Tanglewood — 2025/07/26-27

 There are two great evenings of music in store for us. (I'm sorry I missed last evening, but I had returned from several days away and it slipped my mind. If you checked it out without waiting for my preview, I'm sure you enjoyed the concert of music by Bach, Mahler, and Mendelssohn.)

July 26, 2025

This evening a world premiere awaits along with a well known symphony by Mahler.Here's WCRB's description: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-04-24/a-john-williams-world-premiere-with-emmanuel-ax-at-tanglewood

Saturday, July 26, 2025
8:00 PM

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in the world premiere of John Williams’s Piano Concerto, inspired by three legendary jazz pianists and written for soloist Emanuel Ax, part of a program that also includes the epic musical journey of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano

John WILLIAMS Piano Concerto (world premiere)
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 1

To hear a preview of John Williams's Piano Concerto with Emanuel Ax, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

For more information on Tanglewood concerts, visit the BSO box office.

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at the Koussevitzky Music Shed with Emanuel Ax. And Manny, thank you so much for a little of your time today. I appreciate it.

Emanuel Ax It's my pleasure to be here

The interview is interesting.

At the BSO's performance detail page https://www.bso.org/events/bso-july-26-emanuel-ax?performance=2025-07-26-20%3A00 we are treated to this synopsis by Robert Kirzinger:

A major new work by John Williams, a full-fledged Concerto for Piano and Orchestra composed for and premiered by Emanuel Ax with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, at Tanglewood—it speaks for itself. This warm coming-together of artists who have a deep connection with Tanglewood, its history, and its future can only be topped by the performance itself on Saturday evening in the Shed. In this brilliant, virtuoso concerto, Williams draws on his lifelong love of the piano and some of its most individual talents: its three movements pay homage to jazz greats Art Tatum, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson. The concerto shares the Saturday concert with Gustav Mahler’s powerful and lyrical Symphony No. 1. With its broad melodies, hints of birdsong, and its second-movement rustic dance, the symphony channels Mahler’s love of the outdoors and the countryside while also serving as a true orchestral showpiece. 

There are also full program notes for the piano concerto https://www.bso.org/works/john-williams-concerto-for-piano-and-orchestra and for the symphony https://www.bso.org/works/mahler-symphony-no-1-in-d .

It should be interesting to hear a new piece by John Williams.

July 27, 2025

As always the Sunday afternoon concert is broadcast for us on Sunday evening at 7:00, in WCRB's usual "In Concert" time slot. They describe it thus: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-04-24/lang-lang-and-the-bso-play-saint-saens-at-tanglewood

Sunday, July 27, 2025
7:00 PM

Lang Lang is the soloist in the beautifully romantic Piano Concerto No. 2 by Saint-Saëns in a program led by Andris Nelsons that also includes Gabriela Ortiz’s exuberant La Calaca, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Lang Lang, piano

Gabriela ORTIZ La Calaca, for string orchestra
Camille SAINT-SÄENS Piano Concerto No. 2

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6, Pastoral 

Again, the BSO performance detail page for the weekend has a synopsis by Robert Kirzinger, as follows:

Sunday’s concert features another outstanding pianist, Lang Lang, playing Camille Saint-Saëns’s scintillating Piano Concerto No. 2, one of the best known of the composer’s works. Saint-Saëns, a virtuoso pianist himself, played its premiere in Paris in December 1868. The concert opens with Mexican composer and 2025 Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music Director Gabriela Ortiz’s La Calaca, a hypnotically rhythmic, dancing work whose title refers to the stylized, music-loving skeleton figures of Day of the Dead celebrations. Beethoven’s sunny Pastoral Symphony—complete with birdsong, a country dance, and a brief (musical) summer storm—completes the program.

At the page for this concert we find he program notes for the Ortiz work https://www.bso.org/works/ortiz-la-calaca , for the concerto https://www.bso.org/works/piano-concerto-no-2-saint-saens , and for the symphony https://www.bso.org/works/beethoven-symphony-no-6-pastoral .

All in all, it should be a very enjoyable pair of concerts.

BSO/Classical New England — 2025/06/21

 This evening WCRB takes us back to August 11, 2024. Here's their description:

Saturday, June 21. 2025
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, conductor James Gaffigan makes his Boston Symphony debut in a program that includes arias from Mozart’s Idomeneo and The Marriage of Figaroand Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with soprano Elena Villalón, as well as Anna Clyne’s Sound and Fury. Listen to this concert using the player above.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan, conductor
Elena Villalón, soprano

Anna CLYNE Sound and Fury
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART “Padre, germani, addio!” from Idomeneo
MOZART “Deh vieni, non tardar” from The Marriage of Figaro
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 4

This concert was originally broadcast on August 11, 2024, and is no longer available on demand.

The orchestra's performance detail page has links to performer bios and program notes.

It should be a pleasant evening.

Tanglewood — 2024/08/09-11

 We can hear three more concerts from Tanglewood this weekend.

First let's see WCRB's summary of tonight's:

Friday, August 9, 2024
8:00 PM

Kirill Gerstein is the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s passionate and technically daunting Piano Concerto No. 3, and Alan Gilbert leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s exhilarating - and timeless - The Rite of Spring.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

Sergei RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
Igor STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

Learn about Kirill Gerstein's recent release, Music in Time of War.

For further information we turn to the BSO performance detail page:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra 
Alan Gilbert, conductor 
Kirill Gerstein, piano

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
-Intermission-
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

Fri, Aug 9, 2024, 8:00pm EDT

Although they don't give the usual blurb, the program notes and performer bios are linked.

I think I'll listen to the Red Sox game instead. I'm not really interested in hearing the Rachmaninoff again, and I find the Stravinsky unenjoyable the story as well as the "music." But maybe you're not familiar with them. If so, by all means give a liusten and see what you think. And of course my opinion doesn't matter if you already have your own.

Saturday pairs Stavinsky with Sibelius. Per WCRB:

Saturday, August 10 , 2024
8:00 PM

In her Boston Symphony debut, conductor Dalia Stasevska leads a program that includes Sibelius’s Canzonetta and Symphony No. 5, as well as Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto, with soloist Leila Josefowicz.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor
Leila Josefowicz, violin

Jean SIBELIUS (arr. STRAVINKSY) Canzonetta
Igor STRAVINSKY Violin Concerto
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

Here's what the BSO gives us:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra 
Dalia Stasevska, conductor 
Leila Josefowicz, violin

SIBELIUS (arr. STRAVINSKY) Canzonetta 
STRAVINSKY Violin Concerto 
-Intermission-
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

Dalia Stasevska’s performance is supported in part by the Finlandia Foundation National.

Sat, Aug 10, 2024, 8:00pm EDT

I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the Sibelius symphony. Sibelius and Stravinsky lived at the same time, but Sibelius' music is much more taditional. I dont know the Canzonetta and it will be interestin to hear what it'slike in the hands of Stravinsky. The program note about the violin concerto has me interested to hear it; and of course I'm looking forward to the Sibelius symphony.

Here's WCRB's synopsis of the Sunday concert:

Sunday, August 11, 2024
7:00 PM

Conductor James Gaffigan makes his Boston Symphony debut in a program that includes arias from Mozart’s Idomeneo and The Marriage of Figaro and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with soprano Elena Villalón, as well as Anna Clyne’s Sound and Fury.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan, conductor
Elena Villalón, soprano

Anna CLYNE Sound and Fury
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART “Padre, germani, addio!” from Idomeneo
MOZART “Deh vieni, non tardar” from The Marriage of Figaro
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 4

 In addition to the links to program notes and performer bios, the BSO's performance detail page gives the basics thus:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA

Boston Symphony Orchestra

James Gaffigan, conductor

Elena Villalón, soprano

          Anna CLYNE Sound and Fury

          MOZART "Padre, germani, addio!" from Idomeneo

          MOZART “Deh vieni, non tardar” from The Marriage of Figaro

          -Intermission-

          MAHLER Symphony No. 4

 This should be good. I'm not sure quite what to expect from the Clyne, but the rest is definitely worth listening to.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/09/09

 This week's "encore concert" is a single work. WCRB tells us:

Saturday, September 9th, 2022
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, the Boston Symphony scales the depth and breadth of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 led by Music Director Andris Nelsons.

Andris Nelsons, conductor

Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 6

This concert was originally broadcast on October 22nd, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

Andris Nelsons talks with CRB's Brian McCreath about Mahler's Sixth Symphony, how its emotional power is different from the Fifth Symphony, and how his interpretation of the piece has changed over the years. Also, Nelsons talks about the BSO's upcoming tour to Japan, which include, coincidentally two pieces with major roles for ... cowbells (Mahler's Sixth Symphony and Strauss's Alpine Symphony). To listen, use the audio player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Andris Nelsons. And Andris, it's great to see you again and great to hear Mahler's Sixth Symphony. One of the the pieces that's a remarkable piece of music, but maybe, perhaps, less understood by audiences than other symphonies by Mahler. I'm curious about what draws you to Mahler's Sixth Symphony.

If you go to the WCRB page you have the option of listening to the interview with Maestro Nelsons. If you have the time before the concert, that might be better than reading the transcript because, as I see in the transcript, there are several places where he sings a bit of the music to show what he's talking about.

I posted quite favorably about my experience hearing it two days earlier. The links in my post to the BSO page and the reviews are probably still working, so you can avail yourself of them to prepare for the show. I hope you'll enjoy it if you listen.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/07/01

WCRB gives us something different this evening: a retrospective on the Ozawa years through recordings and interviews. Here's the program:

Saturday, July 1, 2023
8:00 PM

Seiji Ozawa's 29 years as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is the longest tenure for any conductor in that position in BSO history. He also led more BSO recordings of individual works than any other conductor. In this program, four members of the orchestra - Principal Horn Richard Sebring, violinists Tatiana Dimitriades and Bonnie Bewick, and Associate Principal Double Bass Lawrence Wolfe - along with BSO Vice President for Artistic Planning Tony Fogg, tell the stories of the most memorable recordings they made with Ozawa.

On the program:

MAHLER - Symphony No. 3, movements IV and V 
with soprano Jessye Norman, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and the American Boychoir

MAHLER - Symphony No. 4, movements III and IV
with soprano Kiri Te Kanawa

RAVEL - Alborada del Gracioso

BARTÓK - Violin Concerto No. 2, movement III
with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter

DUTILLEUX - The Shadows of Time

BERLIOZ - The Damnation of Faust, Part 1
with tenor Stuart Burrows and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Since this is not a (re)broadcast of a live concert, there is no performancse detail page nor review to link. These are not pieces of music that are on my personal favorites list, although Mahler is pretty good and Berlioz usually gives us something worth hearing. I just don't remember anything specific from these pieces. The reminiscences could be very interesting, so on balance, I think this should be a good show.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/05/20

 Another Tanglewood concert is this evening's rebroadcast on WCRB:

Saturday, May 20, 2023
8:00 PM

In a concert by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Andris Nelsons leads Gustav Mahler’s meditation on grief and triumph, and soprano Christine Goerke sings a rarely heard work by Berlioz.

Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra 
Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Christine Goerke, soprano 

Hector BERLIOZ The Death of Cleopatra
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 5

This concert was originally broadcast on July 23, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

This concert took place the day after the one they rebroadcast last week, so my comments from that weekend still apply, and the link to the BSO performance detail page still works. The portion of the Globe review of the weekend dealing with the Saturday concert is favorable, noting that it was a student orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. The reviewer singled out the principal trumpet and the principal horn for well played solos in the Mahler. Again, no review in the Intelligencer.

So it should be a good evening.

BSO — 2022/10/22

 On Thursday, you could say I heard a surprise symphony — not Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony, but Mahler's 6th. I had trekked in to Boston thinking that they were going to play Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto and Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, but when I looked at the program booklet, it turned out that it   would be the Mahler. Here's how WCRB puts it:

Saturday, October 22, 2022
8:00 PM

The Boston Symphony scales the depth and breadth of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 led by Music Director Andris Nelsons.

Andris Nelsons, conductor

Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 6

Andris Nelsons talks with CRB's Brian McCreath about Mahler's Sixth Symphony, how its emotional power is different from the Fifth Symphony, and how his interpretation of the piece has changed over the years. Also, Nelsons talks about the BSO's upcoming tour to Japan, which include, coincidentally two pieces with major roles for ... cowbells (Mahler's Sixth Symphony and Strauss's Alpine Symphony). To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Andris Nelsons. And Andris, it's great to see y

The interview with Maestro Nelsons takes 20 minutes on audio, maybe less to read. I haven't looked at it, but it could be informative.

Here's a bit from the orchestra's performance detail page, where you can find a link to their program notes:

Gustav Mahler’s intensely emotional Symphony No. 6, written in 1903–04, is arguably his most heartfelt symphonic statement — his wife Alma called it "the most completely personal of his works." The Sixth features three powerful and ominous hammer blows in its finale, which evidently represented for Mahler "three blows of fate." 

At the performance on Thursday, someone shouted "Bravo" after the third movement. I don't know if she thought it was the end of the symphony — probaably so — or if she just thought that movement had been very well played. In any case, I had found it very pleasant. I also found the entire symphony very engaging. Often a long piece such as this seems to be dragged out and I find myself wishing that the composer would "bring it home," but not here. It held my interest throughout, even though I didn't notice some of the details mentioned in the prograam notes, such as the alternating major and minor keys.

The Globe gives a favorable review, concluding that it was "by far Nelsons’s and the orchestra’s strongest showing of the season." The Intelligencer is also highly favorable.

So that's a thumbs up from me and from both reviewers. Check it out.

Tanglewood — 2022/07/22-24

 Friday, July 22, 2022.

Here's WCRB's "just the facts" announcement of what we'll hear via their station this evening from Tanglewood:

Friday, July 22, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, Karina Canellakis returns to the Berkshires to lead the Boston Symphony in Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances,” and Emanuel Ax is the soloist in Chopin’s dramatic Piano Concerto No. 2.

Karina Canellakis, conductor 
Emanuel Ax, piano

Richard WAGNER Prelude to Lohengrin, Act 1
Frédéric CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances

The Wagner is kind of thrilling. We had (I still have somewhere) recordings of the Chopin piano concertos Dad liked them. I don't remember this one specifically, but both have some good music in them. The Rachmaninoff is okay, not on my top 100 list, but definitely tolerable. As you'd expect with dances, it's got a strong beat.

For further information, including program notes and performer information, check out the BSO's own performance detail page. 

Saturday, July 23, 2022.

On Saturday, we get the following:

Saturday, July 23, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday night at 8pm, in a concert by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Andris Nelsons leads Gustav Mahler’s meditation on grief and triumph, and soprano Christine Goerke sings a rarely heard work by Berlioz.

Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra 
Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Christine Goerke, soprano 

Hector BERLIOZ The Death of Cleopatra 
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 5

You can usually count on Berlioz for good stuff. Mahler can be long winded, but the music is pretty good.

Here's the link to the BSO performance detail page, where you can find what they think about it.

 Sunday, July 24, 2022.

The BSO rounds out the weekend with this concert on Sunday:

Sunday, July 24, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Sunday night at 7pm, soprano Latonia Moore sings George Walker’s BSO-commissioned “Lilacs,” and Seong-Jin Cho is the soloist in Brahms’s mighty Piano Concerto No. 2, all led by Andris Nelsons.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Latonia Moore, soprano
Seong-Jin Cho, piano

William Grant STILL In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy 
George WALKER Lilacs
Johannes BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2

"Everybody" like Brahms better than I do, so don't let me dissuade you from listening, even though I think I'll like the Still piece better. I have no idea about Walker's "Lilacs," but with new compositions "you pays your money (or listens in) and takes your chances." Unfortunately, the performance detail page doesn't seem to have a full program note for "Lilacs."

Remember that the Sunday concert broadcast begins at 7:00, Boston Time, not 8:00 as on Friday and Saturday.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/06/18

 Here, courtesy of WCRB, are the basics about this evening's BSO concert rebroadcast, while we wait for the Tanglewood season to begin next month:

Saturday, June 18, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, the Swedish trumpeter is the soloist in Jörg Widmann's "Towards Paradise," a BSO co-commission, and Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler’s vision of nature, life, and transformation, the First Symphony.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet

Jörg WIDMANN Towards Paradise (Labyrinth VI), for trumpet and orchestra (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 1

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Interview With Håkan Hardenberger

Interview With Andris Nelsons

Hear Håkan Hardenberger describe the genesis and challenges of Jörg Widmann's Toward's Paradise in the audio player above.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall in Boston and very pleased that Håkan Hardenberger is back here with us,

The concert was originally performed and broadcast on Nonember 20, 2021, and I wrote about it then. Sorry to say, I don't remember what I thought of it at the time, but the links in my postfrom that date seem to be working, so you can check out the BSO's program notes etc. and the reviews.

For now, I can only add that if you don't like the Widmann, most of you will probably find the Mahler easy listening.

BSO — 2021/11/20

 This week brings the American premiere performances of a piece for trumpet and orchestra. I'm looking forward to hearing it. The Mahler symphony which concludes the concert is pleasant enough, but I'll be on the phone with my brother in Tokyo while they're playing it, so I'll have to wait until the rebroadcast on the 29th to hear it.

Here's the synopsis from the WCRB page:

Saturday, November 20, 2021
8:00 PM

The Swedish trumpeter is the soloist in Jörg Widmann's Towards Paradise, a BSO co-commission, and Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler’s vision of nature, life, and transformation, the First Symphony, Saturday evening at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet

Jörg WIDMANN Towards Paradise (Labyrinth VI), for trumpet and orchestra (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
MAHLER Symphony No. 1

To hear Håkan Hardenberger describe the genesis and challenges of Jörg Widmann's Toward's Paradise, click on the player above (transcript below).

Andris Nelsons describes the connections between Mahler and Widmann (transcript below):

Andris Nelsons on Widmann and Mahler

Transcript of interview with Håkan Hardenberger:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall in Boston and very pleased that Håkan Hardenberger is back here with us

For its part, the BSO offers the following description:

Adventurous Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger has collaborated frequently with Andris Nelsons and the BSO in a range of exciting works. This season he plays the American premiere of a BSO co-commissioned work by Jörg Widmann—the second BSO commission from the prominent German composer. Widmann, himself a noted clarinetist, creates imaginatively dramatic works with deep roots in music history.
The first of Mahler’s nine symphonies employs folk-music references and a conventional four-movement form that have their foundations in Haydn’s time. Its expanded scope and instrumentation are evidence of the genre’s 19th-century transformation as well as Mahler’s own stretching of the form.

The performance page I just quoted also has the usual links, including to the program notes, which you may want to check out. The notes on "Towards Paradise" make it sound more "adventurous" than the interview on the WCRB page.

The Thursday performance was part of my subscription, but I didn't go because I had a meeting to attend, so I can't give you any impressions of my own. I'll be hearing it for the first time this evening. But the reviews are in. The Globe's is tepid, while the Intelligencer is quite pleased. Having read the description of the Widmann piece in the Imtelligencer, I'll be pleasantly surprised if I like it. But I'll give it a chance.

You can give both parts a chance at 8:00 this evening and/or Monday, November 29 over the facilities of WCRB on air or on line.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/09/11

 In observance of 9/11 WCRB is rebroadcasting a performance of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony.

Here's what they say:

In an encore broadcast from 2018, and in memory of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and soloists in Mahler's Symphony No. 2. Also, BSO Choral Director James Burton conducts the TFC in Einfelde's "Lux aeterna," Saturday evening at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons and James Burton, conductors
Ying Fang, soprano
Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano
Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Maija EINFELDE Lux aeterna, for unaccompanied chorus
MAHLER Symphony No. 2, Resurrection

Encore broadcast from Saturday, October 27, 2018

Here's what I wrote back then:

This week's concert begins with Lux Æterna, by Maija Einfelde,conducted by James Burton, the conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. That brief work is followed by Mahler's massive Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection," conducted by Music Director Andris Nelsons.The BSO's [performance] detail page has the usual links to further information. It also has this blurb about the concert:

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler's all-embracing ninety-minute Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, featuring the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, along with Chinese soprano Ying Fang and Argentine-born mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink. The fourth movement is a setting of "Urlicht," a poem from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a source of texts for many of Mahler's songs, and the vast finale includes a setting for chorus and soprano of verses from Klopstock's poem "Resurrection." James Burton will conduct Maija's Einfelde's Lux aeterna, for mixed chorus, the first of two Latvian works performed this year to mark the centenary of the country's independence.

Reviews are in. The reviewer in the Globe gave a decidedly critical review of the performance of both works, but the reviewer for the Boston Musical Intelligencer was happy with the result. It wasn't part of my subscriptions, so I can't settle the disagreement.

You can hear the show beginning at 8:00 p.m., EDST, on air or on line via WCRB. …

If it were not being given this evening in connection with the anniversary, I'd say for me Mahler is okay but not must listen music. Perhaps you might want to listen because of the occasion even if Mahler isn't your favorite composer, but I wouldn't blame anyone who wants to do something else (9/11 related or not) at that time.