSO concert.

For the more stodgy among the audience, the program on Thursday and Saturday, includes music by Debussy, songs by Dutilleux and Canteloube sung by Renée Fleming, and Petrushka by Stravinsky in the 1911 version — all with François-Xavier Roth on the podium. The [performance] detail page for this concert provides […]the following (out of order) description of what they'll perform:

François-Xavier Roth returns for a second week of concerts at Symphony Hall with a French-leaning program. These BSO performances of Henri Dutilleux's song cycle Le Temps l'Horloge ("Time and the Clock") mark the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. An important figure in BSO history, Dutilleux wrote these songs for Renée Fleming as a BSO co-commission for the orchestra's 125th anniversary. Fleming gave their American premiere with the BSO in 2007. She also sings selections from Canteloube's ravishing, folk-song-based Songs of the Auvergne. Opening and closing the program are ballet scores composed for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes-Debussy's luminously orchestrated Jeux ("Games"), an abstract ballet about a game of tennis, and Stravinsky's Petrushka, which follows the travails of a hapless living puppet at a Shrovetide Fair in Russia.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviewer in the Boston Musical Intelligencer, being a musicologist, observed a lot in all four pieces that escaped my notice, and found it all quite satisfying. The Globe review was less detailed on musical fine points, but generally laudatory.

I was there on Thursday. I thought Ms. Fleming sang beautifully, but the songs themselves were nothing to write home about. The Canteloube, after the intermission, at least had the benefit of music that fit the text, so if you listen, it would be a good idea to read the program notes and the texts. I didn't notice any real connection between the words of the Dutilleux songs and the successions of notes to which they were sung. Petrushka is not so brutal as Rite of Spring, and it has a couple of nice tunes that keep coming back, so it's listenable. As for the Debussy ballet which opens the program, although I didn't catch all the stuff the BMInt reviewer did, it wasn't too bad, especially for Debussy.

As always, you can hear it […] at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time (EST) over WCRB's broadcast and streaming facilities. […]

In summary, I found the program listenable enough. As I said to someone who hadn't been there, "I'm glad I heard the pieces, but I don't need to hear any of them again." You might like some or all of it better. So, while I wouldn't call it a "must hear," I think it's worth a listen. […].

Since the performance detail pages from "way back then" are, regrettably, no longer on line, you'll have to do an online search for "Songs of the Auvergne," if you want to follow along with the lyrics.

At this moment, I think I may listen to the Beethoven Orgy on WHRB, 95.3 FM, instead of this. As I said, I don't need to hear any of those pieces again.

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/09/02

Sorry to be so late. I've been busy. Here are the essentials from the WCRB website.
http://classicalwcrb.org/post/all-french-program-alain-altinoglu#stream/0

Saturday, September 2, 2017
8:00 PM

This is an encore broadcast originally recorded on April 1, 2017.

Alain Altinoglu, conductor
Renaud Capuçon, violin

BERLIOZ Roman Carnival Overture
LALO Symphonie espagnole
DUTILLEUX Symphony No. 2, Le Double
ROUSSEL Bacchus et Ariane, Suite No. 2

Hear the concert on demand

Hear a preview with Alain Altinoglu on The Answered Question:

TAGS: 

BSO — 2017/04/01

This week we have a French guest conductor leading an all French concert. See the BSO's performance detail page for the usual links to background information. There, the program is described as follows:

French conductor Alain Altinoglu, making his BSO debut, leads this all-French program and is joined by his countryman, the violinist Renaud Capuçon, for Édouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, written for the great Spanish virtuoso Sarasate in 1874 and a brilliant concerto in all but name. Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, by turns romantic and exuberant, opens the program. Albert Roussel's Suite No. 2 from his 1930 ballet Bacchus et Ariane was strongly championed with the BSO by Charles Munch. It was also Munch who introduced Henri Dutilleux's music to the orchestra and called for the commission of his atmospheric Symphony No. 2, Le Double, to commemorate the BSO's 75th anniversary.

(Some emphasis added.)

The reviews are favorable. The Globe finds no fault. The Boston Musical Intelligencer, with no space limitations, goes into more detail, but only has a couple of minor faults to find. I didn't go because I seemed to have a bit of a cold, but I'm looking forward to hearing the first half this evening, before my brother calls from Japan, and the rest in the rebroadcast on Monday, April 10.

As always, you can hear it tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST over WCRB on line or on air. And there is the usual rebroadcast at 8:00 p.m. on April 10. Their website has much information about their programming, including this page devoted to the concert, with a link to a podcast.

Enjoy.

BSO/Classical New England — 2016/06/18

This week's "encore broadcast" and webstream from WCRB is of a concert that was given on January 16 of this year. It contains music by Debussy, Dutilleux, Canteloube, and Stravinsky. The middle two pieces are sets of songs sung by Renée Fleming. François-Xavier Roth conducts.

I posted about it at the time with my own opinions and links to reviews and the station and the orchestra's information pages — no need to copy it all here: you can go back and look. You can also look at the station's home page, linked above, and their BSO page for further links and information about this and other BSO concerts available via WCRB.

The broadcast and stream begin at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time on Saturday, June 18. I'm planning to listen until my brother makes his weekly phone call from Japan.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2016/04/21-23

French orchestral music surrounds Russian vocal music in this week's BSO concert, the last of the current subscription season. The orchestra's performance detail page has the usual links to program notes, audio previews, performer bios, and their podcast. Here's their description of the program:

In the final concerts of the 2015-2016 season, Andris Nelsons and the BSO are joined by soprano Kristine Opolais for two Russian-language pieces: Rachmaninoff's lovely (sic) How fair this place; and the gorgeous Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin. The larger part of the program is devoted to French orchestral music. Henri Dutilleux's Métaboles continues the BSO's commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. Dutilleux's music, though unique, drew strongly on that of his great predecessors, Ravel and Debussy. Debussy's La Merevokes the constant dynamic change of the sea. Ravel's dreamlike La Valse is a kind of elegy for Europe's Belle Époque, which ended with the onset of World War I.

(Some emphasis added.)

The concert begins with the Dutilleux, which was fairly innocuous for a piece composed in 1964. It wasn't melodic, but it wasn't really jarringly dissonant, either. Then we get the singing, with the conductor's wife as soloist. It was okay, but not especially memorable. After intermission, we get two "warhorses" of French Impressionism. I don't care much for the style, but most people seem to like it, and I thought it was well played, as was the first half of the concert.

The Globe reviewer was pleased. The review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer is very descriptive of the music, making it nearly must reading. The reviewer is dissatisfied with some elements of the playing.

You can hear it all over WCRB on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., and/or Monday, May 2, at 8:00, when it will be rebroadcast. The station's BSO page includes a link to their podcast, which includes an interview with conductor and singer. This coming Monday at 8:00 the rebroadcast will be last week's Mahler 9th, which I think is worth hearing. As noted, this is the end of the subscription season, so the page also give the schedule for the Saturdays from now until the beginning of the Tanglewood season. There will be three encore broadcasts of symphony concerts from this season, followed by three Pops concerts, then another four symphony encores.

BSO — 2016/02/25-27

I wish this were one of the concerts the BSO is performing on the following Tuesday as well as on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the current week. I'd love a chance to hear it again in Symphony Hall. The BSO program detail page provides this description, mixing up the order in which the pieces are being performed:

Charles Dutoit returns to the BSO podium for two weeks in the 2015-2016 season. In this first program he leads two Berlioz works for chorus and orchestra: the major, wide-ranging, and highly dramatic Te Deum, featuring solo tenor Paul Groves, and the lesser-known Resurrexit, a movement from a Missa solennelle complete Mass setting from 1824. Henri Dutilleux's masterful Timbres, espace, mouvementcontinues the BSO's recognition of the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. This beautiful 1978 work was inspired by Van Gogh's most famous painting, The Starry Night.

(Some emphasis added.)
In performance, "Resurrexit" and "Timbres, espace, mouvement" will precede the intermission and "Te Deum" follow it. As usual, there are links to audio previews, program notes, performer bios, etc. on that detail page.

Reviews were mixed. In the Globe, we read of "verve" in the conducting of the opening piece and attention to atmosphere and detail in the second, but the reviewer found "more than a few patchy moments" in the singing of the adult chorus, while the children's chorus was fine. The Boston Musical Intelligencer loved the "Resurrexit" and raved over the "Timbres, espace, mouvement," but found the "Te Deum" "all too often leaning precariously on the brink of unintelligibility. Berlioz’s bigness was too much for the place." Perhaps the sound will be clearer when filtered through the radio or the web.

At any rate, I didn't have the dissatisfaction the BMInt reviewer did. Berlioz knew how to write good loud music, with enough quieter stuff so that the loud parts are really fun. The "Resurrexit" and "Te Deum" are good examples: glorious masses of sound. I ought to complain about Berlioz taking liberties with the texts: inserting words into the "Resurrexit" and rearranging the order of the "Te Deum" and leaving out a couple of lines. On the other hand, he wasn't composing either for an actual liturgy when he did those things, so maybe it's alright. Anyway, I loved wallowing in it. As for the Dutilleux, I may have been trying too hard to hear what the program notes talked about. I was underwhelmed, but had the feeling that I didn't get it. Maybe listening without specific expectations will work better. I'll be out on Saturday evening, but I hope I'll be able to listen to the rebroadcast on March 7.

So by all means, listen if you can. If you're within striking distance of Symphony Hall, get a ticket and go. Otherwise, enjoy it over the facilities of WCRB. Their BSO page gives a link to their podcast with interviews with Maestro Dutilleux and second chair horn player Rachel Childers. It also gives the broadcast/webstream schedule for the remainder of the BSO season and other features.

BSO — 2016/01/14&16

In a desperate — but not really necessary, IMO — attempt to attract new audiences, the BSO will be giving a different program on Friday from that on Thursday and Saturday — an amalgam of last week and this week's regular programs. They'll be giving last week's Mozart and this week's Stravinsky at 8:00 p.m. They call it a "Casual Friday," which is laughable, because every concert is casual as far as acceptable dress is concerned: shirts and shoes are required for "gentlemen" but t shirts will do, and hats are permitted indoors. What is different from normal breaches of etiquette is that the use of electronic devices will be permitted, nay, encouraged, during the show. As they put it on their program description page for Friday:

This evening's concert is the first of three in our "Casual Fridays" Series. There are two more concerts this season- one in February and one in March. Tickets range between $25 to $45, include a complimentary pre-concert reception and patrons are invited to wear their favorite casual attire. This series also includes the use of tablets in a designated area in the rear of the orchestra floor where you can view customized content, designed to enhance the concert experience, to include an in-depth look at the conductors and soloists, and informative notes on the program. Then, immediately after the performance, head to Higginson Hall in Symphony Hall's adjacent Cohen Wing, where, besides enjoying live music, snacks, and a cash bar, you are invited to mingle and share what you've just experienced at the BSO concert.

For the more stodgy among the audience, the program on Thursday and Saturday, includes music by Debussy, songs by Dutilleux and Canteloube sung by Renée Fleming, and Petrushka by Stravinsky in the 1911 version — all with François-Xavier Roth on the podium. The program detail page for this concert provides the usual links to the podcast, performer bios, audio previews, and program notes, as well as the following (out of order) description of what they'll perform:

François-Xavier Roth returns for a second week of concerts at Symphony Hall with a French-leaning program. These BSO performances of Henri Dutilleux's song cycle Le Temps l'Horloge ("Time and the Clock") mark the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. An important figure in BSO history, Dutilleux wrote these songs for Renée Fleming as a BSO co-commission for the orchestra's 125th anniversary. Fleming gave their American premiere with the BSO in 2007. She also sings selections from Canteloube's ravishing, folk-song-based Songs of the Auvergne. Opening and closing the program are ballet scores composed for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes-Debussy's luminously orchestrated Jeux ("Games"), an abstract ballet about a game of tennis, and Stravinsky's Petrushka, which follows the travails of a hapless living puppet at a Shrovetide Fair in Russia.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviewer in the Boston Musical Intelligencer, being a musicologist, observed a lot in all four pieces that escaped my notice, and found it all quite satisfying. The Globe review was less detailed on musical fine points, but generally laudatory.

I was there on Thursday. I thought Ms. Fleming sang beautifully, but the songs themselves were nothing to write home about. The Canteloube, after the intermission, at least had the benefit of music that fit the text, so if you listen, it would be a good idea to read the program notes and the texts. I didn't notice any real connection between the words of the Dutilleux songs and the successions of notes to which they were sung. Petrushka is not so brutal as Rite of Spring, and it has a couple of nice tunes that keep coming back, so it's listenable. As for the Debussy ballet which opens the program, although I didn't catch all the stuff the BMInt reviewer did, it wasn't too bad, especially for Debussy.

As always, you can hear it live on January 16 (this evening) at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time (EST) over WCRB's broadcast and streaming facilities. As always there will be a "rerun" 9 days later, January 25, also at 8:00 p.m. Their BSO page includes the usual link to their Podcast, "The Answered Question." This time it's 44 minutes long and includes an interview with the conductor in which he talks about his enthusiasm for the works he's leading. I haven't heard it yet, but I think it will be well worth hearing as an introduction to the concert, as will the program notes over at the BSO site.

In summary, I found the program listenable enough. As I said to someone who hadn't been there, "I'm glad I heard the pieces, but I don't need to hear any of them again." You might like some or all of it better. So, while I wouldn't call it a "must hear," I think it's worth a listen. I'll be out this evening, but — despite what I said about not needing to hear it again — I expect to listen to the repeat, especially to see if I can get more out of the first half than I did in the hall on Thursday.

BSO — 2013/01/10-15

And we're back! This week's concerts by the Boston Symphony are described as follows on the BSO's website details page:

Violinist Julian Rachlin is featured in Tchaikovsky's ultra-Romantic Violin Concerto at the heart of a program conducted by New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert, who also leads the BSO in three 20th-century works: Dutilleux's Métaboles for Orchestra, Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, the first major work the composer wrote after moving to the United States in 1939; and Ravel's remarkable musical deconstruction of dance, La Valse.

As, usual the details page also has links to program notes and audio previews, as well as an interview with the conductor.

I was there on Thursday evening and I really enjoyed it. There was a favorable review in the Boston Globe.

The first piece, by Dutilleux, was "interesting." The program notes gave a couple of hints, and I had an idea of which part was which, but it wasn't the sort of thing you can hear developing like Beethoven's symphonies — at least not on the first hearing. So I'm looking forward to listening again this evening.

The violinist for the Tchaikovsky was a last minute replacement, and it was his first time with the BSO in Symphony Hall. But if he was nervous, he didn't show it. A great thing happened. He did so well with the first movement that the audience gave him a real ovation (which you're "not supposed to do" between movements of a work).

After intermission, the rarely heard Stravinsky symphony had moments where the rhythm sounded to me like early rock 'n roll and other moments where I was reminded of "In the Mood." Basically, it was okay. And "La Valse" at the end was good too. Like the Globe reviewer, I found it more waltzy all the way through than I had expected, and IMO that's a good thing.

As always, the concert will be broadcast/streamed live on Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. Boston time on Classical New England, with a repeat on Sunday, January 20 at 1:00 p.m. I don't know what they'll be giving this Sunday, January 13, at 1:00. Check out CNE's Boston Symphony page for another interview with the conductor as well as a schedule of future broadcasts and repeats. Also, as usual, the BSO-related material begins at 7:00 on Saturday with the "pre-game show."

Happy Listening!

BSO — 2012/02/2-4

Sorry, I'm running late and have no time to add my own thoughts, but here's the info from the BSO website.

Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit leads this colorful Francophile program that begins with Strauss's charming quasi-ersatz 17th-century music to accompany a new version of Molière's play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Joining Dutoit and the orchestra is French cellist Gautier Capuçon in his BSO debut, performing Henri Dutilleux's Tout un monde lointain…. The great French composer Dutilleux (b.1916), completed this shimmering concerto-like work in 1970 for the great Mstislav Rostropovich. Closing the program is Debussy's symphony-like La Mer, three musical pictures of the sea.

The Thursday concert wasn't part of my subscriptions, so I haven't heard it yet. I assume it's available for listening over Classical New England as usual. (See links from past weeks.)