Tanglewood — 2025/08/16-17

 A fairly standard couple of concerts remain for our listening pleasure this weekend. I'm sorry I got distracted and didn't post about the Friday offering.

August 16, 2025

Three front rank nineteenth century composers provided the music for this evening's program. Here's WCRB's description: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-05-27/handlers-boston-symphony-debut-with-hadelich-at-tanglewood

Saturday, August 16, 2025

8:00 PM

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Handler makes her Tanglewood and BSO debuts, conducting three major works from the Western classical tradition: Brahms’s Tragic Overture, Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with GRAMMY-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich.

Anna Handler, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

Johannes BRAHMS Tragic Overture
Robert SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto

See details of Augustin Hadelich's performances as the BSO's Artist-in-Residence during the 2025-2026 season.

To hear a preview of this program with conductor Anna Handler, use the player above.

The WCRB page has an audio interview with the conductor which could be interesting. There is no transcript, though.

The BSO's performance detail page https://www.bso.org/events/bso-august-16-augustin-hadelich?performance=2025-08-16-20%3A00 has the usual links to performer bios and program notes.

August 17, 2025

Tomorrow's concert, which we can hear at 7:00 p.m., Boston Time, gives us music by and about Sibelius along with a piano concerto. WCRB's synopsis follows: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-05-27/thibaudet-and-liszts-second-piano-concerto-at-tanglewood

Sunday, August 17, 2025
7:00 PM

Superstar pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins Dima Slobodeniouk in the Berkshires to perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on a program that also features two works by Sibelius and Threnody, an homage to the Finnish composer, written by William Grant Still.

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

William Grant STILL Threnody (In Memory of Jan Sibelius) 
Franz LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2
Jean SIBELIUS Valse triste 
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 3

For links to the performer bios and program notes, go to the BSO's performance detail page:

https://www.bso.org/events/bso-august-17-jean-yves-thibau?performance=2025-08-17-14%3A30

These should be two very enjoyable evenings.

BSO/Classical New England — 2024/11/23

 I forgot to post last week  I had attended on Friday afternoon, and it was a good concert: a Mozart piano concerto and Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, "Pathétique." Catch the replay on Monday evening if you can,

Today we're getting an "encore broadcast" of the concert from last April 6, which WCRB describes as follows:

Saturday, November 23, 2024
8:00pm

The first program in the BSO’s Music for the Senses festival centers on Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire, in which the composer depicts the evolution of human consciousness. Also on the program are Anna Clyne’s Color Field, inspired in part by the vibrancy of the Mark Rothko 1961 painting Orange, Red, Yellow, Richard Wagner’s ecstatic Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, and Franz Liszt’s Prometheus.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Anna CLYNE Color Field
Richard WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Franz LISZT Prometheus
Alexander SCRIABIN Prometheus, Poem of Fire, for piano, color organ, chorus, and orchestra

This concert was originally broadcast on April 6, 2024, and is no longer available on demand.

To hear a preview of Scriabin's Prometheus, Poem of Fire with pianist Yefim Bronfman, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

The program notes are linked at the BSO's own performance detail page:

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Yefim Bronfman, piano 
Anna Gawboy, lighting research
Justin Townsend, lighting designer
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
 James Burton, conductor

Anna CLYNE Color Field 
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Intermission
LISZT Prometheus 
SCRIABIN Prometheus, Poem of Fire, for piano, color organ, chorus, and orchestra

This week's performances by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus are supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

A program of color: It opens with Anna Clyne’s Color Field, inspired in part by the vibrancy of a Mark Rothko painting. Followed by Richard Wagner’s ecstatic Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, and Franz Liszt’s Prometheus. The program closes with Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire. When Alexander Scriabin wrote Prometheus, Poem of Fire, he conceived of a “light organ” that would project colors corresponding to his music. Prometheus premiered in 1911 with future BSO Music Director Serge Koussevitzky, whose 150th birthday year we celebrate in 2024.

I wrote about it at the time (with several typos). Presumably the links to the reviews still work. As you can see, the reviews were hardly raves, but apart from the Wagner (which is a staple on WCRB's regular programming) this is not frequently performed music, so it may be worth listening just to experience something unfamiliar.

I'm guessing that the reason WCRB isn't giving us the live concert is that one of the pieces is accompanied by "lush projections of based on images from [Georgia] O' Keeffe's lifes and work." If I'.m right it's ironic that they decided to replace it with another concert which includes background color changes.

BSO — 2024/10/26

 Last week I was a bit busy and didn't get around to making a regular post, but you can hear the concert on Monday evening at 8:00. It's worth hearing. Here's what's in store for this evening, as told to us by WCRB:

Saturday, October 26, 2024
8:00 PM

Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet brings dazzling elegance to Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and Antonio Pappano conducts two works that ask deep questions of humanity. Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra, with its immediately recognizable opening “sunrise,” is a musical response to Friedrich Nietzsche’s metaphysical novel of the same name. Hannah Kendall uses unusual orchestral techniques and music boxes in her recent O flower of fire, inspired by the work of Guyanese-British poet Martin Carter.

Sir Antonio Pappano, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Hannah KENDALL O flower of fire (American premiere)
Franz LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2
Richard STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra

Sir Antonio Pappano describes the unique qualities of Hannah Kendall's music, and previews the works by Liszt and Strauss on this program, in an interview you can hear using the player above, with the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Sir Antonio Pappano, back here with the Boston Symphony for a really amazing program

WCRB's description is lifted from the BSO performance detail page, where you can also find links to performer bios and program notes, which may be of some interest.

I can't find a review in the Globe but the Intelligencer has one that is generally favorable.

I was there on Friday afternoon and found the Kendall piece quite tolerable, alternating loud and soft passages. I could hear the harmonicas when I saw musicians playing them, and I think I even heard a music box in some very soft passages. But if I never hear it again after this evening and maybe in the rebroadcast on November 4, it will be no great loss. I wish the BSO gave us more of the old curtain raisers such as 19th Century overtures and fewer of these new pieces that they'll probably never want to play again.

The Liszt concerto was fun to listen to, and the Strauss was good as well. Of course, I think the philosophy of Nietzsche which inspired Strauss is balderdash, but the music doesn't depend on it and makes for interesting listening. Until I read thee program note I hadn't realized that the piece had sections corresponding to sections of the book. It may be a bit more interesting to try to follow that program. OTOH it may not be easy to hear the trnsitions from one section to another.

Anyway, this should be a pretty good evening.

BSO — 2024/04/06

 Tonight the BSO gives a program I don't care much about, but you may find it interesting. Here's the scoop from WCRB's webpage:

Saturday, April 6, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, April 15

The first program in the BSO’s Music for the Senses festival centers on Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire, in which the composer depicts the evolution of human consciousness. Also on the program are Anna Clyne’s Color Field, inspired in part by the vibrancy of the Mark Rothko 1961 painting Orange, Red, Yellow, Richard Wagner’s ecstatic Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, and Franz Liszt’s Prometheus.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Anna CLYNE Color Field
Richard WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Franz LISZT Prometheus
Alexander SCRIABIN Prometheus, Poem of Fire, for piano, color organ, chorus, and orchestra

To hear a preview of Scriabin's Prometheus, Poem of Fire with pianist Yefim Bronfman, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Sym

You'll note that apart from the opening piec, it's all pre WWI music.

As always, we get more from the BSO's performance detail page:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Yefim Bronfman, piano 
Anna Gawboy, lighting research
Justin Townsend, lighting designer
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
 James Burton, conductor

Anna CLYNE Color Field 
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Intermission
LISZT Prometheus 
SCRIABIN Prometheus, Poem of Fire, for piano, color organ, chorus, and orchestra

This week's performances by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus are supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

A program of color: It opens with Anna Clyne’s Color Field, inspired in part by the vibrancy of a Mark Rothko painting. Followed by Richard Wagner’s ecstatic Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, and Franz Liszt’s Prometheus. The program closes with Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire. When Alexander Scriabin wrote Prometheus, Poem of Fire, he conceived of a “light organ” that would project colors corresponding to his music. Prometheuspremiered in 1911 with future BSO Music Director Serge Koussevitzky, whose 150th birthday year we celebrate in 2024.

See the linked program notes for more information about each piece.

The review in the Intelligencer tells about what went on with the colors, but the reviewer was not very pleased with the perforance, especially the Wagner. The Globe was tepid.

I'll probably have a lie-down with the radio on while this plays, and loook forward to hearing the rebroadcast on April 15.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/07/02

 If you aren't listening to the Red Sox game, you can hear a rebroadcast of the BSO concert of January 25 this year. WCRB synopsizes:

Saturday, July 2, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is the soloist in Liszt's acrobatic Piano Concerto No. 2, plus Andris Nelsons conducts an American premiere by Augusta Read Thomas and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Augusta READ THOMAS Dance Foldings (American premiere)
Franz LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Hear a conversation with CRB's Cathy Fuller and Jean-Yves Thibaudet on his new album Carte Blanche.

I wrote about it back then, and it seems that the links are still working, including the link for the program notes on the performance detail page.

It could be interesting and enjoyable.

BSO — 2022/01/15

 Here's WCRB's synopsis of this evening's BSO concert:

Saturday, January 15, and Monday, January 24, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is the soloist in Liszt's acrobatic Piano Concerto No. 2, plus Andris Nelsons conducts an American premiere by Augusta Read Thomas and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Augusta READ THOMAS Dance Foldings (American premiere)
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4

The BSO program detail page puts it thus:

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO and a frequent collaborator, the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, in a passionate and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2 by Franz Liszt — who himself was considered the most brilliant performer of the 19th century Romantic era. These concerts open with the American premiere of Augusta Read Thomas' Dance Foldings, which Thomas describes as “like jazz big band with Stravinsky ballets.” Closing the program is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, one of the composer’s sunniest and most congenial works.

I was there on Thursday and found the "Dance Foldings" unexciting but not hard to listen to except for occasional high-pitched screeches from the trumpets. Maybe they won't be so bad filtered through the raio system. It helped that Ms Thomas described her music as influenced by Duke Ellington & Ella Fitzgerald and by Stravinsky's early ballets (apparently meaning Petrouchka and Firebird). You may also want to rwad the program note for the piece (and even the others).

The Globe's review is mainly off topic of the music itself, but it's favorable. The review in the Intelligencer is more to the point and quite favorable.

At 8:00 this evening and/or on the 24th you can see what you think.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/11/07

 This week's encore broadcast is the concert originally performed five years ago — November 7, 2015 — one week after the one we heard last week. Maybe this will be the pattern for a while.

WCRB summarizes the concert as follows:

Saturday at 8pm in an encore broadcast of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ken-David Masur leads Schumann's Symphony No. 3, the "Rhenish," as well as the American premiere of Unsuk Chin's Mannequin and Liszt's Totentanz, with piano soloist Louie Lortie.

(Some emphasis added.)

WCRB lists the pieces is reverse order of performance. Read the transcript of the interview with the conductor if/when you have time.

And here, suitably edited, is what I wrote five years ago:

This week we have one work that is considered standard repertory but one I don't often hear, Liszt's Totentanz, one piece getting its American premiere in these concerts, Mannequin by Unsuk Chin, and an old favorite, Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish," by Schumann. Indulging their penchant for describing the pieces in an order other than that in which they'll be performed, the writers of the BSO program description page,describe the concert as follows:

BSO Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur leads the second BSO co-commission of the season, Korean composer Unsuk Chin's Mannequin in its American premiere. Mannequin was inspired by a short story by the great 19th-century German music critic and fantasist E.T.A. Hoffmann. Opening the program is Franz Lizst's dark and virtuosic Totentanz, played by French pianist Louis Lortie. Totentanz is considered among the most difficult pieces in the standard repertoire for piano and orchestra. Closing these concerts is Robert Schumann's innovatively structured paean to the Rhine River, the composer's Symphony No. 3.

Join the conversation online by using #BSOLiszt for this concert series or #BSO1516 on your social networks to discover the excitement of the season and connect with one another!

(Some emphasis added.)

…

Reviews were mixed. The Globe's was generally favorable, but found Maestro Masur's conducting in the older pieces unexciting. The Boston Musical Intelligencer really liked the "Totentanz," and found no fault with the conductor there, while joining the Globe in disappointment with his leadership in the Schumann. As for "Mannequin," the reviewer found little difference between the four movements.

I was there on Thursday and found the Liszt spectacular. The Chin piece was suitable as a depiction of a frightened frame of mind, but apart from the music-box-like elements in the first movement, there didn't seem to be much difference between the four — at least not at first hearing. I'll listen tonight over the radio and see if there's more distinction between the scenes. I wonder if the large variety of percussion, including some unconventional items, was really necessary. Still, since it was suitable as a depiction of a frightened mood, I applauded the composer enthusiastically. As for the Schumann, it's really enjoyable music to listen to, and I didn't find any fault with how it was conducted: I just liked hearing it.

So I think it worth your while to listen this evening, November 7, at 8:00, Boston Time (EST), … over the radio or internet streaming of WCRB. As you know if you've been following my posts on the BSO, WCRB also has a BSO page of their own. …

Anyway, I was glad to be at the concert, and I'm looking forward to hearing the first two pieces this evening before my kid brother's call from Tokyo ….  As is usually the case, I recommend listening to this one.

8:00 p.m., EST, WCRB.

BSO/Classical New England — 2019/09/14

Today's "encore performance" comes from March 9 of this year. WCRB gives the basics on their website:

Saturday, September 14, 2019
8:00 PM

Recorded on March 9, 2019

Thomas Adès, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Thomas ADÈS Piano Concerto
   (world premiere; BSO commission)
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

(Emphasis added);

and the BSO program detail page provides further information:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns for a concert featuring the world premiere of his Concerto for piano and orchestra , commissioned by the BSO and composed for Kirill Gerstein, a frequent collaborator. Mr. Adès also leads the orchestra in two Romantic-era scores. Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz depicts a scene from Nicolaus Lenau's 1836 poem Faust in which Mephistopheles plays demonically on a fiddle during a wedding. Tchaikovsky's emotionally intense and magnificently orchestrated Fourth Symphony, completed in 1878, represents the culmination of a traumatic period in the composer's life.

The WCRB page also has a link to a conversation with the soloist, and the BSO page has the usual links to background information.

My review at the time gives you my reaction to the performance two days earlier as well as links to the published reviews. It should be worth hearing (again) this evening at 8:00 via WCRB on air or on line. The WCRB home page also has a link to an article about Malcolm Lowe, the long-time concertmaster of the BSO, who will retire before the season opener next week. It includes the audio of an interview with him, and it should be interesting and informative.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2019/03/09

This week the BSO sandwiches the world premiere of a piano concerto, conducted by the composer, between two late 19th Century orchestral pieces. Here's how the orchestra's performance detail page synopsizes the concert:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns for a concert featuring the world premiere of his Concerto for piano and orchestra , commissioned by the BSO and composed for Kirill Gerstein, a frequent collaborator. Mr. Adès also leads the orchestra in two Romantic-era scores. Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz depicts a scene from Nicolaus Lenau's 1836 poem Faust in which Mephistopheles plays demonically on a fiddle during a wedding. Tchaikovsky's emotionally intense and magnificently orchestrated Fourth Symphony, completed in 1878, represents the culmination of a traumatic period in the composer's life.

(Some emphasis added.)

I was there for theThursday concert, which had the very first performance of the piano concerto. It struck me as 21st Century Gershwin. There was some jazzy rhythm, there was a modicum of tune, but it was all overshadowed by noise. I couldn't say if it was exactly atonal, but it didn't seem very harmonious. It was tolerable and even interesting. Maybe a second hearing this evening will lead to greater understanding and appreciation. The Liszt was vigorous — happy to see Clint Foreman get some solo work in it, although most went to Elizabeth Ostling. The first movement of the Tchaikovsky went too long — his fault, not theirs.

The Globe review, which I hadn't read before writing the above paragraph, also notes Gershwinesque qualities in the concerto. The reviewer likes the Liszt and appreciates a couple of unusual touches in the Tchaikovsky. The Musical Intelligencer was also pleased.

Listen in this evening at 8:00 over the facilities of WCRB, see what you think of the concerto, and enjoy the classics. Don't forget the repeat on March 18 at 8:00 p.m. On the 11th, you have another chance to hear the Dvořák "Stabat Mater."

Enjoy!

BSO — December Hiatus — 2016/12/10

This week's Saturday evening broadcast/webstream over WCRB is the concert given at Tanglewood on August 5, 2016. The station's website gives the particulars:

Saturday at 8pm, Giancarlo Guerrero conducts Dvorak's Serenade for Winds and Brahms' Serenade No. 2, and Yefim Bronfman plays Liszt's 2nd Piano Concerto.

December 10, 2016

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

DVORÁK Serenade for Winds
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2
MAHLER (arr. BRITTEN) What the Wild Flowers Tell Me
BRAHMS Serenade No. 2

(Some emphasis added.)

I posted a bit about it back then, but there were no reviews to link.

The Brahms Serenade was a revelation to me when I heard it for the first time several years ago in a concert at Symphony Hall conducted by James Levine: Brahms could and did actually write cheerful music for orchestra. It's pleasant all the way through and especially delightful toward the end, above all when the piccolo comes in to put the metaphorical frosting on the figurative cake.

There's nothing wrong with the rest of the program either, so enjoy the show at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. Also explore the WCRB website for other interesting things such as podcasts and schedules for future BSO broadcasts.

Tanglewood — 2016/08/05-07

Friday, August 5.  Here's how the BSO's performance detail page — with its usual links — describes the program:

Costa Rican conductor  Giancarlo Guerrero  leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in two programs, August 5 and 6, both featuring world-class pianists. On Friday, August 5, at 8 p.m., Mr. Guerrero is joined by  Yefim Bronfman for Liszt's innovative and sparkling one-movement Piano Concerto No. 2. The program will also feature the BSO in Dvořák's Serenade for Winds, Britten's arrangement of Mahler's  What the Wild Flowers Tell Me (the original second movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 3), and Brahms' Serenade No. 2, which was dedicated to Clara Schumann and represents one of Brahms's various developmental steps in orchestral composition along his long path to completing his First Symphony.

(Some emphasis added and some changed.)

Regular readers may recall that I don't care for Brahms' symphonies and concertos. But several years ago James Levine led the orchestra in a performance of "Serenade № 2," and I found it delightful. More precisely, it was all pleasant enough, but the final section was a joy. The rest of the concert should be okay, although I don't really need to hear the Dvořák again, but it's not bad. I don't recall the Liszt concerto. It'll be interesting to hear what Britten does with the Mahler.

It's another of the unnecessary Underscore Fridays, but I'm actually looking forward to this one, partly because the last time some of the comments from the stage actually were worth hearing and more because I met Jamie Sommerville at a Harvard Musical Association concert and found him pleasant to talk to so I want to hear what he will say. Maybe he can even make the Dvořák interesting for me.


Saturday, August 6.  This time, the performance detail page says nothing about the pieces to be played, just about the change in scheduled artists:

Pianist Daniil Trifonov, who was scheduled to perform a recital on Thursday, August 4, and feature with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, August 6, has, with great regret, been forced to withdraw from these concerts due to an ear infection. Marc-André Hamelin replaces Mr. Trifonov for the recital at Ozawa Hall on August 4, and Ingrid Fliter performs as soloist in Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in her BSO and Tanglewood debuts on August 6. Changes have been made to the August 4 recital repertoire, while the August 6 program remains the same.

(Emphasis added.)

What is the unchanged program, you ask? Well, it opens with a piece titled Harmonienlehre, by John Adams. I recommend reading the program note linked on the detail page. It sounds fascinating. After intermission comes the Chopin, and the show wraps up with Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks by Strauss — another one of the pieces that this curmudgeon thinks is much overplayed, but at least doesn't need a lot of rehearsal time, and it's not too long. We had recordings of the Chopin piano concertos which got played fairly regularly when I was young — one much more than the other. I'm not sure which one this is, but I'm looking forward to hearing it anyway and maybe experiencing a bit of nostalgia for the younger days when I used to hear it occasionally. Again, the program note may be useful reading. All is once more under the baton of Maestro Guerrero. The program detail page also has the usual links to background information.


Sunday, August 7.  On Sunday, we get Mozart and Mahler, The program detail page informs us:

On Sunday, August 7, at 2:30 p.m., BSO assistant conductor  Moritz Gnann makes his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut at Tanglewood with works by Mozart and Mahler. Acclaimed Brazilian pianist  Nelson Freire joins Mr. Gnann and the orchestra for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9, considered the composer's first masterwork of the piano concerto genre, written in 1777 when he was just 21 years old. The program closes with Mahler's at times brooding, at times vigorously energetic Symphony No. 1. Completed when the composer was in his late twenties, it is in a four-movement, mostly traditional form, but already hints at the expansiveness and innovation of his later symphonies.

(Emphasis added or modified.)

I think both should be worth hearing


The Friday and Saturday concerts can be heard via WCRB radio or web at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, and the Sunday program will be aired and streamed at 7:00, p.m. (not live at 2:30). Their home page, in addition to the link to listen over the web, gives information about other special programming which may be of interest. Their BSO page, in addition to brief descriptions of the Saturday and Sunday concerts, gives similar information about the remaining Tanglewood concert broadcasts and various other interesting items and links.

BSO — 2015/11/05-10

This week we have one work that is considered standard repertory but one I don't often hear, Liszt's Totentanz, one piece getting its American premiere in these concerts, Mannequin by Unsuk Chin, and an old favorite, Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish," by Schumann. Indulging their penchant for describing the pieces in an order other than that in which they'll be performed, the writers of the BSO program description page, describe the concert as follows:

BSO Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur leads the second BSO co-commission of the season, Korean composer Unsuk Chin's Mannequin in its American premiere. Mannequin was inspired by a short story by the great 19th-century German music critic and fantasist E.T.A. Hoffmann. Opening the program is Franz Lizst's dark and virtuosic Totentanz, played by French pianist Louis Lortie. Totentanz is considered among the most difficult pieces in the standard repertoire for piano and orchestra. Closing these concerts is Robert Schumann's innovatively structured paean to the Rhine River, the composer's Symphony No. 3.

Join the conversation online by using #BSOLiszt for this concert series or #BSO1516 on your social networks to discover the excitement of the season and connect with one another!

(Some emphasis added.)

As always, the performance detail page has links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios (click on the thumbnail pictures), and — new this year — the BSO Media Center with its own podcasts and notes. The video excerpt from "Mannequin" gives a bit of the gentler portion of the piece, but it gives you some idea of what it's like. You get a bit more in the audio preview which follows the video.

Reviews were mixed. The Globe's was generally favorable, but found Maestro Masur's conducting in the older pieces unexciting. The Boston Musical Intelligencer really liked the "Totentanz," and found no fault with the conductor there, while joining the Globe in disappointment with his leadership in the Schumann. As for "Mannequin," the reviewer found little difference between the four movements.

I was there on Thursday and found the Liszt spectacular. The Chin piece was suitable as a depiction of a frightened frame of mind, but apart from the music-box-like elements in the first movement, there didn't seem to be much difference between the four — at least not at first hearing. I'll listen tonight over the radio and see if there's more distinction between the scenes. I wonder if the large variety of percussion, including some unconventional items, was really necessary. Still, since it was suitable as a depiction of a frightened mood, I applauded the composer enthusiastically. As for the Schumann, it's really enjoyable music to listen to, and I didn't find any fault with how it was conducted: I just liked hearing it.

So I think it worth your while to listen this evening, November 7, at 8:00, Boston Time (EST), and/or Monday, November 16, also at 8:00, over the radio or internet streaming of WCRB. As you know if you've been following my posts on the BSO, WCRB also has a BSO page of their own. This year, they embed their concert preview interview in a longer podcast called "The Answered Question." This week, the whole thing runs to 53 minutes. I haven't heard it yet, but somewhere it includes an interview with the conductor about the program — no doubt interesting, if you get a chance to hear it.

Anyway, I was glad to be at the concert, and I'm looking forward to hearing the first two pieces this evening before my kid brother's call from Tokyo and the "Rhenish" during the rebroadcast on the 16th. As is usually the case, I recommend listening to this one.

Tanglewood — 2014/07/05-06

It's the Boston Symphony's season opener at Tanglewood, with programs Saturday evening at 8:30 and Sunday afternoon at 2:30.

The BSO program detail page describes the opening night program as follows:

Celebrated soprano Renée Fleming opens the 2014 BSO season at Tanglewood in an all-American program. With the Boston Symphony, she will present great works of the American concert hall and opera stage, plus favorites from musical theatre and popular genres. 

(Emphasis added)

The program detail page has links to performer bios (click on the pictures) and program notes Composers are Schwantner, Copland, Barber, Adams, Gershwin, and Rodgers, conductors William Eddins and Rob Fisher.

The page for Sunday afternoon has this to say:

Jerusalem-born conductor Asher Fisch leads a Romantic program fitting for a mid-summer Berkshires' evening. "I've just finished a tiny, tiny piano concerto," Brahms wrote to a friend, referring with great understatement to his piano concerto number 2, a piece as expansive and passionate as a symphony and as intimate at times as a string quartet, and performed alongside the BSO by the magisterial American pianist, Garrick Ohlsson. The preface to the score of Liszt's Romantic symphonic poem Les Preludes reads, in part, "Love is the enchanted dawn of existence," a sentiment echoed in the closing excerpts from Wagner's sunniest opera, Die Meistersinger, a tale of love fulfilled.

(Some emphasis added, and editorial corrections made)

Go there for the usual links, including an audio preview of the Brahms.

As usual, it's all available approximately live on radio and over the web via WCRB. Their BSO page has the whole Tanglewood season broadcast/webstream schedule, as well as links to an interview with Miss Fleming and lots of other things (including recent Pops concerts).

Tanglewood — 2013/07/19-21

This weekend we have mid-late 19th Century music on Friday and Saturday evenings and baroque on Sunday afternoon.

July 19  brings us Wagner, Liszt, and Brahms. The BSO performance detail page puts it like this:

Russian maestro Vladimir Jurowski, principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, makes his Tanglewood debut on Friday, July 19, at 8:30 p.m., leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a program of Wagner, Liszt, and Brahms. Eminent French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the orchestra as soloist in Liszt's devilishly difficult Totentanz, a barnstorming fantasia based on the Dies irae that is one of the showiest works in the repertoire. To begin the program is the pomp and grandeur of Wagner's Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and concluding the evening is Brahms's monumental Symphony No. 1, with which the composer finally took up the imposing symphonic mantel of Beethoven.

      – some emphasis supplied
This we they have given us links to notes and audio material.


July 20  returns to Wagner for the final act of Die Walküre. You can find links to the program notes at the performance detail page. There you can also click on performer photos for bios. They synopsize the concert as follows:

On Saturday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m., German conductor Lothar Koenigs, music director of the Welsh National Opera, makes his BSO conducting debut, leading the orchestra in a concert performance of Act III of Wagner's Die Walküre. Though the act begins with the furor of the famous "Ride of the Valkyries," what fallows is some of the most intimate and emotionally charged music of the composer's massive Ring cycle. The cast of leading Wagnerian singers includes sopranos Katarina Dalayman (Brünnhilde) and Amber Wagner (Sieglinde), and bass-baritone Bryn Terfel (Wotan). The performance, along with the prelude toDie Meistersinger on Friday evening, is part of the BSO's celebration of Wagner's Bicentennial in 2013.

     – some emphasis supplied


July 21  On Sunday afternoon, the orchestra goes for baroque. (The pun is an oldie but goodie, IMO, and I didn't try to resist.) The performance detail page has links to program notes and performer bios, and informs us

Conductor, violinist, and violist Pinchas Zukerman returns to the Shed stage on Sunday, July 21, at 2:30 p.m. for an afternoon of Baroque music, following the success of his all-Bach program with the BSO in 2012. The program will also feature a number of the BSO's players as part of the orchestra's ongoing commitment to feature the individual members of the orchestra. The afternoon's program includes Vivaldi's Concerto in B-flat for violin, cello, and strings, featuring Mr. Zukerman and his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth; Vivaldi's Concerto in C minor for violin and strings, Il Sospetto; Bach's Concerto No. 2 in E for violin and strings, and Telemann's Concerto in G for viola and strings. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, featuring BSO principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe, principal oboe player John Ferrillo, and principal trumpet player Thomas Rolfs, completes the program.

     – some emphasis supplied

I'm happy to see our modern orchestra including baroque music in the repertory. For one thing, it's just enjoyable to listen to. For another, while the historically informed performances may be much more like what the composers expected and audiences heard back then, I see no need for modern ensembles to give up the repertoire entirely.


Classical New England will broadcast and stream all three concerts, as usual, with only a few seconds' delay, and their BSO page gives a brief summary of what is in store for this weekend and the remaining weekends of the Tanglewood season. I forget whether the warm-up material starts an hour or a half hour before concert time. Well, it's not too important either way. If you arrive early, you hear some music. And if you miss half of the preliminaries, that's not the important part, anyway.

Enjoy!