Tanglewood — 2024/07/26-28

 A little while ago the announcer on WCRB said that this weekend marks the midpoint of the BSO' Tanglewood season. Let's see what's in store.

First is WCRB's description of this evening's concert:

Friday, July 26, 2024
8:00 PM

In celebration of Serge Koussevitzky’s 150th birthday, Andris Nelsons leads a concert that includes Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto, with soloist Edwin Barker, as well as spectacular works by Steven Mackey, Sibelius, and Scriabin.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Edwin Barker, double bass
Will Liverman, baritone
Tanglewood Festival Chorus,
James Burton, conductor

Steven MACKEY Urban Ocean
Serge KOUSSEVITZKY Double Bass Concerto
Jean SIBELIUS The Origin of Fire
Alexander SCRIABIN Prometheus, Poem of Fire

To hear a preview of Scriabin's Prometheus, Poem of Fire with pianist Yefim Bronfman, listen to this interview from April 6, 2024. Use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Sympho

So there is an interview accessible from the WCRB page either audio or transrcipt.

As always, the description on the BSO's performance detail page is fuller:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra 
Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Yefim Bronfman, piano 
Edwin Barker, double bass 
Will Liverman, baritone 
Tanglewood Festival Chorus 
 James Burton, conductor

Steven MACKEY Urban Ocean 
KOUSSEVITZKY Double Bass Concerto
-Intermission-
SIBELIUS The Origin of Fire for baritone, male chorus, and orchestra 
SCRIABIN Prometheus, Poem of Fire, for piano, chorus, and orchestra

Tonight’s concert is generously supported by Eitan and Malka Evan.

This evening's performance by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

In tribute to Serge Koussevitzky’s legacy, Andris Nelsons and the BSO dedicate this concert series to the trailblazer, opening with Koussevitzky’s virtuosic Double Bass Concerto performed by the BSO’s own Edwin Barker.  

Baritone Will Liverman and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus join the program for two impassioned works: Sibelius’ The Origin of Fire and Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire, which Koussevitzky led the 1925 Boston premiere of. 

As always, there are links to performer bios and program notes, which you might like to read. (Side note: When Edwin Barker joined the BSO back in the 70's he looked so much like my kid brother that when my mother first saw him on stage she wondered, "What's Jerry doing here?" Now they aren't lookalikes any more.)

Next we come to Saturday, and WCRB says:

Saturday, July 27, 2024
8:00 PM

Jean-Yves Thibaudet is the soloist in Khachaturian’s vibrant, colorful Piano Concerto, part of a program that also includes Tania León's Pulitzer prize-winning Stride and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the “Pathétique.”

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Tania LEÓN STRIDE
Aram KHACHATURIAN Piano Concerto
Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, Pathétique

From the BSO we get the following:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra 
Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Tania LEÓN Stride 
KHACHATURIAN Piano Concerto
-Intermission-
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, Pathétique

In tribute to Serge Koussevitzky’s legacy, Andris Nelsons and the BSO dedicate this concert series to the trailblazer. In the spirit of Koussevitzky’s passion for promoting contemporary music and composers, this concert features Tania León's STRIDE, a Pulitzer prize-winning work of resilience and surprise. 

Jean-Yves Thibaudet also joins for Khachaturian’s vibrant, colorful Piano Concerto, and the concert ends with Tchaikovsky’s moving, yearning Pathétique Symphony. 

Tonight’s concert is generously supported by Bonnie and Terry Burman.

Tonight's performance by Jean-Yves Thibaudet is generously supported by Stephen Bardfield in memory of his mom, Gisele Klein Wolfson.

Finally on Sunday at 7:00 we get the usual rebroadcast of the matinee concert. Per WCRB:

Sunday, July 28, 2024
7:00 PM

This program, focusing on the wide variety and rich tapestry of 20th century music, explores themes of spirituality and liberation, blending American sounds and European traditions much as Koussevitzky did during his life. 

In a reflection of Koussevitzky’s commitment to new music, Thomas Warfield is the narrator in James Lee III’s Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, a piece based on the great Fredrick Douglas text “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”. Paul Lewis is the soloist in the Piano Concerto by Aaron Copland, whom Koussevitzky brought to the Berkshires to launch what’s now the Tanglewood Music Center, one of the world’s premiere academies for early-stage professional musicians, and for which Randall Thompson wrote his Alleluia, still sung at the TMC to begin of every summer. And the Tanglewood Festival Chorus also sings one of Koussevitzky’s most significant commissions, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano
Thomas Warfield, narrator
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
James Burton, conductor

James LEE III Freedom’s Genuine Dawn
Aaron COPLAND Piano Concerto
Randall THOMPSON Alleluia
Igor STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms

Read the entire text of "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" from PBS and learn more about the speech from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

Hear composer James Lee III describe the genesis of Freedom's Genuine Dawn using the audio player above and reading the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath from WCRB with James Lee III who is back in Boston for the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the second time. 

The BSO performance detail page, in addition to the usual links, offers this synopsis:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano
Thomas Warfield, narrator
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
 James Burton, conductor

James LEE III Freedom’s Genuine Dawn
COPLAND Piano Concerto
-Intermission-
THOMPSON Alleluia, for unaccompanied chorus
STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms

In tribute to Serge Koussevitzky’s legacy, Andris Nelsons and the BSO dedicate this concert series to the trailblazer. 

This program, focusing on the wide variety and rich tapestry of 20th century music, explores themes of spirituality and liberation, blending American sounds and European traditions, much as Koussevitzky did during his life. Performing artist Thomas Warfield joins as the narrator for James Lee’s Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, a piece based on the great Fredrick Douglas text “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”, which makes the audience grapple with the legacy of slavery being intertwined with the founding of the country. 

This afternoon’s performance by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

This looks like an interesting series of concerts. Apart from the Tchaikovsky, there are no "warhorses" of the orchestral repertory, but nothing really far from the mainstream. I can't vouch for the new music, but the rest shouldn't be excessivelychallenging — all in all a worthy tribute to the long-time maestro, so I give it a "thumbs up."

BSO — 2023/01/28

 WCRB tells us:

Saturday, January 28, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, February 6

Latvian violinist Baiba Skride returns to the Boston Symphony for Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and Andris Nelsons conducts in the world premiere of Steven Mackey’s Concerto for Curved Space as well as Brahms’s Symphony No. 4.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Baiba Skride, violin

Steven MACKEY Concerto for Curved Space, for orchestra (world premiere)
SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 2
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4

To hear a preview of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 2 with soloist Baiba Skride, use the player above, and read the transcript below:

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Baiba Skride, who's back with the Boston Symphony. Shostakovich, once again, just like last year, but the Second Concerto. Baiba, thank you for a little bit of your time today. I appreciate it.

Baiba Skride Oh, thank you so much for having me here. I'm so excited to be back with this orchestra, which I know quite well by now.

This concert wasn't part of my subscription, and I had a meeting to attend on Thursday evening anyway, so I can't tell you anything about the world premiere. What's more, I'll miss it this evening because I'll be attending a play at our local community theater. (The Sunday matinee was sold out when I wanted to buy a ticket. Here's what others have to say.

First we go to the BSO performance detail page. There we read:

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the world premiere of a BSO-commissioned Concerto for Curved Space, for orchestra by Grammy-winning American composer/guitarist Steven Mackey, whose vibrant music embraces a range of influences, from Ludwig van Beethoven to modern rock. Latvian violinist Baiba Skride returns to Symphony Hall for Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2, written for the great Ukrainian violinist David Oistrakh in 1967. Johannes Brahms’ profound and majestic Fourth Symphony closes the program.

Of course, there are links to the program notes from the booklet audience members receive.

The reviews are in. Jeffrey Gantz, in the Intelligencer, gives a lot about the music itself as well as how it was performed. He does his best to avoid complaining, but he still observes that tempos tended to be slow, resulting in a long evening in the hall. Over at the Globe, Jeremy Eichler has no complaints about the Mackey piece, but thinks that other two weren't performed up to BSO standards, and wonders why Baiba Skride is here so often.

So there you have it: a long evening beginning with an hour of unfamiliar music and ending with a beloved warhorse. I'll have to catch the rebroadcast on February 6. You can listen and decide what you think of it all this evening at 8:)0, Boston Time.