Classical music — orchestral and opera — has been one of my major interests for most of my life. I'll use this blog to tell about some of the concerts I'm attending and the opportunities to listen to some of them and other good programs on the web.
With the Tanglewood season over and the first Saturday evening concert of the Symphony Hall season scheduled for September 28, WCRB has four evenings to fill. Tonight andthe following two weeks they'll give us "encore broadcasts from last season at Symphony Hall, all with artists making their debuts with the orchestra. I don't know what they're planning for September 21.
In an encore broadcast, Joana Mallwitz conducts Kodály’s "Dances of Galánta" and Schubert's Symphony No. 9. Anna Vinnitskaya, also in her BSO debut, is the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 1.
Joana Mallwitz, conductor Anna Vinnitskaya, piano
Zoltán KODÁLY Dances of Galánta Pyotr IlyichTCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 Franz SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9 in C, "Great"
This concert was originally broadcast on November 4, 2023, and is no longer available on demand.
In an interview with CRB's Brian McCreath, conductor Joana Mallwitz previews the program, reveals which piece of music sparked her desire to be a conductor, and talks about her new position as Chief Conductor of the Konzerthaus Orchestra of Berlin. To listen, use the player above and follow along with the transcript below.
TRANSCRIPT:
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath from WCRB at Symphony Hall with Joana Mallwitz here in Boston for the Boston Symphony for the very first time.
As you see, there is an interview with the conductor, which you can access if you go to the WCRB page. I found it interesting.
The BSO's performance detail page for the concert is still available from last November with all the usual links, which can be useful. There we read:
KODÁLY Dances of Galánta TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 Intermission SCHUBERT Symphony in C, The Great
German conductor Joana Mallwitz and Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya, both in their BSO debuts, perform Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s beloved and epic Piano Concerto No. 1, which originally premiered in Boston. The orchestra opens with the lively Dances of Galánta (1933) by Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, which combines traditional folk melodies from the composer’s home region with a symphonic context. In closing, Schubert’s towering Symphony in C, The Great, written near the end of his life and premiered a decade after his death by none other than Felix Mendelssohn.
Last Sunday, May 13, there was a concert I wanted to attend in Rockport. The Boston Artists Ensemble was presenting, inter alia, a new work which they had commissioned, "Songs Without Words,"* by Scott Wheeler. It's a three movement piece for cello and piano which the composer also calls "Cello Sonata #2." I would have liked to be present for the world premier on April 20, but I was in Colorado for a wedding that weekend. I was glad that there was this chance to hear it performed by the original performers, including the dedicatee.
Getting there was an adventure. I hadn't been to Rockport in over 60 years and had no memory of the town, so several days earlier I got directions to the Rockport Music Shalin Liu Performance Center. Unfortunately, I neglected to print out the map. I had no trouble getting to downtown Rockport in good time, just as I had planned. But then I had two problems. First, I couldn't find a parking space downtown and had to park several blocks outside the downtown area. Second, I misremembered where the performance center — which is known for its spectacular view of the harbor — was located, and spent nearly a half hour searching for it around the harbor before I realized that there was a second harbor. By the time I got there, at about 3:10, the concert had begun and I was pretty frazzled.
Fortunately, "Songs Without Words" wasn't the first piece on the program, and during what remained of Prokofiev's Cello Sonata, I calmed down. In a program note, the composer writes:
The first movement is entitiled "Among the Trees." It begins "like a hymn" but quickly moves into a sort of recitative. The piano sometimes provides the hymnal accompaniment and sometimes a more sparkling background. The second movement, "Forest at Night," begins with misterioso pizzicato and soon becomes passionate. The third movement, "Barcarolle," is the most expansive part of the sonata, and perhaps the most songful.
At this first hearing, it didn't seem very melodic, but it was very listenable and interesting. It was definitely more entertaining than what I heard of the Prokofiev. I'm glad I got there in time to hear it.
After intermission, Bach's Suite for Unaccompanied Cello No. 4 and Kodály's Duo for Violin and Cello, Opus 7, completed the concert.
It would be good to be able to hear "Songs Without Words" several more times, to get to really know it and be able to form a more definite opinion of how good it is. The problem for this and many other compositions is that there is so much music available for a limited number of places on concert programs. There are many works which have entered the standard repertory, and they occupy most of the available space. In my opinion, there are many fine works by "second string" composers (I'm thinking of Weber as I write this) which are rarely performed, while less deserving works by "first stringers" get played regularly. With known works languishing, it is regrettably difficult for a new work to get enough hearings to become established, no matter how good it is.
*I'm well aware that Mendelssohn composed "Songs Without Words." Apparently, the title does not belong to him.
This week, the BSO is performing music by Kodály, Dvořák, and Mendelssohn. Here's what their website says. You can also find links to further information on the program there.
The phenomenal German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann returns for the too rarely heard Dvořák's Violin Concerto, a powerful and beautiful Czech-flavored piece here conducted by the young Slovakian conductor Juraj Valcuha in his BSO debut. Opening the concert is the Hungarian Zoltán Kodály'sDances of Galánta, a 1933 orchestral masterpiece steeped in Central European folk music. Mendelssohn's always fresh Symphony No. 3,Scottish, was one of the fruits of the young genius's long trip to the British Isles in his early twenties.
It's part of my subscription, but I had another event to go to this evening (an interfaith seder), so I exchanged my ticket for Friday afternoon. Time permitting, I'll post my own thoughts and link the Boston Globe review sometime between now and the broadcast/webstream on Saturday evening over Classical New England.
Update: I found the Friday performance quite enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to rehearing it on Classical New England. The reviewer for the Boston Globe also found much to enjoy and nothing to criticize in the performance.
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