BSO — 2025/11/22

 Unfamiliar music forms the first part of this evening's concert, a recent composition followed by a largely unknown concerto from mid 20th Century. Neither is too tough to take (at least for me). After intermission we get something much more familiar. Here's what WCRB has on their website: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-10/joshua-bell-the-bso-and-de-hartmanns-violin-concerto

Saturday, November 22, 2025
8:00 PM

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Handler leads the rarely heard Violin Concerto by Thomas de Hartmann, with soloist Joshua Bell. The program also spotlights two works of vivid storytelling: Grace-Evangeline Mason’s 2021 work The Imagined Forest and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Anna Handler, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin

Grace-Evangeline MASON The Imagined Forest
Thomas DE HARTMANN Violin Concerto
Modest MUSSORGSKY (orch. RAVEL) Pictures at an Exhibition

In an interview with CRB's Brian McCreath, Anna Handler describes the experience of being called to step in to conduct this program on short notice, her trust in colleagues both within the BSO and from the wider musical world, and her fascination with Ravel's orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

Learn more about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 season on their site.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Anna Handler, who is our conductor for the Boston Symphony this week, which wasn't the case a week ago or so, but Anna, thank you for your time today. I appreciate it.

Anna Handler Thank you for having me. It's a very, very interesting and exciting moment in my development and my life right now.

Brian McCreath And the reason for that is that the originally scheduled conductor couldn't be here because of an injury apparently. But here you are

The interview is quite interesting as it goes on to tell of the circumstances of the confuctor's learning that she would have to confuct rehearsals as well as the concert performances, and how she scrambled to be reaady.

The BSO performance detail page gives us the following, with links to performer bios and program notes: https://www.bso.org/events/nov-20-22-mason-hartm-mussor?performance=2025-11-22-20:00

Boston Symphony Orchestra Anna Handler, conductor Joshua Bell, violin Grace-Evangeline MASON The Imagined Forest  DE HARTMANN Violin Concerto       intermissionMUSSORGSKY (orch. RAVEL) Pictures at an Exhibition  

Violin superstar Joshua Bell performs Thomas de Hartmann’s Violin Concerto, a rediscovered gem full of drama, technical virtuosity, and beautiful motifs. Grace-Evangeline Mason’s The Imagined Forest takes the audience on a journey through the fantasy, folklore, and danger of the woodlands. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with its distinct storytelling, hilarious characters, and epic finale, unfolds like a vivid musical gallery, each movement painting a scene. BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Handler leads this program in her Symphony Hall debut. 

I was at the Friday afternoon concert and found the music of the first half quite tolerable, even if I wouldn't have imagined a forest listening to the first piece. Joshua Bell was outstanding in the concerto, at times playing so softly I could just barely hear him in the back of the auditorium.

The Globe reviewer https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/22/arts/bso-anna-handler-joshua-bell/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results was very pleased. There is no review yet in the Intelligencer.

In some ways, this is a major event. In other ways, it is second tier, but still very good, music exceptionally well performed. I definitely think it's worth a listen.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/09/02

 The "encore broadcasts" continue. This week we get a chance to hear the concert of November 26, 2022. Here's the description from WCRB:

In an encore broadcast, BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina conducts the suite from Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Inon Barnatan is the soloist in the crown-jewel of Rachmaninoff’s works, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano

Elena LANGER Figaro Gets a Divorce Suite
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Modest MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

This concert was originally broadcast on November 26th, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, pianist Inon Barnatan describes his love for Rachmaninoff's music, how the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is unique among the composer's works for piano, and what he's learned as Music Director of the La Jolla SummerFest. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Inon Barnatan, who is back with the BSO for the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, one of my favorite pieces by Rachmaninoff, and so, Inon, thanks a lot for your

I wrote about it at the time, and the links in my post still work, so you can go there to read the review in the Intelligencer — unimpressed by the Langer, enthusiastic for the Rachmaninoff, and finding fault with the Mussorgsky. You can also see the program notes which are available at the BSO's performance detail page. The explanation of the pictures might make the Mussorgsky more understandable. The Globe ended up publishing a favorable review a few days after I posted.

So there you have it: two familiar pieces, one very well performed, after a newish item that's no great shucks. If my brother weren't going to call at the time, I'd be tempted to listen to the Rachmaninoff "Rhapsody," and follow the Red Sox game before and after that, but I don't think it'd be a big mistake to listen to the wole thing.

BSO — 2022/11/26

 The orchestra is back from Japan. WCRB tells us what they'll play for our entertainment this evening:

Saturday, November 26, 2022
8:00 PM

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina conducts the suite from Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Inon Barnatan is the soloist in the crown-jewel of Rachmaninoff’s works, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano

Elena LANGER Figaro Gets a Divorce Suite
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Modest MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, pianist Inon Barnatan describes his love for Rachmaninoff's music, how the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is unique among the composer's works for piano, and what he's learned as Music Director of the La Jolla SummerFest. To listen, used the player above, or read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Inon Barnatan, who is back with the BSO for the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, one of my

As usual, if you go to their page you can find a link to the audio of the interview as well as the full transcript.

The BSO' own performance detail page gives the following blurb as well as links to the program notes that are in the booklets given to the audience:

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina leads pianist Inon Barnatan in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s last piano-and-orchestra work, featuring both astonishing virtuoso passages and Rachmaninoff’s best-known melody. The orchestral suite from composer Elena Langer’s witty and touching opera Figaro Gets a Divorce is by turns mysterious, songful, and jazzy. Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, orchestrated brilliantly by Maurice Ravel, is a magical response to marvelous paintings.

As the program note informs us, the "Figaro Gets a Divorce" Suite was performed at Tanglewood in 2021. I think I heard it then, and I seem to remember it was okay, but nothing to write home about. The other two pieces on the program are "warhorses."

The Intelligencer has a mixed review of Friday's performance. I can't find a review in the Globe.

Well, the Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff pieces have stood the test of time (even if they aren't the greatest thing since sliced bread), so you might as well listen to them. Nothing there to drive you screaming from the room.

I hope there will be a rebroadcast at 8:00 p.m. on December 5. There usually is a retransmission when it's a live concert on a Saturday, although they don't actually promise it this time. We'll see.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/10/24

 This week WCRB gives us the concert of October 24, 2015, which I wrote about as follows:

This week it's members of the wind and string sections of the BSOperforming three pieces by Dvořák. Here's what the orchestra's performance detail page has to say about it:

The BSO's wind and string families perform conductor-less in this program of three works by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. The five-movement Serenade for Strings, is one of the composer's most familiar and popular pieces. In much the same vein of elegant entertainment is the Wind Serenade. The lesser-known but gorgeous Nocturne began life as the slow movement of a string quartet; its six-minute span is one of nearly unbroken melody.

(Some emphasis added.)

As always, that page has links to program notes, audio previews, and a podcast about the concert, but no performer bio this week: if you click on the thumbnail photo of the orchestra, you just get a larger photo. You'll note that once more the performance detail writer has taken the pieces out of the order in which they'll be performed. First it'll be the winds, then the Nocturne, and the String Serenade to conclude.

This program is only being given once, on Saturday, so there are no reviews of earlier performances since there were no earlier performances. But Dvořák isn't too tough to take, so I'm sure you'll find it enjoyable if you listen over the air or on line to WCRB at 8:00 p.m.

(Edited for relevance.)

To that they will add a performance of the Mussorgsky "Pictures at an Exhibition" which was part of a concert given on September 24, 2016. Here are the relevant parts of what I wrote back then:

It's opening night at Symphony, and they are giving an all-Russian program — a fairly short one, maybe because there are post-concert celebrations for the musicians and audience to get to (just my guess). The orchestra's performance detail page furnishes this description:

… The great orchestral showpiece Pictures at an Exhibition-Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's solo-piano impressions of a series of paintings and illustrations-closes the program. Ravel made this famous orchestration for legendary BSO conductor Serge Koussevitzky.

…

(Some emphasis added.)

The performance detail page also has links to a podcast featuring Maestro Nelsons, program notes, brief audio previews of the music, and performer bios (click on the thumbnail photo).

Since this is opening night, there are no reviews to link.…As for the "Pictures at an Exhibition," it must be good because so many people like it and it's so often performed. IMO, apart from "The Great Gate of Kiev," it's all quite forgettable, although it may well be very good as musical representation of the pictures in question. By the time they start playing, my brother's weekly phone call from Japan will be in progress, so I won't have to listen. Of course, it's always possible that this will be a performance for the ages, and all who hear it will count themselves among the blessed of the world. So, don't miss it.

If you can't get there, you can hear it over the radio or the internet via WCRB. Within radio range, tune in 99.5 or one of the other stations listed under the Ways to Listen tab. Outside the listening area, click the Listen Live button on the home page. The show begins at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.

Enjoy.

The Intelligencer was very pleased with the performance of the Mussorgsky, and the Globe raved. I can't find a review of the Dvořák concert in either of them, but, as I said at the time, his music is usually pretty good.

So I recommend listening in to WCRB at 8:00, EDST.

BSO — 2016/10/15

This week the Boston Symphony concert which WCRB will broadcast and stream at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 15, and replay on Monday, October 24, consists of four works by eastern European composers. The orchestra's performance detail page provides some specifics, along woth the usual links to background information.

The Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša, making his BSO debut, is joined by acclaimed German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann for Béla Bartók's scintillating Violin Concerto No. 2, a 1938 work strongly influenced by Central European folk music. The other three works on the program are based on Slavic myth and legend. Smetana's Šárka, a tone poem from his large cycle Má Vlast ("My Country"), is named for a legendary Czech maiden warrior and illustrates an episode from her life. Mussorgsky's famously scary Night on Bald Mountain (depicted in Disney's Fantasia) seems to have originated in plans for an unrealized opera on the subject of a witches' sabbath, in part inspired by the great Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. Based on a Gogol novella, Janáček's 1918 orchestral rhapsody Taras Bulba is one of his most familiar works-but has never been performed by the BSO.

(Some emphasis added. As is often the case, this note mixes up the order of the pieces. Šarka is first, followed by the concerto. After intermission, it's Mussorgsky and Janáček, as stated.)

This concert wasn't part of my subscription, so I can't give you my impressions, but the reviews were favorable. The Globe's reviewer was very happy with how Maestro Hrůša conducted the pieces but not entirely satisfied with Mr. Zimermann's playing in the outer movements of the Bartók. The Boston Musical Intelligencer thought Mr. Zimmermann was fine (but found minor fault with the woodwinds in the concerto). The reviewer was also pleased with the playing and the conducting in the remaining pieces. He did, however, wish that the conductor had chosen Mussorgsky's own, "raw" version of his piece over Rimsky-Korsakov's tamer orchestration. He was also displeased with the nationalism of the Janáček — not a musical complaint, but still one which a listener to a narrative piece of music is entitled to have.

I'm looking forward to hearing this concert this evening, and catching up on what I miss during my brother's phone call when it's rebroadcast and streamed on the 24th. It should make for an exciting evening of music. Listen over WCRB, and consult their specialized pages for the remaining broadcast/webstream schedule as well as links to other background material, such as their own weekly podcast.

BSO — 2016/09/24

It's opening night at Symphony, and they are giving an all-Russian program — a fairly short one, maybe because there are post-concert celebrations for the musicians and audience to get to (just my guess). The orchestra's program detail page furnishes this description:

For this all-Russian program, superstar Chinese pianist Lang Lang joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO as soloist in Sergei Prokofiev's brilliant, witty Piano Concerto No. 3. The composer himself was soloist in the premiere in front of an unenthusiastic Chicago audience in 1921, but in short order this sparkling, virtuosic piece became one of the most popular of 20th-century concertos. Opening the concert is the celebratory Festive Overture of Dmitri Shostakovich, who wrote this short, exciting piece for the Bolshoi Theatre to mark the 37th anniversary of the Soviet Revolution. The great orchestral showpiece Pictures at an Exhibition-Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's solo-piano impressions of a series of paintings and illustrations-closes the program. Ravel made this famous orchestration for legendary BSO conductor Serge Koussevitzky.

Join us at 5pm for a celebratory pre-concert reception and a complimentary glass of wine or champagne.

(Some emphasis added.)

The program detail page also has links to a podcast featuring Maestro Nelsons, program notes, brief audio previews of the music, and performer bios (click on the thumbnail photo).

Since this is opening night, there are no reviews to link. I don't think I've ever heard the Shostaovich overture; I'm interested to hear it. I've probably heard the Prokofiev, but I couldn't quote any of the tunes, and I'm also looking forward to hearing it as an opportunity to get to know it (better). As for the "Pictures at an Exhibition," it must be good because so many people like it and it's so often performed. IMO, apart from "The Great Gate of Kiev," it's all quite forgettable, although it may well be very good as musical representation of the pictures in question. By the time they start playing, my brother's weekly phone call from Japan will be in progress, so I won't have to listen. Of course, it's always possible that this will be a performance for the ages, and all who hear it will count themselves among the blessed of the world. So, don't miss it.

If you can't get there, you can hear it over the radio or the internet via WCRB. Within radio range, tune in 99.5 or one of the other stations listed under the Ways to Listen tab. Outside the listening area, click the Listen Live button on the home page. The show begins at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.

For the schedule of broadcasts/webstreams for the rest of the season, see the Upcoming BSO Broadcasts page(s).

Enjoy opening night and the rest of the season.

BSO — December Hiatus — 2015/12/12

WCRB continues their BSO programming during December with another "encore broadcast" and stream of a concert from last summer's Tanglewood season. This week, it's the concert of Sunday, August 9. The orchestra's performance detail page, which is still available with its usual links, has this to say about it:

Longtime Tanglewood favorite Joshua Bell joins [Conductor Charles] Dutoit for a performance of the Glazunov Violin Concerto, on a program which includes Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and one of the BSO's signature works, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.

(Some emphasis added.)

The order of performance is Mussorgsky, Glazunov, Berlioz, with the intermission before the Berlioz.

There is no review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Boston Globe's is archived, and I don't know if it will be accessible to non-subscribers via my link. (It probably won't be, but the Globe website will probably allow an archive search. If so, search for Glazunov in August, 2015.) At any rate, the reviewer liked the Mussorgsky and Berlioz performances, giving particular credit to orchestral soloists in the former. He was also happy that Joshua Bell had chosen the Glazunov concerto but added an incomprehensible remark about how Bell approaches and performs pieces: "Some soloists fold their personalities into the work at hand as if to animate it from within. Bell belongs to a second camp who seem, whether intentionally or not, to inflect every work with their own image."

You can listen to it at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, and again on Monday the 28th. The interval between the two is a week longer than usual because Holiday Pops will occupy both the Saturday and Monday slots next weekend. You may also want to check out WCRB's BSO page for additional scheduling information and links to interviews etc.

Tanglewood — 2015/08/07-09

This weekend brings some music that's less familiar than much of the past weekend's programming, but I think only one piece will be new to me.


Friday, August 7.   The BSO program detail page has this to say about the Friday evening concert:

Audience favorite Charles Dutoit leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and Stravinsky's Petrushka (1911 version), on a program with Sibelius's Violin Concerto, with soloist Leonidas Kavakos.

(Some emphasis added.)
As I write this there are links on the detail page to program notes and audio previews for the Sibelius and the Stravinsky, as well as for performer bios (click on the photos), but nothing so far for the Ravel. If I see anything before I publish this post, I'll revise the above.

Presumably the Sibelius is after the Ravel and before intermission.


Saturday, August 8.  The Saturday concert is a single work — Symphony No. 8 by Mahler — with Andris Nelsons on the podium. The orchestra will not be the BSO but the Tanglewood Music Center orchestra. They will be joined by eight singing soloists and three choruses, all listed on the program detail page (click on photos for further info about each). Here's the description from that page:

 BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons will conduct Mahler's Symphony no. 8 along with the  Tanglewood Festival Chorus, BUTI Chorus, and the American Boychoir. Special guests include Erin Wall, Christine Goerke, Lioba Braun, Jane Henschel, Klaus Florian Vogt, Matthias Goerne, and Ain Anger.
Mezzo-soprano  Lioba Braun, who was scheduled to sing the role of Mulier Samaritana in this performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, under the direction of Andris Nelsons, has canceled her appearance due to a back injury which prevents her from traveling.  Mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura will now sing the role of Mulier Samaritana.

(Emphasis added.)


Sunday, August 9.  The BSO and Maestro Dutoit return to the stage on Sunday, together with Joshua Bell as violin soloist for a program described as follows on the performance detail page:

Longtime Tanglewood favorite Joshua Bell joins Mr. Dutoit for a performance of the Glazunov Violin Concerto, on a program which includes Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and one of the BSO's signature works, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.

(Some emphasis added.)

The usual links are available, except that there is nothing yet about the Glazunov concerto, which, despite being mentioned first in the blurb, seems to be scheduled to be played after the Mussorgsky. The lack of preview material is unfortunate, since the Glaznov is the least known of the scheduled works.


As usual, the concerts can be heard at 8:30, 8:30, and 2:30 p.m., respectively, over WCRB. (Times are EDT.) The station has a page which gives information about future broadcasts and links to BSO-related material.

December Hiatus — 2015/01/03

The "December Hiatus" includes the first weekend of January. WCRB's Boston Symphony page describes Saturday's rebroadcast/stream as follows:

Pianist Behzod Abduraimov is the soloist in Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Charles Dutoit conducts Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, recorded at Symphony Hall in April of 2014.

(Some emphasis added.)

Go to that page also for links to interviews, the schedule for the remainder of the Symphony season broadcasts, and information about concerts available on demand.

The Monday evening broadcast/webstream will repeat last Saturday's Strauss/Rachmaninoff/Ravel concert from last summer at Tanglewood.

The shows begin at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.

BSO — 2014/11/25-29

This week's Boston Symphony concerts are the last before January. December is taken up by Holiday Pops. The program looked to me like something of a filler, but the reviews are telling me it's really worth hearing. Leonidas Kavakos is conductor and violin soloist in music of Bartók, Haydn, and Mussorgsky. Here's the description of the program from the orchestra's performance detail page:

The Greek-born violin virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos returns to the BSO as both soloist and conductor in Béla Bartók's Two Portraits for violin and orchestra, which the BSO has never performed. The yearning Portrait No. 1 is an arrangement of the first movement of the composer's first, long-suppressed violin concerto; the brief second Portrait is an arrangement of a quick, waltzing piano bagatelle. Kavakos also leads Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 82 in C, The Bear, one of the six so-called "Paris" symphonies he wrote in the mid-1780s for that city as his international reputation grew. Its nickname, not the composer's own, apparently comes from the droning figure at the start of the finale, which suggested, to a later arranger, music for a dancing bear. Completing the program is Ravel's familiar arrangement of Mussorgsky's kaleidoscopic Pictures at an Exhibition, a suite of highly characterized musical reactions to fantastical paintings.

(Some emphasis added)
Go to that page also for links to audio and written material about the music and performer bio for Maestro Kavakos. There was a very favorable review in this (Thursday) morning's Boston Globe, but I can't find it on the internet version of the paper. The review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer is mixed, but very favorable toward the final movement of the Haydn, and enthusiastic, as was the Globe, for the Mussorgsky.

In the light of the reviews, I'm looking forward to it all. I should be able to hear the Bartók and Haydn during WCRB's live broadcast on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., before my brother's weekly call from Japan. The Mussorgsky will have to wait for the rebroadcast on Monday, December 8, also at 8:00. If you're outside the broadcast area, you can listen over the web. The station's BSO page has links to an interview with Maestro Kavakos about the concert and to material about other concerts as well as the season BSO broadcast schedule. As noted above this is the final concert until January. At this point, I don't know what will fill the time slots between December 8 and January 10. Past practice would suggest they'll be rebroadcasting concerts from Tanglewood or prior years, but we'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to this one.

Tanglewood — 2012/07/27-29

Since I'll be away later this week, I'm trying to schedule this to post on Thursday.

July 27.  The weekend begins with the Friday evening concert at 8:30. The BSO website only tells us what is on the program and links the program notes. But if you put your cursor on a picture, a pop-up box identifies the artist; and if you click on the picture, you get the artist's bio. It turns out the conductor is Marcelo Lehninger, and the pianist is Nelson Freire.

MOZART - Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K.466
VILLA-LOBOS - Momoprecoce, Fantasy for piano and orchestra
MUSSORGSKY (orch. RAVEL) - Pictures at an Exhibition

For Classical New England's preview material go to their BSO Tanglewood page, and scroll down to the weekend of July 27-29.




July 28.  Saturday night brings, per the website

BERLIOZ - La Damnation de Faust

Charles Dutoit conducts. You can check the website page for the singers and choruses. Not much at Classical New England's website for this one. Maybe more will come later.




July 29.  The Sunday matinee at 2:30 brings Charles Dutoit and Emmanuel Ax in the following program:

BEETHOVEN - Piano Concerto No. 3
TCHAIKOVSKY - Symphony No. 5

The BSO website is here. The CNE website (link above) has a preview of the Tchaikovsky.




Ron Della Chiesa's "pre-game show" begins a half hour before each concert, and for the hour before that they give something called "Tanglewood Today" with recordings that somehow relate to Tanglewood. As always, the webstream is at http://www.wgbh.org/995/ and the broadcasts on 99.5 FM.


Enjoy!

BSO — 2011/03/10-12; Met 03/12

As I write, the Met is broadcasting Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov." If you read this soon enough, you can catch some of it on the web over WHRB.

This evening the BSO is giving Symphony No. 93 by Haydn, Bela Bartók's Third Piano Concerto, and, after intermission, the Beethoven 5th Symphony. Guest conductor is Roberto Abbado, and Peter Serkin is the pianist.

I heard the performance on Thursday evening and really enjoyed it. In retrospect, I guess the ensemble seemed a bit ragged at points, but the most important thing was that the Bartók concerto was actually enjoyable to listen to (for me anyway), and it's always a pleasant surprise when something by Bartók is enjoyable. Of course Haydn is always worth hearing. In the Beethoven some reviewers thought the tempi were too fast. I hadn't noticed it, but come to think of it, the beginning of the fourth movement was definitely faster than some conductors used to take it. Anyway, I think it's all worth hearing, and I want to record the Bartók.

Here's how the BSO website describes the program.

The intense poetic individuality of Beethoven’s nine symphonies heralded the start of Romanticism. In his Symphony No. 5—the most immediately recognizable symphonic work in the repertoire—he focuses almost obsessively on the famous opening four-note motif, which infuses the entire piece as it moves through a wide variety of moods from the dark C minor of the opening to the work’s triumphant C major close. Hearing Beethoven’s Fifth played live by a great orchestra never fails to revitalize this familiar piece for any listener. Haydn’s Symphony No. 93, which opens this program, was one of a dozen such works he wrote for audiences in London, where he spent two triumphant musical seasons in the first half of the 1790s. Dating from the height of his international career, Haydn’s twelve “London” symphonies (Nos. 93-103) stand as a culmination of the genre in the Classical era. Between the two symphonies on this program, acclaimed American pianist Peter Serkin joins Roberto Abbado and the BSO for one of the mid-twentieth century’s most engagingly atmospheric concertos, Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3, intended originally as a vehicle for his wife, and written not long after the Hungarian composer’s ever-popular Concerto for Orchestra. [Emphasis added.]

For more from the website about the music you can go to this page and launch the media center.

And here's a link to the review in the Boston Globe.

BSO — 2011/02/03-08; Met — 02/05

This week's BSO program has Moussorgsky, Beethoven, and Prokofiev. Here's how the website describes it.

Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo makes his BSO debut in these concerts and is joined by Romanian pianist Radu Lupu in Beethoven’s stormy Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor. Oramo also leads Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony, a three movement work moving from dark to light that Prokofiev wrote just after World War II in the Soviet Union. Beginning the program is Mussorgsky’s thrilling Night on Bald Mountain. [emphasis added]

I was there on Thursday, and, frankly, I was not looking forward to the "Night on Bald Mountain." I guess I consider it one of these pieces that gets played too often on the radio and not really worth spending time on. But, with an assist from the pre-concert lecture, I actually found it interesting and worthwhile. The Beethoven was well-played, I thought. The pre-concert lecture described the Prokofiev symphony as one of his most tragic works, but with that expectation in mind, I actually found it very engaging. I joined the standing ovation at the end. The conductor uses very broad gestures and swings and sways. But as the Globe reviewer notes, he drew top-notch playing from everyone.

As always, you can listen on WCRB. The concert begins at 8:00. And there is information about the music on the BSO website. Click on Media Center.


As I type, the Met is giving  Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, one of my favorites. James Levine is conducting.


Everything is available at the usual times over the usual webstreams.

Tanglewood July 30-August 1, 2010

Here's how the BSO Tanglewood website describes this weekend's offerings. Ron Della Chiesa has the "pre-game show" beginning 1/2 hour before each scheduled concert time. All is available at www.995allclassical.org.

"All-Russian Program with Charles Dutoit 

Friday, July 30, 8:30PM

At 8:30 p.m. in the Shed, the Boston Symphony Orchestra is joined by longtime BSO guest conductor and 1959 TMC Fellow Charles Dutoit as well as Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein for a program of Russian concert favorites. Tchaikovsky's ever-popular Piano Concerto No. 1—which showcases the skills of Mr. Gerstein, the recent winner of the Gilmore Artist Award—shares the first half of the concert with the overture to Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmila. After intermission, Maestro Dutoit and the BSO perform a suite from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.

Berg, Strauss, & Mahler Program 

Saturday, July 31, 8:30PM

The BSO welcomes conductor Juanjo Mena at 8:30 p.m. in the Shed for a program of Berg's ambitious Three Pieces for Orchestra, Strauss's autumnal Four Last Songs with soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, and Mahler's Symphony No. 4, the most delicate of his nine completed works in the form. Maestro Mena is Principal Guest Conductor of Norway's Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Guest Conductor at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and was recently appointed Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, succeeding Gianandrea Noseda in September 2011. He makes his BSO debut with this program.

Yo-Yo Ma Returns to Tanglewood 

Sunday, August 1, 2:30PM

Universally acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma returns to Tanglewood and shares the stage with the BSO at 2:30 p.m. in the Shed for a performance of Elgar's tragic, ultra-Romantic Cello Concerto in a performance led once again by Maestro Dutoit. Also on the program are Sibelius's folk-inspired, nationalistic Karelia Suite and Mussorgsky's dazzling orchestral showpiece Pictures at an Exhibition, as orchestrated by Ravel."

Enjoy.