BSO/Classical New England — 2023/12/30

 For this week's "encore broadcast" WCRB brings us the concert of September 24, 2022, which they describe as follows:

Saturday, December 30, 2023
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony and the Lorelei Ensemble in Gustav Holst’s sweeping "The Planets," and pianist Awadagin Pratt makes his BSO debut with a concerto by J.S. Bach and Jessie Montgomery’s "Rounds."

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano
Lorelei Ensemble

John WILLIAMS A Toast
Johann Sebastian BACH Keyboard Concerto in A, BWV 1055
Jessie MONTGOMERY Rounds
Gustav HOLST The Planets

This concert was originally recorded on September 24, 2022.

To hear a preview of Jessie Montgomery's Rounds with pianist Awadagin Pratt, use the audio player above.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall, where I talked with pianist Awadagin Pratt today about Jessie Montgomery's Rounds

I posted about it at the time. Since I had heard the same program on Thursday, I was able to give my impressions as well as link the reviews. Those links still work. Here's a link to the BSO performance detail page, which gives access to the full program notes.

Enjoy.

Tanglewood — 2023/07/07-09

 The Boston Symphony has returned to Tanglewood and will present concerts in the customary format: separate concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday evening over the next seven weekends. (Occasionally, the concerts are by a different ensemble, such as the Boston Pops, or the Tanglewood Musical Center Orchestra.) WCRB  transmits the Friday and Saturday concerts live, and the Sunday concert by a delayed braodcast in the evening. Here's what well get for opening weekend, per WCRB: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2023-06-08/opening-night-at-tanglewood-with-trifonov-and-the-bso

Friday, July 7th, 2023
8:00 PM

Music Director Andris Nelsons, soloist Daniil Trifonov, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra kick off a new summer season with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, along with Marsalis' “Herald, Holler, and Hallelujah” and Tchaikovksy’s Symphony No. 4.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Daniil Trifonov, piano

Wynton MARSALIS Herald, Holler, and Hallelujah
Sergei PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3
Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

Then on Saturday we get the Pops: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2023-06-08/lockhart-the-pops-and-ragtime-at-tanglewood

Saturday, July 8th, 2023
8:00 PM

Keith Lockhart leads the Boston Pops in a specially written concert version of the Broadway hit Ragtime! Nikki Renée Daniels, Alton Fitzgerald White, Elizabeth Stanley, and John Cariani are among the celebrated cast of performers.

Boston Pops Orchestra 
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Jason Danieley, Stage Director
Alton Fitzgerald White (Coalhouse Walker Jr.) 
Elizabeth Stanley (Mother) 
John Cariani (Tateh) 
Nikki Renée Daniels (Sarah)
David Harris (Father)
A.J. Shively (Mother’s Younger Brother)
Klea Blackhurst (Emma Goldman)
Ragtime Ensemble

Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert

For whatever reason, WCRB hasn't posted the program for Sunday yet (or if they have, I can't find it) but here's the equivalent information from the BSO's own page: https://www.bso.org/events/bso-bullock-hahn?performance=2023-07-09-14:30

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Julia Bullock, classical singer
Hilary Hahn, violin

Iman HABIBI Zhiân (world premiere; BSO commission)
Jessie MONTGOMERY Freedom Songs (BSO co-commission)
Intermission
BRAHMS Violin Concerto

The BSO page doesn't include program notes for any of the pieces to be played, and of course there are no reviews possible yet. So, more I cannot tell you.

 

BSO — 2022/09/24

 This evening WCRB gives the first broadcast of the Bston Symphony 2022-23 season. Here's their summary:

Saturday, September 24, 2022
8:00 PM

In the opening to the 2022-23 Season, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony and the Lorelei Ensemble in Gustav Holst’s sweeping The Planets,and Awadagin Pratt makes his BSO debut with a concerto by J.S. Bach and Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano
Lorelei Ensemble

John WILLIAMS A Toast
Johann Sebastian BACH Keyboard Concerto in A, BWV 1055
Jessie MONTGOMERY Rounds
Gustav HOLST The Planets

To hear a preview of Jessie Montgomery's Rounds with pianist Awadagin Pratt, click on the player above, and see the transcript below.

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall, where I talked with pianist Awadagin Pratt today about

This is actually a rebroadcast of Thursday's opening night concert, which I attended. I found it enjoyable overall. The "Toast" by John Williams was typical cheerful brass music. My seat in the front row of the second second balcony afforded a good view of the pianist's right hand, and it was interesting to see his fingers fly over the keys in the Bach, which is part of the standard baroque repertory, and in the Montgomery, which was not bad for something just written. After intermission, "The Planets" was fun to hear. At the end, the women sang so softly that I wondered if they could even be heard at the back of the auditorium. Hopefully, the mics picked it all up. To me, the Bach concerto was the best piece on the concert, and while the rest isn't quite must listening it's all okay, and there's a reason "The Planets" is frequently played.

Jeremy Eichler reviewed the concert favorably in the Boston Globe, although he had a couple of minor quibbles. He is descriptive of "Rounds." David Patterson, writing in the Boston Musical Intelligencer, was favorable as well. For more information, you can access the BSO's performance detail page. There are brief descriptions of each piece there, and the full program notes can be accessed by clicking on the title of each piece. (I'm not sure how long they'll leave this page up, but at least it's there now.)

WCRB doesn't say they will rebroadcast the concert on October 3, so I wouldn't count on it, but there has also been an "on demand" feature which I've never used. So if you want to hear it again or at another time, check that out. At any rate, I give ths concert a "thumbs up."

Tanglewood — 2021/07/24-25

This weekend the BSO is giving us a lot of new music. I recommend reading the program notes if you want an idea of what to expect — or you can just let it be unexpected as it is performed.

Saturday, July 24, 2021.  We get two new pieces, one from 80 years ago that is not often heard, and one from 100 years ago that can still be jarring. WCRB tells us:

Saturday, July 24, 2021
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, the superstar violinist [Anne-Sophie Mutter] is the soloist in the world premiere of John Williams’s Violin concerto No. 2, led by the composer, and Andris Nelsons conducts the BSO in 20^th- and 21^st-century pieces by Copland, Stravinsky, and Jessie Montgomery.

Andris Nelsons and John Williams, conductors
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Robert Sheena, English horn
Thomas Rolfs, trumpet

Jessie MONTGOMERY Starburst
John WILLIAMS Violin Concerto No. 2 (world premiere)
COPLAND Quiet City
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1919 version)

(Some emphasis added.)

Yes, that John Williams. You will be able to hear the world premiere of his concerto. Before that comes another piece that the BSO is giving for the first time in a live concert. I can't vouch for either of them, but after reading the program notes via the links on the orchestra's performance detail page, I think the Williams concerto should be okay, and I'm hoping the Montgomery will be tolerable.

Copland's "Quiet City" is quiet and pleasant. I don't think I had heard it until a couple of years ago. Then WCRB began playing it fairly frequently just before midnight. I like it, and I'm looking forward to hearing it live. As for "The Firebird," it's not as wild as "The Rite of Spring." I may switch stations and listen to the Red Sox. But I'll definitely be listening to WCRB at 8:00, Lenox/Stockbridge Time.

Sunday, July 25, 2021.  There will be two "warhorses" of the repertoire on Sunday after we sit through a new piece. Here's WCRB's synopsis:

Sunday, July 25, 2021
7:00 PM

Yefim Bronfman returns to the Berkshires as the soloist in Beethoven’s impassioned Piano Concerto No. 3, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a rhapsodic work by Iman Habibi, Sunday at 7pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

Iman HABIBI Jeder Baum spricht
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4

(Some emphasis added.)

You can't go wrong with Beethoven piano concertos and Schumann symphonies. The program note for "Jeder Baum spricht" — which you can find via the link on the performance detail page — doesn't give me great hope. When a contemporary composer is inspired by one of the classical masters, it's never as good as the original. Sometimes it turns out to be something I'd like to hear one more time or even become familiar with, but more often once is enough or too much (which is also true of new pieces in general). The thing is, you never know until you've listened to it that first time. So I'll have WCRB on at 7:00.