BSO/Classical New England — 2023/09/16

 Return with us now to the thrilling days of earlier this year. Garrick Ohlsson rides again in an encore broadcast of the January 14 concert. WCRB tells us more:

Saturday, September 16th, 2023
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, Alan Gilbert conducts the Boston Symphony in a program that includes Dvořák’s glittering Carnival Overture and the world premiere of Justin Dello Joio’s Piano Concerto, Oceans Apart, with soloist Garrick Ohlsson.

Alan Gilbert, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Lili BOULANGER D’un Matin de Printemps
Wilhelm STENHAMMAR Serenade
Justin DELLO JOIO Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Oceans Apart (world premiere)
Antonín DVOŘÁK Carnival Overture

This concert was originally broadcast on January 14th, 2023 and is no longer available on demand.

To hear a preview of the program with conductor Alan Gilbert, listen with the audio player above and read the transcript in the tab below. To hear an interview with pianist Garrick Ohlsson, listen with the audio player below and read the transcript in the tab below:

Garrick Ohlsson InterviewAlan Gilbert Interview

This interviews with the soloist and conductor are linked on the station's page.

My post about it last January gives links to reviews and the BSO performance detail page, which could be good reading before or during the show. As I mentioned, I wasn't there for the earlier performance, and frankly I don't remember anything about it from whatever I colud hear broadcast. OTOH the Carnival Overture is pretty good. So you might as well listen in and see how you like it all.

BSO — 2023/01/14

 Even the familiar piece in this week's concert isn't very familiar. Two are quite unfamiliar, and one is brand new. Here's the summary (with links to interviews) from WCRB:

Saturday, January 14, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, January 23

Alan Gilbert conducts the Boston Symphony in a brimming program that includes Dvořák’s glittering Carnival Overture and the world premiere of Justin Dello Joio’s Piano Concerto, Oceans Apart, with soloist Garrick Ohlsson.

Alan Gilbert, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Lili BOULANGER D’un Matin de Printemps
STENHAMMAR Serenade
Justin DELLO JOIO Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Oceans Apart (world premiere)
DVOŘÁK Carnival Overture

To hear a preview of Justin Dello Joio's Oceans Apart, with pianist Garrick Ohlsson, use the player above and read the transcript in the tab below.

To hear a preview of the program with conductor Alan Gilbert, listen and read the transcript in the tab below.

(Surprisingly, the computer has converted the font of the original page to the one I''m using.) The BSO performance detail page tells a bit more and gives links to the program notes, which could be very useful.

American conductor Alan Gilbert and frequent BSO guest Garrick Ohlsson premiere Justin Dello Joio’s piano concerto Oceans Apart, written for Ohlsson. Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar’s wide-ranging 1911 Serenade has a satisfyingly symphonic scope. French composer Lili Boulanger’s impressionistic 1918 depiction of a spring morning and Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s celebratory Carnival Overture, from 1891, complete the program.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer gives good descriptions of the Stenhammar, Dello Joio, and Boulanger pieces, but not much about how well the orchestra did. The review in the Globe ignores the Dvořák, but is chatty about the others.

It wasn't part of my subscription, so I can't add anything. All in all, it doesn't strike me as a must listen concert, but it could be okay. It will be rebroadcast Monday week.

BSO — 2019/02/23

I'll let the program detail page tell about this evening's concert.

Andris Nelsons and the BSO continue their recent tradition of performing opera in concert with Giacomo Puccini's Suor Angelica ("Sister Angelica"), one of the three short operas composed in the 1910s and known collectively as Il trittico ("Triptych"). The story centers on the title character, who is living in a convent to repent a past sin, having a son out of wedlock. Acclaimed soprano Kristine Opolais sings the role of Sister Angelica in this concert performance. Opening the program is a work almost contemporary with Puccini's, Lili Boulanger's short tone poem D'un Soir triste("A somber evening"), one of few purely orchestral works completed by this young genius before her untimely death in 1918 at age 24. Also on the program is Debussy's immensely colorful Nocturnes, an 1899 masterpiece of musical Impressionism.

(Some emphasis added.)
See also the links to background information.

This concert wasn't part of my subscription (and it wasn't "must hear" for me, so I didn't pick up a ticket or exchange for it) so we'll have to depend on the reviews to hear how it went. The Globe reviewer was pleased in general with the opera, with a couple of cautions. She also found the pieces in the first half of the concert okay but nothing to rave about. The Musical Intelligencer's reviewer gives more detail about the works and the performance, but seems to have much the same take as the Globe: decent performances, but not "for the ages."

I'm planning to listen to the broadcast over WCRB at 8:00. Even if they aren't things I feel I must hear, I'd like to hear these pieces, given the opportunity. I don't think I've ever heard "D'un Soir triste" or "Suor Angelica," and if I've heard "Nocturnes," I'm certainly not familiar with it. So this concert can "expand my horizons." And maybe Kristine Opolais will dial back the intensity in the early going of the opera. See what you think.

Also, note the other programming mentioned on the WCRB website; and remember you have another chance to listen to last week's Schumann and Bruckner at 8:00 p.m. on February 25 and this evening's concert in the encore broadcast of March 4.