BSO/Classical New England — 2021/01/02

 Tonight it's the concert from January 30, 2016. WCRB says:

Saturday at 8pm, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream set to Mendelssohn's music, as well as other works inspired by the same play by Weber and ].

Saturday, January 2, 2021
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast from January 30, 2016

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Amanda Forsythe, soprano
Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano
Karen McDonald (Titania)
Carson Elrod (Puck; Mendelssohn)
Antonio Weissinger (Boy; Young Mendelssohn)
Will Lyman (Oberon)
Women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus

WEBER Overture to Oberon
HENZE Symphony No. 8
MENDELSSOHN Incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream

At the time of the original broadcast I wrote:

The Shakespeare Festival begins this week. We have three Midsummer-Night's-Dream-y pieces on the program. First up is Weber's "Oberon" Overture. Strictly speaking, this is only tangentially Shakespearian, since — although he is a character in the play — the opera has him involved in different action. But the music is worth bringing into the festival. Next comes Symphony № 8 by Hans Werner Henze, a BSO commission first performed in 1993. After the intermission we get Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream"with actors and singers dramatizing bits of the music and performing bits of the play.

In addition to the usual links to performer bios, program notes, audio previews, and podcast, the orchestra's performance detail page offers the following take on the program:

Three weeks of BSO concerts-January 28 through February 13-led by Andris Nelsons focus on music inspired by the work of William Shakespeare, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death. This program's focus is the great comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. Although Weber's German magical-romantic opera Oberon wasn't based specifically on Shakespeare, it shares its subject matter and sense of mystery. More explicit is Henze's Symphony No. 8, a BSO centennial commission premiered here in 1993. The symphony aims to illustrate certain moments of the play. Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream includes his youthful Overture-the play in a nutshell-as well as the familiar Wedding March, the most famous music Mendelssohn ever wrote.

(Some emphasis added.)

The show played to mixed reviews. The Globe was enthusiastic with minor unspecified reservation. The Boston Musical Intelligencer was dissatisfied with how the Weber was played, brought some astonishing associations to the music of the Henze symphony — completely disregarding the associations provided by the composer and presented in the program notes — and found the presentation of the Mendelssohn well done by some participants but flawed in concept.

I tend to agree with BMInt on the Mendelssohn. It makes sense to put music intended to accompany a play into context, but as constructed the whole seemed less than the sum of its parts. I wonder how it will all come across over radio or webstream without the action being visible. On Thursday, I was very satisfied with the Weber. James Sommerville nailed the horn solos. But I think I know what the BMInt reviewer meant. The Henze seemed to "sorta" fit the elements of the play that it was supposed to illustrate. For a modern piece, it wasn't too tough to take, but it isn't something I'd consider "must hear" music. It's unmelodic.

Listen and decide for yourself over WCRB […] at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time this evening.[…]

Regrettably, the performance detail page is no longer accessible. so we can't review the program notes to see what Henze had in mind for his symphony, although there are a few hints in the Globe review.

Overall, my recommendation is to tune in for the Weber at the beginning and stick around for whatever else interests you.

BSO/Classical New England — 2016/09/10

This week's rebroadcast over WCRB is the concert of  January 30, 2016,  conducted by Andris Nelsons. It begins with the Overture to "Oberon," by Weber and continues with the Henze Symphony No. 8. After intermission we get Incidental Music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," by Mendelssohn. It was part of the orchestra's "Shakespeare Festival" in honor of the fourth centenary of the playwright's death. The Weber opera takes a character from "A Midsummer Night's Dream," but has him in a different story. The symphony is inspired by certain scenes in Shakespeare's play, and the Mendelssohn is also based on the play. I wrote about the concert at the time it was performed, with links to reviews and useful background information (especially the program notes for the Henze).

I like Weber's music, and enjoyed this performance. The Henze symphony isn't beautiful, but it's not horrid, and when you read the program note, it's interesting to try to see how the music fits the things in the play that inspired it. While the use of actors to perform the scenes depicted in Mendelssohn's music didn't work IMO, the music itself is popular, and that's what you get on radio. So, I'd recommend listening on September 10 at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.

BSO — 2016/01/28-02/02

The Shakespeare Festival begins this week. We have three Midsummer-Night's-Dream-y pieces on the program. First up is Weber's "Oberon" Overture. Strictly speaking, this is only tangentially Shakespearian, since — although he is a character in the play — the opera has him involved in different action. But the music is worth bringing into the festival. Next comes Symphony № 8 by Hans Werner Henze, a BSO commission first performed in 1993. After the intermission we get Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with actors and singers dramatizing bits of the music and performing bits of the play.

In addition to the usual links to performer bios, program notes, audio previews, and podcast, the orchestra's performance detail page offers the following take on the program:

Three weeks of BSO concerts-January 28 through February 13-led by Andris Nelsons focus on music inspired by the work of William Shakespeare, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death. This program's focus is the great comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. Although Weber's German magical-romantic opera Oberon wasn't based specifically on Shakespeare, it shares its subject matter and sense of mystery. More explicit is Henze's Symphony No. 8, a BSO centennial commission premiered here in 1993. The symphony aims to illustrate certain moments of the play. Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream includes his youthful Overture-the play in a nutshell-as well as the familiar Wedding March, the most famous music Mendelssohn ever wrote.

(Some emphasis added.)

The show played to mixed reviews. The Globe was enthusiastic with minor unspecified reservation. The Boston Musical Intelligencer was dissatisfied with how the Weber was played, brought some astonishing associations to the music of the Henze symphony — completely disregarding the associations provided by the composer and presented in the program notes — and found the presentation of the Mendelssohn well done by some participants but flawed in concept.

I tend to agree with BMInt on the Mendelssohn. It makes sense to put music intended to accompany a play into context, but as constructed the whole seemed less than the sum of its parts. I wonder how it will all come across over radio or webstream without the action being visible. On Thursday, I was very satisfied with the Weber. James Sommerville nailed the horn solos. But I think I know what the BMInt reviewer meant. The Henze seemed to "sorta" fit the elements of the play that it was supposed to illustrate. For a modern piece, it wasn't too tough to take, but it isn't something I'd consider "must hear" music. It's unmelodic.

Listen and decide for yourself over WCRB — broadcast or webstream — at 8:00 p.m. Boston Time this evening and/or 8:00 p.m. on Monday, February 8. Also, visit their BSO page for their podcast about the current program as well as brief information about future BSO broadcasts/webstreams.