Tanglewood — 2025/08/08-10

 A mix of the familiar,  the not-so-familiar, and the new is being presented tonight and Sunday, with two of the greatest string players of ouur time as soloists. In between, we can hear John Williams Film Night on Saturday. We turn once more to WCRB for the basics and the BSO page for fuller descriptions.

August 8, 2025

WCRB tells us: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-05-27/orozco-estrada-conducts-dvoraks-new-world-at-tanglewood

Friday, August 8, 2025
8:00 PM

Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Italy, makes his Tanglewood debut conducting Dvořák’s much-beloved Symphony No. 9, From the New World. The inimitable Joshua Bell, who has performed at Tanglewood every year since 1989, is the soloist in Lalo’s spirited Symphonie espagnole.

Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin

Édouard LALO Symphonie espagnole
Antonín DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9, From the New World

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

Now for the link to the orchestra's performance detail page:

https://www.bso.org/events/bso-august-8-joshua-bell?performance=2025-08-08-20%3A00

There you find links to the program notes. Among other things they note that the melody of the slow movement of the Dvořák is the composer's own invention, not a Negro spiritual.

August 9, 2025

Again we look to WCRB for the basics, as well as an interview with the composer which should be interesting reading: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-05-27/lockhart-leads-the-pops-in-john-williams-film-night

Saturday, August 9, 2025
8:00 PM

A cherished Tanglewood tradition, 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

Film Night!

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

In an interview with Brian McCreath from 2016, John Williams discusses what led him to become a composer, why conducting The Boston Pops is so special, and why he believes Star Wars resonates so profoundly with humanity. Listen with the audio player above, and follow the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT (Note: The Star Wars film discussed here is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, from 2015.):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall. I'm with John Williams, and it is a great pleasure to have the chance to speak with you, John.

Need I say more?

Here's the link to the performance detail page. There are no program notes for individual pieces, but you can find those for the performer bios.

https://www.bso.org/events/boston-pops-august-9?performance=2025-08-09-20%3A00

August 10, 2025

Sunday evening brings us the afternoon concert from Taanglewood, described here by WCRB: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-05-27/yo-yo-ma-samy-rachid-and-pepins-un-monde-nouveau-at-tanglewood

Sunday, August 10, 2025
7:00 PM

Following his highly acclaimed Tanglewood debut last summer, BSO Assistant Conductor Samy Rachid leads an exciting program featuring the American premiere of French composer Camille Pépin’s Un Monde nouveau, Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, and Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Yo-Yo Ma. It will be the first time that Ma performs this cello concerto at Tanglewood, the piece he performed with the Boston Pops in his 1971 Symphony Hall debut as a 15-year-old prodigy.

Samy Rachid, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Camille PÉPIN Un Monde nouveau (American premiere)
Camille SAINT-SÄENS Cello Concerto No. 1
Felix MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, Scottish

I highly recommend going to the performance detail page https://www.bso.org/events/bso-august-10-yo-yo-ma?performance=2025-08-10-14%3A30 and following the link to the notes for Un monde nouveau. I wonder why they didn't program the New  World Symphony on the same evening. Of course the other program notes are also worthwhile.

It promises to be an enjoyable weekend.

Tanglewood — 2024/08/17-18

 I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday I was distracted by the Red Sox game. I hope you thought about Tanglewood without my prompt. If you listened, you heard the Prokofiev Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, which should have been enjoyable. This evening at Tanglewood, they're giving "Jurassic Park in Concert." WCRB will rescue us from that with an "encore broadcast" from last summer. Here's their summary:

Saturday, August 17, 2024
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, Dutch pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen are the soloists in Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E minor, and Kazuki Yamada leads the BSO in the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz.

Kazuki Yamada, conductor
Lucas and Arthur Jussen, pianos

Felix MENDELSSOHN Concerto in E for two pianos and orchestra
Hector BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique

This concert was originally broadcast on August 6, 2023 and is no longer available on demand.

An "excellent choice," as some waiters seem to say regardless of what you ordered. I'd certainly rather hear this than Jurassic Park. Your opinion may differ.

The BSO's performance detail page no longer has the program notes for the concert, but the performer bios are still linked and could be interesting reading.

The Sunday concert looks quite good as well. Here's what WCRB says:

Sunday, August 18, 2024
7:00 PM

In a Boston Symphony concert from Tanglewood, Yo-Yo Ma is the soloist in Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto, and BSO Assistant Conductor Earl Lee leads the orchestra in Carlos Simon’s “Fate Now Conquers” and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Earl Lee, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Carlos SIMON Fate Now Conquers
Robert SCHUMANN Cello Concerto
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

To hear a preview of the concert and Earl Lee's reflections on his two years as a BSO Assistant Conductor, use the player above, and read the transcript below:

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at the Koussevitzky Music Shed with Earl Lee, here for his last concert as Assistant Conductor with the Boston Symphony. Earl, thank you for a little bit of your time today

As you see, there's an interview with the conductor which you can read or listen to. I read it, and it's pretty interesting. Hearing might be even better because you can hear what he sings at one point.

The orchestra's performance detail page gives the same basic information along with links to performer bios and program notes:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Earl Lee, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Carlos SIMON Fate Now Conquers
SCHUMANN Cello Concerto
-Intermission-
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

This afternoon’s concert is generously supported by Dr. Dorothy A. Weber, in memory of Stephen R. Weber.

This afternoon's performance by Yo-Yo Ma is generously supported by Nancy and Jay Nichols.

The program note for "Fate Now Conquers " is particularly informative. I'm looking forward to hearing it. Of course the rest of the concert is very popular repertory.

So there are two good concerts in store. Enjoy.

Tanglewood — 2024/07/05-07

 The BSO is back live at Tanglewood this weekend and WCRB is bringing us the concerts from the Music Shed as in previous years. Here's what we have to look forward to this weekend.

Here's WCRB's synopsis of tonight's concert:

Friday, July 5, 2024
8:00 PM

The 2024 Tanglewood season kicks off with a romantic tour de force: an all-Beethoven program headlined by violinist Gil Shaham in the composer’s Violin Concerto. Andris Nelsons also leads the BSO in the Symphony No. 3, the “Eroica” Symphony, an emotionally expansive piece that redefined what a symphony was by transforming the heroic journey into symphonic form.

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Gil Shaham, violin

ALL-BEETHOVEN program
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 3 Eroica

Clearly, this is a program worth hearing. I'll listen to this rather than the Red Sox game.

Tomorrow it will be the Boston Pops, rather than the BSO. Of course, there is considerable overlap in the rosters of the organizations. WCRB tells us:

Saturday, July 6, 2024
8:00 PM

Keith Lockhart leads the Pops and a cast of Broadway superstars in selections from such Tony-winning musicals as Hamilton, In the Heights, The Light in the Piazza, Kimberly Akimbo, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, The Band's Visit, and Dear Evan Hansen.

Boston Pops Orchestra
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Victoria Clark
Mandy Gonzalez
Joshua Henry
Darius de Haas
Bryce Pinkham
Scarlett Strallen
Jason Danieley, director
Georgia Stitt, music supervisor

Broadway Today!: Broadway’s Modern Masters

I'm not familiar with this music. Doubtless it will be very good, but I just might listen to the Sox instead.

On Sunday we get an "encore broadcast," described as follows by our friends at WCRB:

Sunday, July 7, 2024
7:00 PM

Christina and Michelle Naughton are the soloists in Poulenc’s firecracker Concerto for Two Pianos, and Earl Lee leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and “Pulse,” by Brian Raphael Nabors.

Earl Lee, conductor
Christina and Michelle Naughton, pianos

Brian Raphael NABORS Pulse
Francis POULENC Concerto in D minor for two pianos and orchestra
Felix MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, Scottish

This concert was originally broadcast on August 5, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

Hear an interview with Christina and Michelle Naughton, recorded at Symphony Hall in October 2021. https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2021-10-05/twin-dynamism-with-the-naughton-sisters

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

This is a bit of a surprise, since there is a live concert (all Strauss) on Sunday afternoon with the BSO and Renee Fleming under the baton of Andris Nelsons. But the rebroadcast should be good. For whatever reason, WCRB isn't telling us yet what they plan to do next week. While they play it close to the vest, we'll just have to wait and see if this is going to be normal operating procedure (I hope not.) or what our British cousins call a one off.

At any rste they're following their pattern from past years of broadcasting the Friday and Saturday concerts live at 8:00 p.m. and delaying the 2:30 Sunday concert to 7:00 p.m. Lenox Time.

BSO — 2024/02/03

 This is definitely a "must listen" concert. WCRB tells us the basics on their website:

Saturday, February 3, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, February 12

Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra welcome American violinist Randall Goosby, the youngest-ever winner of the Sphinx Concerto Competition, to Symphony Hall! Nelsons conducts Max Bruch’s spirited Violin Concerto No. 1 with Goosby as the soloist, as well as Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, the ReformationSymphony. The concert opens with the overture to the opera The Wreckers by celebrated early 20th century suffragette and composer Dame Ethel Smyth.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin

Dame Ethel SMYTH Overture to The Wreckers
Max BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1
Felix MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 5, Reformation

To hear Randall Goosby describe his history with Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1, what he learned while studying with Itzhak Perlman, and why he's passionate about music by Florence Price, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

To learn more about Ethel Smyth and Isabella Stewart Gardner, visit the Gardner Museum.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: 

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Randall Goosby, here with the Boston Symphony for the very first time. Randall, is it also your first time playing in Symphony Hall at all?

Randall Goosby It is. It's actually my first time stepping foot in Symphony Hall.

I was there for the Friday matinee performance, and it was all good listening. The Bruch and Mendelssohn are familiar pieces and pleasant to hear.(Of course the Reformation itself isn't my favorite thing, but Mendelssohn's symphony is good music.)  The Smyth. on the other hand is something I've never heard  before (and the BSO has never played). It's fascinating and quite musical, although in a style suitable for the story of the opera.

By all means check out the BSO performance detail page for the informative program note about the Overture to The Wreckers (as well as for the other information available). Here's their summary for the concert as a whole:

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Randall Goosby, violin

SMYTH Overture to The Wreckers 
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1
Intermission
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 5, Reformation

Saturday evening’s concert is in memory of Jane O’Keefe, supported by Cecilia O’Keefe.

Music Director Andris Nelsons opens the program with the overture to the 1906 opera The Wreckers by Dame Ethel Smyth, a composer and suffragist who was one of England’s leading musicians of her time. American violinist Randall Goosby, the youngest-ever winner of the Sphinx Concerto Competition, makes his BSO debut with Max Bruch’s spirited Violin Concerto No. 1. The program closes with Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, composed in 1830 as part of celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The music quotes the familiar hymn “Ein feste Burg,” a link to Reformation leader Martin Luther. 

On February 2 the Friday Preview will be given by Marc Mandel, former BSO Director of Program Publications, at 12:15pm. Admission included with ticket.

Friday's concert will end around 3:15pm, and Saturday's concert will end around 9:45pm.

I can't find a review in the Globe, but there's a favorable one in the Intelligencer, concentrating on the violinist, who was quite good.

Even the familiar music seemed fresh. I also noticed several fresh faces. The contrabassonist looked to be in his twenties, and his low notes were clearly audible . There looked like a couple of new players in the second row of the double basses, and I don't remember seeing the female trombonist. There were also a couple of unfamiliar horn players. Sometime I should look at the orcheedstra's online personnel page to find out a bit about them, but at any rate there's always some change going on as the older members retire and new ones are brought in.

This is a concert well worth hearing. Don't forget the rebroadcast on February 12.

Tanglewood — 2023/08/05-06

 Oops! I Did(n't) it again. I hope you check out WCRB on Friday evenings even if I've neglected to post about the concert. Here's a bit about the rest of the weekend. First for this evening:

Saturday, August 5th, 2023
8:00 PM

A cherished Tanglewood tradition, John Williams’ Film Night returns with the Boston Pops! John Williams and David Newman conduct cinematic classics and music from Williams’s own astonishing catalog.

John Williams and David Newman, conductors
BU Tanglewood Institute Chorus

John Williams’ Film Night

The BSO page gives us more detail:

John Williams and David Newman, conductors
BU Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Vocal Program
 Penelope Bitzas, director
 Katie Woolf, conductor

A cherished Tanglewood tradition, John Williams’ Film Night returns with the Boston Pops, along with Maestros Williams and Newman sharing the podium for a memorable program of film clips and music from the silver screen. It’s a special evening of movie magic that you won’t want to miss.

WHITING, Arr. John WILLIAMS Hooray for Hollywood!
WILLIAMS The Cowboys
HERRMANN Scène d’amour from Vertigo
WILLIAMS Suite from Far and Away
WILLIAMS Theme from Jurassic Park
WILLIAMS Love Theme and March from Superman
WILLIAMS Selections from Star Wars:
 The Asteroid Field
 Anakin’s Theme
 Throne Room & Finale

Then tomorrow evening WCRB says we'll be able to hear this program recorded Sunday afternoon:

Sunday, August 6th, 2023
7:00 PM

Dutch pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen are the soloists in Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E minor, and Kazuki Yamada leads the BSO in the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz.

Kazuki Yamada, conductor
Lucas and Arthur Jussen, pianos

Felix MENDELSSOHN Concerto in E for two pianos and orchestra
Hector BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique

The BSO page has a link to some information about the Berlioz piece:

Kazuki Yamada, conductor
Lucas and Arthur Jussen, pianos

MENDELSSOHN Concerto in E for two pianos and orchestra
Intermission
BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique

Gates open at 12pm

This program is supported by the Dutch Culture USA program of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York and has received funding through a grant from the Netherland-America Foundation.

If you like John Williams, tonight's show is one you won't want to miss. The Sunday concert should be quite enjoyable.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/06/10

 More from last summer at Tanglewood:

Saturday, June 10, 2023
8:00 PM

Dima Slobodeniouk leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in music by Dutilleux and Debussy, as well as Ravel’s “Mother Goose,” and Leonidas Kavakos is the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin

Henri DUTILLEUX Métaboles
Felix MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
Claude DEBUSSY Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun 
Maurice RAVEL Mother Goose (complete)

This concert was originally broadcast on August 13, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

From the performance detail page:

The Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Memorial Concert

Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk returns to Tanglewood and is joined by violinist Leonidas Kavakos in Felix Mendelssohn’s buoyant Violin Concerto, one of the most popular works in the genre. Henri Dutilleux’s 1964 Métabolesfeatures the French composer’s intricately imaginative scoring and his innovative, organic approach to form. Claude Debussy’s revolutionary Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun, a contemplation of a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, is one of the clearest sources of 20th-century musical modernism. Maurice Ravel composed his Mother Goose for a friend’s children to play on piano, but its incisive character sketches and the brilliant orchestral canvas he later created make it a satisfying piece for any listener.

Enjoy.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/05/27

 While we await the opening of the BSO 2023 season at Tanglewood, WCRB continues with encore broadcasts from Tanglewood 2022. https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2022-06-13/twin-vivacity-with-the-naughtons-at-tanglewood

Saturday, May 27, 2023
8:00 PM

Christina and Michelle Naughton are the soloists in Poulenc’s firecracker Concerto for Two Pianos, and Earl Lee leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and “Pulse,” by Brian Raphael Nabors.

Earl Lee, conductor
Christina and Michelle Naughton, pianos

Brian Raphael NABORS Pulse
Francis POULENC Concerto in D minor for two pianos and orchestra
Felix MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, Scottish

This concert was originally broadcast on August 5, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

Hear an interview with Christina and Michelle Naughton, recorded at Symphony Hall in October 2021.

I was coming home from my visit to PEI so I didn't post about the concert last August 5, although I did post about the Saturday and Sunday concerts that weekend. Here's a link to the BSO performance detail page, which has the usual links to program notes etc. and synopsizes the show as follows:

BSO Assistant Conductor Earl Lee makes his BSO debut, joined by the virtuosic piano duo of twins Christina and Michelle Naughton in their Tanglewood debuts performing Francis Poulenc’s impish neoclassical Concerto for Two Pianos. American composer Brian Raphael Nabors’ exciting and rhapsodic Pulse reflects on the varieties of experience that we might encounter every day. Felix Mendelssohn found inspiration for his intensely Romantic Symphony No. 3 on a trip to Scotland in 1829. Composed a decade later, it was his last completed symphony.

The review in the Intelligencer mistakenly attributes the concert to Saturday evening. It describes the Nabors and Poulenc pieces more than speaking about the quality of the performance, The reviewer was unenthusiastic about how the Mendelssohn was played. The Globe review of the weekend was happier.

All in all, it seems worth listening to.

Tanglewood — 2022/08/13-14

 Once again, I failed to postabout the Friday concert at Tanglewood. This time it wasn't because I was doing lots of other things. I just clean forgot. I'm afraid that with my Fridays away, I haven't gotten into a rhythm of producing posts on Friday. Not only did I clean forget to post, I also clean forget to listen.

Saturday, August 13, 2022. Per WCRB:

Saturday, August 13, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, Dima Slobodeniouk leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in music by Dutilleux and Debussy, as well as Ravel’s “Mother Goose,” and Leonidas Kavakos is the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin

Henri DUTILLEUX Métaboles
Felix MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
Claude DEBUSSY Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun 
Maurice RAVEL Mother Goose (complete)

All standard repertory, except for the Dutilleux, which I'm not familiar with. But some of his stuff has been pretty good, IRC.

Here's what the BSO says about it:

Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk returns to Tanglewood and is joined by violinist Leonidas Kavakos in Felix Mendelssohn’s buoyant Violin Concerto, one of the most popular works in the genre. Henri Dutilleux’s 1964 Métaboles features the French composer’s intricately imaginative scoring and his innovative, organic approach to form. Claude Debussy’s revolutionary Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun, a contemplation of a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, is one of the clearest sources of 20th-century musical modernism. Maurice Ravel composed his Mother Goose for a friend’s children to play on piano, but its incisive character sketches and the brilliant orchestral canvas he later created make it a satisfying piece for any listener.

All in all, I think this should be worth listening to.

Sunday, August 14, 2022. Again, WCRB summarizes:

Sunday, August 14, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Sunday at 7pm, Yo-Yo Ma returns to the Boston Symphony’s summer home as the soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, and Cristian Măcelaru conducts works by Debussy and Ensecu, as well as Anna Clyne’s “Masquerade.”

Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Anna CLYNE Masquerade 
Edward ELGAR Cello Concerto
Claude DEBUSSY La Mer 
George ENESCU Romanian Rhapsody No. 1

As on Saturday, it's standard repertory except for the first piec, and I can't even give a generality about the composer.

The BSO performance detail page gives the following:

Romanian conductor Cristian Măcelaru, a 2010 Tanglewood Music Center Fellow, makes his BSO debut. Masquerade, by the U.S.-based English composer Anna Clyne, evokes the unique milieu of mid-18th-century London promenade concerts; this is the BSO’s first performance of Clyne’s music. Tanglewood favorite Yo-Yo Ma joins for Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, one of the English composer’s final works, in part a profoundly lyrical meditation on a world in turmoil after the devastation of World War I. Claude Debussy’s La Mer—a work given its American premiere by the BSO in 1907—is virtually a three-movement symphony miraculously depicting in music the changing states of the sea and sun over the course of a day. Closing the concert is Romanian composer Georges Enescu, one of the 20th-century’s greatest musicians. His familiar Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, based on his country’s folk music, is a delightful and finely wrought staple of Pops orchestras.

For more info, you can check out the program note linked on the BSO page.

Tanglewood — 2022/07/30-31

 My apologies for not posting yesterday. For me this was going to be the highlight weekend of the summer: all five Beethoven piano concertod performed over the course of the three concerts. But then I was so distracted by serving on the Race Committee yeaterday, the Red Sox game in the evening and preparations for a trip that I never thought of Tanglewood until after the game was over, and I said to myself, "Darn! I forgot to lidten to the Tanglewood concert." In addition to the Beethoven, they are giving performances of works by women composers to open each program. On Friday, the Beethoven was Concertos Nos. 2 and 3. I'm sorry to have missed them and sorry not to have called your attention to them.

Saturday, July 30, 2022. Here's WCRB's synopsis:

Saturday, July 30, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, Paul Lewis is the soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 4, and Andris Nelsons leads the world premiere of the orchestral version of Caroline Shaw’s “Punctum.”

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano

Caroline SHAW Punctum (world premiere of orchestral version; BSO commission)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4

For further information, including links to the program notes, see the BSO performance detail page. They summarize it with the following blurb:

Andris Nelsons and English pianist Paul Lewis collaborate on the second of three concerts encompassing all five of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano concertos in one weekend. Each of these concerts opens with a BSO co-commissioned piece by an American woman. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s Punctum, originally for string quartet, is a meditation on a brief moment in J.S. Bach’s St. MatthewPassion. Beethoven’s First Concerto (actually composed later than No. 2) is strongly anchored in the Viennese Classicism of Wolfgang Mozart and Joseph Haydn. The Fourth Concerto, written at the same time as Beethoven’s opera Leonore, is in the composer’s warm, lyrical style, but also makes room for brilliant virtuosity.

I can't tell you anything about "punctum," but the program notes will. Of course, the piano concertos are well worth hearing.

Sunday, July 31, 2022. Sunday at 7:00 p.m we get the following, as WCRB tells us:

Sunday, July 31, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Sunday at 7pm, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony in the world premiere of "Starling Variations," by Elizabeth Ogonek, as well as Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3 and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, with soloist Paul Lewis.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano

Elizabeth OGONEK Starling Variations (world premiere; BSO co-commission)
Louise FARRENC Symphony No. 3
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor 

Further information, including links to the program notes, can be found at the orchestra's performance detail page:

Andris Nelsons and English pianist Paul Lewis collaborate on the third of three concerts encompassing all five of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano concertos in one weekend. Each of these concerts opens with a BSO co-commissioned piece by an American woman. Elizabeth Ogonek was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 2012. She has been a composer in residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also been commissioned by the BBC, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra. The French composer Louise Farrenc was one of the most accomplished musicians of the early Romantic era—an outstanding pianist, composer, and teacher. She wrote her Third Symphony in 1847. Completed in 1811, Beethoven’s Emperor was his final concerto, a work perfectly balancing virtuosity with substance and depth and epitomizing the composer’s “heroic” period.

I'm sure I'm not alone in considering the "Emperor" (a name not given to it by Beethoven, but still fitting) the greatest piano concerto of all time. My freshman college roommate had a recording of it which he played every Sunday. I never got tired of it.

I won't be able to post next Friday, so here's WCRB's scoop on August 5, 2022.

Friday, August 5, 2022
8:00 PM

Friday at 8pm, Christina and Michelle Naughton are the soloists in Poulenc’s firecracker Concerto for Two Pianos, and Earl Lee leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and “Pulse,” by Brian Raphael Nabors.

Earl Lee, conductor
Christina and Michelle Naughton, pianos

Brian Raphael NABORS Pulse
Francis POULENC Concerto in D minor for two pianos and orchestra
Felix MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, Scottish 

The BSO adds:

BSO Assistant Conductor Earl Lee makes his BSO debut, joined by the virtuosic piano duo of twins Christina and Michelle Naughton in their Tanglewood debuts performing Francis Poulenc’s impish neoclassical Concerto for Two Pianos. American composer Brian Raphael Nabors’ exciting and rhapsodic Pulse reflects on the varieties of experience that we might encounter every day. Felix Mendelssohn found inspiration for his intensely Romantic Symphony No. 3 on a trip to Scotland in 1829. Composed a decade later, it was his last completed symphony.

While it's not at the pinnacle of Beethoven, the Mendelsohn symphony is quite good, IMO. The BSO gave a performance of the Poulenc concerto with the Jussen brothers on piano in September 2019. At the time I wrote, "The Poulenc concerto was enjoyable to listen to. Unfortunately over the radio you probably won't be able to tell which one is playing — which was a good part of the enjoyment — but it should be okay as a strictly aural experience." For information about "Pulse," I refer you to the program notes via the link on the performance detail page for next Friday"

So I recommend it overall, even though I can't say more about "Pulse" than, "Why not give it a try?"

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/06/11

 WCRB tells us:

Saturday, June 11, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, BSO Principal Clarinetist William R. Hudgins is the soloist in Mozart’s timeless Clarinet Concerto, and Roderick Cox leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Roderick Cox, conductor
William R. Hudgins, clarinet

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART Clarinet Concerto
Felix MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, Scottish

This concert is no longer available on demand.

Interview With Roderick Cox

Interview With William R. Hudgins

Hear a preview with Roderick Cox, including his approach to Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Sym 

This is the concert of November 13, 2011. I wrote favorably about it back then, and I have no reason to change my recommendation. I presume the links to the reviews still work, so give it a listen.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/03/19

The BSO went "on tour " to New York and will be away today and next week. As usual, WCRB is filling the time with "Encore broadcasts. This evening it's the concert given at Tanglewood on July 18, 2021. Here's the scoop from WCRB:

Saturday, March 19, and Monday, March 28, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, in an encore broadcast from the 2021 Tanglewood season, Gil Shaham returns to the Berkshires as the soloist in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in pieces by the storied musical sibling pair Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin

MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL Overture in C
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 3
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 5, Reformation

This concert was originally performed on July 18, 2021.

Learn more about this concert and listen to interviews at the Tanglewood Learning Institute online.

All good listening. They'll also give us the rebroadcast Monday week, as it says.

I can't find the program notes from the concert on the BSO page. I posted about it in advance of the concert, and didn't have anything worth trying to track down now.

The Intelligencer didn't have a review. In the Globe, there is a review covering both July 17 and July 18. It focuses on the former. When it gets around to this concert, it is unenthusiastic, mildly critical on a few points. I don't think it should induce you to avoid the show.

So I give it my "thumbs up." Enjoy!