B BSO — 2026/04/18

 This evening we get two second-tier staples sandwiching a sort of world premiere. Here's WCRB's synopsis: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2026-01-08/malkki-the-jussens-and-a-bso-world-premiere

Saturday, April 18, 2026
8:00 PM

Dutch duo-pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen perform a BSO-commissioned piece written for them by American composer and Grawemeyer Award-winner Andrew Norman. Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki also leads the BSO in Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances and Ravel’s beloved Mother Goose suite.

Susanna Mälkki, conductor
Lucas and Arthur Jussen, pianos

Maurice RAVEL Mother Goose Suite
Andrew NORMAN Split, for two pianos and orchestra (world premiere; BSO co-commission)
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

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

In a preview of the program, Susanna Mälkki describes the character and challenge of Andrew Norman's Split, why Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances is one of her favorite pieces, and what she looks for in building effective artistic relationships with orchestras.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Susanna Mälkki, who's back with the Boston Symp

It turns out Split was originally composed in a version for one piano over ten years ago. The composer has reworked itinto the two piano version which the BSO is premiering this week.

More information, including performer bios and program notes, are available at the BSO performance detail page, where we see the following:

Boston Symphony Orchestra Susanna Mälkki, conductor Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Pianos RAVEL Mother Goose Suite  Andrew NORMAN Split, for two pianos and orchestra (world premiere; BSO co-commission)       intermissionRACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances  

Popular Dutch duo-pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen return to Symphony Hall for a BSO-commissioned world premiere. This music was written especially for them by American composer Andrew Norman, winner of the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for his orchestral work Play. Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite brings the composer’s mastery of orchestral color to his fairy-tale suite, originally written for piano, four-hands. Closing the program is Sergei Rachmaninoff’s tour-de-force for orchestra, by turns powerfully energetic and meltingly lyrical: his Symphonic Dances, the composer’s final work.

So far I don't see any reviews in either the Globe or the Intelligencer.

I was at the Friday afternoon performance. The Ravel was fine but unexciting. The Jussen brothers were excellent. Unfortunately the music they and the orchestra had to play was mostly loud and unappealing (to me anyway). The brothers would have something nice and then the orchestra would crash in. A musician might see something worthwhile or admire the composer's technique, but it was lost on me. Maybe I'll like it better over the radio this evening. The Jussens certainly deserved the enthusiastic applause they got. I paid closer attention to the Stravinsky than I do when it's being played as part of the regular radio programming and functions nore as background music. So I noticed parts (mostly softer ones) which usually escape my attention. It's a pretty good piece if not up to the level of the greatest compositions of all time.

Bottom line: it's worth listeningg to the concert, especially if the Jussens give us an encore.

Tanglewood — 2025/07/05-06

 This is the week the Boston Symphony returns to Tanglewood, and WCRB will be broadcasting their Friday, Saturday, and Sunday concerts from now through the end of the season on August 24. As usual, the Sunday afternoon concerts will be recorded to be transmitted Sunday evening. Here's what we get this weekend.

WCRB says: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-04-22/opening-night-at-tanglewood-with-daniil-trifinov 

Saturday, July 5, 2025
8:00 PM

The 2025 Tanglewood season opens with an All-Rachmaninoff program, headlined by pianist Daniil Trifonov.The concert begins with the composer’s daunting Piano Concerto No. 3 and closes with the drama and excitement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, all led by Music Director Andris Nelsons.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Daniil Trifonov, piano

ALL-RACHMANINOFF program
Piano Concerto No. 3
Symphonic Dances

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

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

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Daniil Trifonov, piano

ALL-RACHMANINOFF program
Piano Concerto No. 3
Symphonic Dances

Tonight's concert is generously supported by Jane B. and Robert J. Mayer, M.D.

Sat, Jul 5, 2025, 8:00pm EDT

I expect to be listening.

Then on Sunday, per WCRB:

Sunday, July 6, 2025
7:00 PM

In an All-Beethoven program, Yefim Bronfman is the soloist in composer’s Third Piano Concerto, and Andris Nelsons leads the orchestra in the iconic Symphony No. 5.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

ALL-BEETHOVEN program
Leonore Overture No. 2
Piano Concerto No. 3
Symphony No. 5

Meanwhile, at the performance detail page we get:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

ALL-BEETHOVEN program
Leonore Overture No. 2
Piano Concerto No. 3
Symphony No. 5

The Leonore Overture No. 3 is the one that is usually played in concerts and recorded, so this should be interesting. The program note gives some background. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing this concert on Sunday evening.

BSO — 2025/03/08

 This evening we are treated the three unknown (to me, anyway) pieces. WCRB gives us the outline and an interview with the soloist:

Saturday, March 8, 2025
8:00 PM

South Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim makes her BSO debut conducting a trio of pieces exploring innovation within tradition. Inon Barnatan is the soloist in Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto, a love letter to his wife and his home country. The program opens with Anatoly Liadov’s The Enchanted Lake and concludes with Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3.

Eun Sun Kim, conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano

Anatoly LIADOV The Enchanted Lake
Béla BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 3
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 3

In an interview with BSO broadcast host Brian McCreath, Inon Barnatan describes the vitality and variety of Bartók's music, what fascinates him about the Third Piano Concerto, and his approach to his artistic leadership of the La Jolla Music Society's Summerfest. To listen, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Inon Barnatan, back with the Boston Symphony to perform

The BSO's program detail page furnishes a bit more of an introduction as well as links to the program notes, which could be interesting reading:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Eun Sun Kim, conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano

LIADOV The Enchanted Lake
BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 3
-Intermission-
RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 3

South Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim makes her BSO debut with a trio of pieces exploring innovation within tradition. Star pianist Inon Barnatan returns to Symphony Hall to take on one of Bartók’s final works, the Third Piano Concerto, a love letter to his wife and his home country. While living in poverty in New York having fled the onslaught of the Nazis into Hungary, Bartók’s creativity had stalled out, and his body was failing from a long illness. The concerto — not quite finished when he passed — is a more gentle and accessibly poetic work than his previous concertos, a summation of where Bartók’s style left him at the end of his life.

The Boston Globe doesn't seem to have provided a review. The reviewer in the Intelligencer had no complaints.

More I cannot tell you, but I'm looking forward to hearing this unfamiliar music.

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.