BSO — 2026/09/26

 I'm sorry I didn't post about last week's concert. I hope you thought to tune in anyway

Two pieces are on the program for this evening's concert from Symphony Hall.WCRB gives us the basics: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2026-09-08/nelsons-theboston-symphony-orchestra-and-mahlers-seventh

Saturday, September 26, 2026
8:00 PM

The Russian-born Sofia Gubaidulina was composing her Prologue, a BSO co-commission with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, when she passed away in 2025. Eminent Russian composer Elena Firsova has completed it for performance. Also on the program is Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, the only Mahler symphony Andris Nelsons has yet to conduct with the BSO.

Andris Nelsons, conductor 

Sofia GUBAIDULINA/Elena FIRSOVA Prologue for orchestra (Posthumous world premiere; BSO co-commission)
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 7

Learn more about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2026-2027 season on their site.

In an interview with CRB's Brian McCreath, BSO Concertmaster Nathan Cole describes how he and the orchestra prepare for a world premiere, especially when it expresses the unique musical voice of composer Sofia Gubaidulina, as well as the particular complications of performing Mahler's Symphony No. 7. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Nathan Cole, the Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony.

Now we turrn to the BSO's own page for additional information: https://www.bso.org/events/sep-24-26-mahler-symphony-7?performance=2026-09-26-20:00

Boston Symphony Orchestra Andris Nelsons, conductor GUBAIDULINA/Elena FIRSOVA Prolog for orchestra (world premiere; BSO co-commission)  MAHLER Symphony No. 7  

One of the great composers of the past century, the Russian-born Sofia Gubaidulina infused her intricate, penetrating music with deep spirituality. A frequent collaborator with the BSO and Andris Nelsons, she was composing her Prolog, a BSO co-commission with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, when she died; the eminent Russian composer Elena Firsova has completed it for performance. Gustav Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, an intense orchestral journey with moments of sardonic humor, begins somberly and ends in glorious triumph. The Seventh is the only Mahler symphony Andris Nelsons has yet to conduct with the BSO.  

Commission Support

GUBAIDULINA/Elena FIRSOVA Prolog for orchestra 
Prolog for orchestra was co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director through the generous support of the New Works Fund established by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons, Gewandhauskapellmeister.

See, especially, the program notes accessible via the arrows which follow the titles. I've skimmed them, and it seems the Gubaidulina/Firsova could be challenging The Mahler should be more conventional.

There is an extensive review in the Intelligencer https://classical-scene.com/2026/09/25/gubaidulinas-mahler/ , but none in the Globe.

Worth hearing, I think.

BSO/Classical New England — 2026/09/12

 This week's encore broadcast is from last October 24. Here's what WCRB says about it: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-09/debussy-and-mahler-with-lorelei-and-the-bso

Saturday, September 12, 2026
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, joined by soprano Nikola Hillebrand, depict a child's view of heaven in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Before that, the Lorelei Ensemble brings Debussy’s impressionist Nocturnesto life.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Nikola Hillebrand, soprano
Lorelei Ensemble 
Beth Willer, artistic director

Claude DEBUSSY Nocturnes
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 4

This concert was originally broadcast on October 4th, 2025, and is not available on demand.

In the second part of a three-part interview, BSO Concertmaster Nathan Cole describes the musical and technical challenges of the violin solo in Mahler's Symphony No. 4. To listen, use the player and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Brian McCreath The second week of the season, as I mentioned, features Mahler's Fourth Symphony, a huge solo in this as well, but challenging in a very, very different way

nHere's how the BSO described it on their performance detail page: https://www.bso.org/events/oct-2-4-debussy-mahler?performance=2025-10-04-20:00

Boston Symphony Orchestra Andris Nelsons, conductor Nikola Hillebrand, soprano Lorelei Ensemble Beth Willer, Artistic DirectorDEBUSSY Nocturnes  MAHLER Symphony No. 4  

The BSO begins the exploration of Boston in 1900 with two pieces that were composed at the same time Symphony Hall was being built.

Influenced by impressionist painting and finished in 1899, Debussy’s three contrasting Nocturnes — Nuages (“Clouds”), Fêtes (“Holidays”), and Sirènes (“Sirens”) — paint magnificently colorful musical scenes, with Boston’s premier all-women vocal group the Lorelei Ensemble joining the orchestra in the haunting final movement.

Composed in 1900, Mahler's Symphony No. 4 lives on the sunnier side of his repertoire, but nonetheless vacillates between morbid and triumphant, seductive and serene. The final movement features solo soprano in a beguiling setting of the folk poem “Heavenly Life."

Go there for the arrows that link the performer bios and program notes, which are still available.

It could all make for enjoyable listening.

Tanglewood — 2026/08/15-16

This is the next to last weekend of the BSO's Tanglewood seaso I'm sorry I forgot to post yesterday. They did Appalachian Spring and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony while I was listening to the Red Sox losing in Pittsburgh.

August 15, 2026

This evening we hear the Boston Pops in a John Williams Film Night. Here's how WCRB describes it: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-05-27/lockhart-leads-the-pops-in-john-williams-film-night

Saturday, August 15, 2026
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast from 2025, John Williams’ Film Night returns with a fabulous program of film music highlights specially curated by Maestro Williams himself and featuring Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. It’s a special evening of magical music that you won’t want to miss!

Boston Pops Orchestra
John Williams, curator
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Alexandre Lecarme, cello *

Film Night! an all-John WILLIAMS program
"Flight to Neverland," from Hook
Suite from Far and Away
"Sayuri's Theme," from Memoirs of a Geisha *
"Out to Sea" and "Shark Cage Fugue," from Jaws
Symphonic Suite from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
"Superman March" from Superman
Celebrating Indiana Jones
Dear Basketball
"Adventures of Han," "Princess Leia's Theme," and "Throne Room," and "Finale" from Star Wars
"Yoda's Theme" and "Imperial March," from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

 

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

In an interview with CRB's Brian McCreath, Marin Alsop reflects on her time as a student at the Tanglewood Music Center, studying with Leonard Bernstein, and what Mahler's Fifth Symphony means for young musicians today. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath You'll be returning

If you read the fine print, you see that this is a rebroadcast of a concert from last summer, which is a little bit surprising since this evening's live concert is what the BSO calls "Maestro of the Movies," which they describe thus:

Maestro of the Movies: A Tribute to John Williams is the ultimate concert celebration of the man who truly has composed the soundtrack to our lives. With selections from his most iconic scores – Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Superman, Lincoln and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – Maestro of the Movies also features more than fifty minutes of specially edited scenes and clips from John Williams’ best-loved films, projected in HD and in sync to his spectacular music. This loving tribute to the greatest musical storyteller of our time is feast for the eyes and the ears!

The Boston Pops will be conducted by Ken-David Masur.

Well the encore broadcast should be good.

August 16, 2026

The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra takes the stage on Sunday. WCRB gives details: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2026-04-01/marin-alsop-ray-chen-and-the-tanglewood-music-center-orchestra

Sunday, August 16, 2026
7:00 PM

Tanglewood Music Center alum Marin Alsop leads the TMCO in Bruch’s First Violin Concerto, with soloist Ray Chen making his Tanglewood debut, as well as Anna Clyne’s Masquerade and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra 
Marin Alsop, conductor 
Ray Chen, violin 

Anna CLYNE Masquerade
Max BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 5

The BSO page is here https://www.bso.org/events/august-16-twd-music-ctr-orch?performance=2026-08-16-14:30 with links to performer bios and program notes.

I'll be listening to the Red Sox again this evening (Saturday), but the Pops concert of John Williams' music should be very pleasant. Sunday looks good too.

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.