BSO/Classical New England — 2019/12/14

Sorry I didn't have a chance to past about last week's "encore broadcast" concert.

Now that Holiday Pops has taken over Symphony Hall, WCRB takes us for a meander down our musical memory lane. This week we can hear the concert of November 10, 2018. It starts with the American premiere of a work co-commissioned by the BSO — Māra, by Andris Dzenītis. That is followed by Symphony No. 1 by Shostakovich. After intermission they play the music for the second act of Tchaikovsky's ever popular ballet, The Nutcracker, which may help encourage people to attend a performance of the full ballet, which Boston Ballet gives every December.

You can find a bit more information as well as the usual links at the performance detail page. My post at the time (with links to reviews) recommends listening, and I have no reason to change that recommendation. As always, you can hear it at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, over WCRB online or on air.

I neglected to hit the "Publish" button on Saturday. I'm doing it now, Monday morning, for posterity and on the off chance that they'll retransmit the concert a week from today.

BSO — 2018/11/10

The premieres just keep on coming. This week it's the American premiere of a work written to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Latvian independence (which, coincidentally is the 100th for Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland). At the orchestra's program detail page, you can follow the links to sonic and written background on that piece — including a note from the composer — and the rest of the program. There we also find this synopsis:

The BSO and Andris Nelsons give the American premiere of Latvian composer Andris Dzenītis's orchestral work Māra, a BSO co-commission with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig. This is one of two works being performed by the BSO this season to mark the 100th anniversary of Latvian independence (declared November 18, 1918). Dzenītis calls his new work, which is dedicated to Andris Nelsons and takes its title from a goddess in Latvian mythology, "the musical encoding of my personal understanding of what it means to be Latvian." Opening the program is Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1, to be recorded live as part of Andris Nelsons and the BSO's multi-season exploration of the composer's symphonies. Shostakovich wrote this symphony while he was still a student, and it immediately established him as one of Russia's leading artistic figures. Completing the program is Act II of Tchaikovsky's vibrant, beloved ballet score The Nutcracker, which includes the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the famous series of exotic national dances well-known from the popular Nutcracker Suite.

(Some emphasis added.)
Although the detail page says the Shostakovich comes first, but both the program notes and the reviews make it clear that the Dzenītis opens the concert, followed by the Shostakovich.

I had a ticket as part of my subscription, but I forwent the opportunity to attend  because I was experiencing some soreness/tenderness in my lower abdomen, rising to the level of discomfort or pain when I'd get up from a chair. So I thought that all the moving about would be inadvisable. (The symptoms may be very gradually diminishing as the days drag on or fly by, as the case may be.)

The reviews are in and they tell me I wish I had felt up to going on Thursday, and that I want to hear it this evening.  As always, the Globe doesn't have much space, but finds no fault with anything. In the Intelligencer, the reviews of the Dzenītis and Shostakovich were extensive enough to double as program notes, and the reviewer found no fault. But after intermission, he was a bit less pleased with the "Nutcracker," to a considerable extent because he felt that as the BSO played it, it would be difficult to dance to. He grudgingly admitted that as just music it was good.

So here's another concert I can recommend listening to over the facilities of WCRB at 8:00 p.m., EST, this evening and/or the rebroadcast at 8:00 on Monday, November 19.