BSO — 2026/04/25

 This evening the BSO gives us five pieces by Russian coposers and one by Mozart. Here's their description: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2026-01-08/boreyko-conducts-scriabin-rimsky-korsakov-and-prokofiev-with-kissin

Saturday, April 25, 2026
8:00 PM

In his first appearance with the BSO since 2015, star pianist Evgeny Kissin performs two contrasting concertos: Mozart’s charming and poignant Concerto No. 12, and Scriabin’s rhapsodic Piano Concerto. Andrey Boreyko leads this sparkling, Russian-leaning program, opening with Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliantly colorful Russian Easter Overture and featuring three atmospheric tone poems by Anatoly Liadov from the early 20th century.

Andrey Boreyko, conductor
Evgeny Kissin, piano

Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Russian Easter Festival Overture
W. A. MOZART Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414 
Anatoly LIADOV Baba Yaga
LIADOV The Enchanted Lake
LIADOV Kikimora
Alexander SCRIABIN Piano Concerto

In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, conductor Andrey Boreyko reveals the connections between the arrangement of the musicians of the orchestra and music from the Russian tradition, as well as the unique qualities of Scriabin's Piano Concerto and Evgeny Kissin's interpretation of it. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

Learn more about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 season on their site.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Andrey Boreyko, 

We also have the summary on the BSO's own performance detail page: https://www.bso.org/events/apr-23-25-rimsky-korsa-scriab?performance=2026-04-25-20:00

Boston Symphony Orchestra Andrey Boreyko, conductor Evgeny Kissin, piano RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Russian Easter Overture  MOZART Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414       intermissionLIADOV Baba Yaga  LIADOV The Enchanted Lake  LIADOV Kikimora  SCRIABIN Piano Concerto  

This exciting and unusual

 program features acclaimed soloist Evgeny Kissin performing two strongly contrasting concertos. Composed to appeal to audiences in Mozart’s new home of Vienna, the Concerto No. 12 is by turns charming and poignant, its second movement a touching tribute to his late friend Johann Christian Bach. The Russian composer Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto, composed more than 100 years later, is rhapsodic and Romantic. The BSO has only played Scriabin’s concerto on two prior occasions, most recently in 2001. Andrey Boreyko leads this sparkling, Russian-leaning program, opening with Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliantly colorful Russian Easter Overture and featuring three atmospheric tone poems by Anatoli Liadov from the early 20th century.

As usual, performer bios and program notes are avsilsble when you go to the BSO page and click on the arrows.

So far there is no review in the Globe, bt the Intelligencer has a favorable one. https://classical-scene.com/2026/04/25/bso-boreyko-kissin/#comment-49107

This should be worth hearing.

BSO — 2025/03/08

 This evening we are treated the three unknown (to me, anyway) pieces. WCRB gives us the outline and an interview with the soloist:

Saturday, March 8, 2025
8:00 PM

South Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim makes her BSO debut conducting a trio of pieces exploring innovation within tradition. Inon Barnatan is the soloist in Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto, a love letter to his wife and his home country. The program opens with Anatoly Liadov’s The Enchanted Lake and concludes with Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3.

Eun Sun Kim, conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano

Anatoly LIADOV The Enchanted Lake
Béla BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 3
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 3

In an interview with BSO broadcast host Brian McCreath, Inon Barnatan describes the vitality and variety of Bartók's music, what fascinates him about the Third Piano Concerto, and his approach to his artistic leadership of the La Jolla Music Society's Summerfest. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Inon Barnatan, back with the Boston Symphony to perform

The BSO's program detail page furnishes a bit more of an introduction as well as links to the program notes, which could be interesting reading:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Eun Sun Kim, conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano

LIADOV The Enchanted Lake
BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 3
-Intermission-
RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 3

South Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim makes her BSO debut with a trio of pieces exploring innovation within tradition. Star pianist Inon Barnatan returns to Symphony Hall to take on one of Bartók’s final works, the Third Piano Concerto, a love letter to his wife and his home country. While living in poverty in New York having fled the onslaught of the Nazis into Hungary, Bartók’s creativity had stalled out, and his body was failing from a long illness. The concerto — not quite finished when he passed — is a more gentle and accessibly poetic work than his previous concertos, a summation of where Bartók’s style left him at the end of his life.

The Boston Globe doesn't seem to have provided a review. The reviewer in the Intelligencer had no complaints.

More I cannot tell you, but I'm looking forward to hearing this unfamiliar music.

BSO — 2015/02/12-14

This week we have co-conductors. Vladimir Jurowski was scheduled to conduct but he "has been forced to withdraw" (by whom? — an insert in the program booklet cites visa problems), and Ken-David Masur, who conducted in place of Tugan Sokhiev two weeks ago, will be at the podium for most of the concert: works of Debussy, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun; Liadov, From the Apocalypse; and Stravinsky, Suite from "The Firebird." A piece by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Responses: Of sweet disorder and the carefully careless, which is getting its American premiere, will be conducted by Stefan Asbury, who conducted the world premiere in Munich last year, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard performing the piano solo, as he did at the world premiere.

Amazingly, the BSO performance detail page doesn't include the titles of the pieces other than the Birtwistle in the little blurb I usual copy — which is why I've listed them all. But it does have the usual links to notes, audio previews, and performer bios. The interview with Harrison Birtwistle is fairly technical, but the audio preview of the concert gives some insight into the new piece. The program notes are heavy on Birtwistle's music in general, with a brief synopsis of "Responses."

I was at the concert on Thursday. My favorite piece was the Liadov, the most traditional of the evening, which opened the second half. It had elements that sounded like Russian church music as well as parts that corresponded to the apocalyptic imagery of the text the composer had in mind. The Stravinsky isn't bad. The Debussy was never one of my favorites, but it's certainly tolerable. An acquaintance said she was disappointed in the performance, calling it dry, if I recall her word correctly. She remembered a long-ago BSO principal flautist as performing the solos much better.

As for the Birtwistle, it was not unpleasant to hear, but it didn't seem to amount to much. On first hearing it didn't seem that there was much coherence. I don't mean it was start and stop. The notes kept on coming; they just didn't seem to have much to do with each other. But during intermission I encountered the composer and sincerely told him that I was looking forward to hearing the piece again during the radio broadcast. (I was thinking that maybe additional hearings will make it more accessible.) But now I remember that I have a dinner engagement on Saturday evening, so I probably won't get to hear it until the rebroadcast on February 23.

The Boston Globe review gives the reviewer's description of the piece, as well as a few words on the rest of the program, but spends a lot of space lamenting the change in conductors. Apart from a vague quibble with how the Stravinsky was played, the reviewer seemed content with the performance. The review has a link to an interview with the composer which may give additional insight into the piece. As usual, the review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer, without the space constraints of the Globe, is much more detailed and useful as a preview. I thought the reviewer put it very well when he wrote that "the density of [Birtwistle's] material, the speed with which it appears, and the complexity of its evolution make for a serious listening challenge indeed." The remainder of his comments seem well put and apposite. It seems he, too would like to hear it again. I wonder if what he calls "wah-wahs" are what sounded to me like "oink-oinks."

Anyway, I'm glad I was there. In fifty years, I'll be able to tell people I was present for the American premiere of the Birtwistle. If you listen to WCRB on Saturday at 8:00, you'll be able to brag that you heard the American broadcast premiere. I hope you'll listen in on radio or internet and see what you think. The station's BSO page has a 25 minute preview with Sir Harrison and with Ken-David Masur, who conduct the other three pieces.