BSO/Classical New England — 2021/06/05

 Here's WCRB's page about this evening's BSO rebroadcast.

Encore broadcast from October 14, 2017

Saturday night at 8 in an encore broadcast of the BSO, Hilary Hahn is the guest soloist in Dvorák’s jovial Violin Concerto, and Gustavo Gimeno leads Schumann’s verdant “Spring” Symphony.

Gustavo Gimeno, conductor

Hilary Hahn, violin

LIGETI Concert Românesc
DVORÁK Violin Concerto
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 1, Spring

Hilary Hahn talks with CRB's Brian McCreath about Dvorák's concerto, the wide range of creative projects she undertakes, and, specifically, her encore commissions, "In 27 Pieces." For audio, use the player above. Transcript:

Brian McCreath [00:00:00] I'm Brian McCreath from WCRB with Hilary Hahn, who is […]

You can read the transcript of the Hahn-McCreath interview by going to the WCRB page I've linked.

At the time of the concert, I wrote the following:

The Boston Symphony Orchestra's [performance] detail page synopsizes this week's program as follows:

Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno and American violinist Hilary Hahnjoin forces for Dvořák's Violin Concerto, composed in 1879 for the great Joseph Joachim. At times lyrical, Dvořák's concerto also contains passages of great energy based on music from his Czech heritage, especially in the delightful, dance-like finale. Also based on music from Central Europe, György Ligeti's early "Romanian Concerto" is a Bartók influenced orchestral work from early in the great Hungarian composer's career. Robert Schumann's First Symphony is bursting with energy, power, and optimism.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviews in both the Boston Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer were quite favorable, both overall, and particularly with regard to Hilary Hahn (with the Intelligencer gushing). I was there on Thursday and found it all enjoyable to listen to, although there was nothing that I'd consider spectacular, just good playing. The third horn in the Ligeti was played offstage through a door that was ajar. Mike Winter seemed slightly embarrassed to come onstage for a bow when other soloists were asked to stand, and he stayed to the side, just inside the door.

You can hear it all this evening over WCRB radio or internet at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. Their homepage has links to additional information about their programs, including future BSO concerts and other special programs. […]

Enjoy!

The link to the performance detail page still works as of now.

You can hear two pieces from the standard repertory preceded by an unfamiliar piece if you listen. Again, I recommend listening.

BSO/Classical New England — 2018/06/02

This week's encore broadcast is the concert of October 14, 2017. It includes music by Ligeti, Dvořák, and Schumann. Hilary Hahn solos in the Dvořák violin concerto, and Gustavo Gimeno conducts, I posted at the time, and the usual links are there. Suffice it to say that I liked it and the critics raved. So I recommend tuning in to WCRB at 8:00 this evening, EDST. (There are no Monday repeats of these encore broadcasts.)

BSO — 2018/01/27

This week, the BSO gives us something old, somethings new (but not brand new) something borrowed, but nothing blue, so far as I can tell; so it isn't a wedding. What it is, we learn from the orchestra's performance detail page:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns to lead music of his own-a suite from his acclaimed 1995 chamber opera Powder Her Face-and joins with violinist Augustin Hadelich for György Ligeti's 1993 Violin Concerto, a wonderfully varied work that touches on virtually all of Ligeti's late musical concerns in material ranging from poignant, folk-like melody to delighted virtuosity. These performances will include a cadenza written by Thomas Adès for the finale. Opening the program is Beethoven's most boisterous and jolly symphony, No. 8. Closing the program is music from Stravinsky's 1928 ballet The Fairy's Kiss, an homage to Tchaikovsky drawing liberally on the latter's music.

(Some emphasis added.)

The old is the Beethoven, which opens the concert. The new are the Ligeti and Adès on either side of the intermission. The borrowed is music of Tchaikovsky which Stravinsky used in his ballet and divertimento. Read more about them via the links on the BSO page. Also, click on thumbnail photos for performer bios.

There is a mixed review (loved the Ligeti, liked the Adès, disappointed in the Beethoven, and doesn't like the Stravinsky) in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Globe reviewer found no fault with (said almost nothing about) the Beethoven and Stravinsky, liked the Adès, and raved about the Ligeti. Both found Hadelich's playing spectacular. The BMInt suggests you need to be in Symphony Hall to get the full effect of the violin in the Ligeti, but the reviews give good information about the pieces.

I'll be listening to WCRB this evening from 8:00 Boston Time until 9:00, when my brother calls from Tokyo. I'll try to catch the rest when the show is rebroadcast/streamed on Monday, February 5 at 8:00. The middle pieces may not be everybody's figurative cup of metaphorical tea, but you never know until you give it a try. I'm not sure I'll like them, although my interest is piqued for the Ligeti. They probably won't reach that spectacular cadenza the reviewers tell about before 9:00. It definitely gives me a reason to listen to the rebroadcast. If you decide to leave during the Adès, the Stravinsky will probably begin about 10:05.

BSO — 2017/10/14

The Boston Symphony Orchestra's program detail page synopsizes this week's program as follows:

Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno and American violinist Hilary Hahn join forces for Dvořák's Violin Concerto, composed in 1879 for the great Joseph Joachim. At times lyrical, Dvořák's concerto also contains passages of great energy based on music from his Czech heritage, especially in the delightful, dance-like finale. Also based on music from Central Europe, György Ligeti's early "Romanian Concerto" is a Bartók influenced orchestral work from early in the great Hungarian composer's career. Robert Schumann's First Symphony is bursting with energy, power, and optimism.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviews in both the Boston Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer were quite favorable, both overall, and particularly with regard to Hilary Hahn (with the Intelligencer gushing). I was there on Thursday and found it all enjoyable to listen to, although there was nothing that I'd consider spectacular, just good playing. The third horn in the Ligeti was played offstage through a door that was ajar. Mike Winter seemed slightly embarrassed to come onstage for a bow when other soloists were asked to stand, and he stayed to the side, just inside the door.

You can hear it all this evening over WCRB radio or internet at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. Their homepage has links to additional information about their programs, including future BSO concerts and other special programs. It seems that they are also repeating the concerts on Monday evenings a week later, so last week's will be rerun on October 16, and tonight's, on October 23. The repeats are also at 8:00 p.m.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2011/01/207-02/01; Met — 01/29

From the BSO website:

In these concerts led by the great German conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, BSO principal players Elizabeth Rowe, flute, and John Ferrillo, oboe, step to the front of the orchestra to perform György Ligeti’s 1972 Double Concerto. Making her BSO subscription series debut, the young German violinist Arabella Steinbacher is soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4. Antonín Dvořák wrote his powerful yet elegant Symphony No. 7 for London’s Royal Philharmonic Society. The success of this 1885 work helped greatly to establish the composer’s international fame. 


The Globe reviewer liked the Ligeti and thought the rest was okay.

I was in the back row of the second balcony, and unfortunately I was listening more to the sound than the music. It seems more balanced than my regular subscription seat, where brass and timpani predominate; but you still can't hear the reeds through the full orchestra playing forte.

It was an enjoyable concert. I had taken the precaution of listening to the BSO "Media Player" (click on the "Launch" button under "Ligeti, Mozart and Dvořák" on the page I've linked) and had a foretaste of the Ligeti sound, and knowing what I was in for definitely made it easier to enjoy. I definitely recommend listening to it if you aren't sure about the Ligeti. You can skip the second part, about the Dvořák.

Anyway, Ligeti has an interesting sound and technique. As the Globe reviewer notes, there are microtones, so the sound is often sort of a wash, rather than crisp. And the music is generally quiet — so much so that it never drowned out the faint ringing I have had in my left ear for the past several years. I thought the violinist in the Mozart was good, and I liked her cadenzas. The Dvořák was an enjoyable performance of something I'm slightly familiar with.


As I write, the Met is doing "Tosca." Puccini is not my favorite opera composer. The tenor's voice seemed tight in "Recondita Armonia," but the soprano did well in "Vissi d'Arte."