BSO — 2026/04/25

 This evening the BSO gives us five pieces by Russian coposers and one by Mozart. Here's their description: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2026-01-08/boreyko-conducts-scriabin-rimsky-korsakov-and-prokofiev-with-kissin

Saturday, April 25, 2026
8:00 PM

In his first appearance with the BSO since 2015, star pianist Evgeny Kissin performs two contrasting concertos: Mozart’s charming and poignant Concerto No. 12, and Scriabin’s rhapsodic Piano Concerto. Andrey Boreyko leads this sparkling, Russian-leaning program, opening with Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliantly colorful Russian Easter Overture and featuring three atmospheric tone poems by Anatoly Liadov from the early 20th century.

Andrey Boreyko, conductor
Evgeny Kissin, piano

Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Russian Easter Festival Overture
W. A. MOZART Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414 
Anatoly LIADOV Baba Yaga
LIADOV The Enchanted Lake
LIADOV Kikimora
Alexander SCRIABIN Piano Concerto

In a conversation with CRB's Brian McCreath, conductor Andrey Boreyko reveals the connections between the arrangement of the musicians of the orchestra and music from the Russian tradition, as well as the unique qualities of Scriabin's Piano Concerto and Evgeny Kissin's interpretation of it. 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 Andrey Boreyko, 

We also have the summary on the BSO's own performance detail page: https://www.bso.org/events/apr-23-25-rimsky-korsa-scriab?performance=2026-04-25-20:00

Boston Symphony Orchestra Andrey Boreyko, conductor Evgeny Kissin, piano RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Russian Easter Overture  MOZART Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414       intermissionLIADOV Baba Yaga  LIADOV The Enchanted Lake  LIADOV Kikimora  SCRIABIN Piano Concerto  

This exciting and unusual

 program features acclaimed soloist Evgeny Kissin performing two strongly contrasting concertos. Composed to appeal to audiences in Mozart’s new home of Vienna, the Concerto No. 12 is by turns charming and poignant, its second movement a touching tribute to his late friend Johann Christian Bach. The Russian composer Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto, composed more than 100 years later, is rhapsodic and Romantic. The BSO has only played Scriabin’s concerto on two prior occasions, most recently in 2001. Andrey Boreyko leads this sparkling, Russian-leaning program, opening with Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliantly colorful Russian Easter Overture and featuring three atmospheric tone poems by Anatoli Liadov from the early 20th century.

As usual, performer bios and program notes are avsilsble when you go to the BSO page and click on the arrows.

So far there is no review in the Globe, bt the Intelligencer has a favorable one. https://classical-scene.com/2026/04/25/bso-boreyko-kissin/#comment-49107

This should be worth hearing.

BSO/Classical New England — 2025/05/10

 This evening's encore broadcast is from last summer at Tanglewood. WCRB tells us:

Saturday, May 10, 2025
8:00 PM

The Boston Ballet and its artistic director Mikko Nissinen join Andris Nelsons and the BSO for an evening celebrating dance and storytelling. Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony in Stravinsky’s Apollon musagète, a tale of the Greek god Apollo and three muses of artistic inspiration, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, a searing and dramatic piece inspired by the story of “One Thousand and One Nights.”

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor

Igor STRAVINSKY Apollon musagète*
Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade

*Apollon musagète is being danced at Tanglewood by the Boston Ballet

This concert was originally broadcast on July 12, 2024, and is no longer available on demand.

Here's what the BSO said on their performance detail page:

Tanglewood

Koussevitzky Music Shed, Lenox/Stockbridge, MA 

Boston Symphony Orchestra 
Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Boston Ballet 
 Mikko Nissinen, artistic director

STRAVINSKY Apollo
 Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust 
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade
 

The Boston Ballet and its artistic director Mikko Nissinen join Andris Nelsons and the BSO for an evening celebrating dance and storytelling. Stravinsky’s Apollo opens the program with a tale of the Greek god Apollo and three muses of artistic inspiration; choreographer George Balanchine described this collaboration with Stravinsky as “a turning point” in his life for its innovative marriage of classical themes and jazz ideas. Also on the program is the mighty Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, a vivid portrayal of the Arabian Nights tales, brought to life with searing and dramatic music.

Fortunately, the links to the program notes still work today. I was away at the time I'd have needed to write about this concert at the time. Sheherazade is enduringly popular, and I think the Appolon Musagète is okay. Neither the Globe nor the Intelligencer has a review I can find.

While thiis isn't quite must listen level, it won't be a waste of time, I think.

Tanglewood — 2022/08/26-28

 It's the last weekend of the Tanglewood season, ending with the traditional Beethoven Ninth Symphony on Sunday. I think I heard Laura Carlo say this morning that Ron Della Chiesa  would be retiring as "the voice of the BSO' after these performances, which, if I heard correctly, gives a further incentive to listen.

Friday, August 26, 2022. We look to WCRB for the outline:

Friday, August 26, 2022
8:00 PM

Anna Rakitina leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances” and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 3, “The First of May,” and violinist Gil Shaham is the soloist in Dvorak’s rustically brilliant Violin Concerto.

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin 
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor 

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH Waltz No. 2 from Suite No. 1 for Variety Orchestra
Antonín DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 3, The First of May 
Alexander BORODIN Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor 

Some descriptive verbiage is to be found on the orchestra's own performance detail page:

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina leads frequent Tanglewood guest soloist Gil Shaham in Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s great Violin Concerto, which sings with pungent Czech traditional rhythms and melodies. Three Russian works complete the program. Part-time composer and full-time scientist Alexander Borodin wrote his tremendously energetic and popular Polovtsian Dances for his opera Prince Igor, which remained unfinished at his early death. Two Dmitri Shostakovich rarities demonstrate his fantastic range. Purely for entertainment, the Suite for Variety Orchestra is a mishmash of pieces from various contexts—the Waltz is from his score from the 1955 film The First Echelon. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 3, The First of May is a serious work for chorus and orchestra in praise of the Soviet revolution predating Joseph Stalin’s cynical crackdown on artistic creativity, which would have dangerous consequences for Shostakovich. This is the first performance of this piece by the BSO, part of its multi-season traversal of the composer’s complete symphonies.

As usual, full program notes are linked there.

I'm not a big fan of the Borodin, although it's generally pretty well liked. On the other hand the Shostakovich symphony will probably be an adventure. The Dvořák should be good.

Saturday, August 27, 2022.  Again, we turn first to WCRB:

Saturday, August 27, 2022
8:00 PM

Michael Tilson Thomas returns to the Berkshires to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Copland’s inspirational Symphony No. 3, and pianist Alexander Malofeev is the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s mighty Piano Concerto No. 3.

Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor  
Alexander Malofeev, piano

Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Dubinushka 
Sergei RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
Aaron COPLAND Symphony No. 3

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

Click on the player above to hear a preview of the concert with Michael Tilson Thomas, who connects Rimsky-Korsakov's Dubinushka to great musical figures of the past, describes the special qualities he hears in Alexander Malofeev's playing, and recalls conversations with Aaron Copland that reveal the essence of the composer's music.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath Michael Tilson Thomas, it's so good to talk with you. Thank you for a little bit of your time today. We'll talk about the programs that you're conducting at Tanglewood. And the first piece that you'll conduct on Saturday night is Dubinushka.

Michael Tilson Thomas "Du-BEE-nushka."

BMcC "Du-BEE-nushka." Thank you. Thank you for the correction.

As you see, there's a bonus: an interview with the conductor. If you go to the WCRB page, you can see the video or read the transcript. I haven't read the whole thing, but he mentions that he likes to find unfamiliar things. He did that about fifty years ago withthe BSO when he led a performance of "Vespro della beata vergine," composed in 1610 by Claudio Monteverdi. I had never heard anything like it, and I was blown away. It has since been recorded commercially, and I have a couple of those recordings, but I wish I could hear that live performance again sometime.

Further information is available, including a link to the program notes, on the BSO performance detail page:

Renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, whose rich association with the BSO dates back to his time as a TMC Fellow (1968-69), is joined by the remarkable young Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev in his BSO and Tanglewood debut for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Sparkling and lush, it is one of the most beloved and challenging concertos in the repertoire. Aaron Copland’s orchestral music epitomizes a distinctly American sound that persists in the concert hall and in film soundtracks. His Third Symphony, premiered by the BSO and Serge Koussevitzky in 1946, incorporates the bold and familiar Fanfare for the Common Man. The concert opens with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s brief, rousing Dubinushka, based on a tune he heard marching workers sing during the Russian Revolution of 1905 and not performed by the BSO since 1944.

Sunday, August 28, 2022.  Michael Tilson Thomas returns to close out the season: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2022-06-13/beethovens-ninth-at-tanglewood

Sunday, August 28, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

An incredible cast of soloists joins Michael Tilson Thomas, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor 
Jacquelyn Stucker, soprano
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Ben Bliss, tenor
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor 

Charles IVES Psalm 90
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

There's more at the performance detail page:

Bert L. Smokler Memorial Concert

Michael Tilson Thomas leads the BSO in Tanglewood’s traditional season-ending performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s intensely expressive, innovative, but ultimately uplifting Symphony No. 9. Following three questing instrumental movements, the finale is a setting for soloists and chorus of the German playwright and poet Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.” The symphony—Beethoven’s last, composed in 1825—was an immense success at its premiere and has since become a symbol of hope for the universal togetherness of humankind.

Ives is unique. His music may take some getting used to, and it would be good if his compositions were played more often so people could get used to it. I recommend reading the program note. I don't think I've ever heard "Psalm 90," and I'm looking forward to it. If you find it too strange, stick around for the Beethoven.

So it's a weekend with the familiar and the adventurous, with the great Ron Della Chiesa as the announcer. Don't forget that the Sunday concert will be delivered an hour earlier than the Friday and Saturday ones.

BSO/Classical New England — 2015/09/05

As we wait for the Symphony Hall season to begin, this week WCRB gives us a repeat of the concert of January 24, 2015. That concert found BSO Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur on the podium replacing the scheduled conductor, who was ill. He conducted Berlioz's Overture "Le Corsaire," followed by Cello Concerto No. 1 by Saint-Saëns with Johannes Moser as soloist. After intermission, it was Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov.

You can listen to the concert on demand at the station's BSO program page. There's a pretty good action shot of the maestro. There are also links to other available concerts. As always, the broadcast and webstream will be on Saturday, September 5, at 8:00 p.m. EDT (or "Bostpn Time," as I like to call it.)

I p/reviewed it in January. At that time I wrote, "I liked Maestro Masur's conducting style, and found nothing in the music to dislike." The post also contains links to reviews and other background information.

BSO — 2015/01/22-24

Ken-David Masur, the BSO's new Assistant Conductor (and son of Kurt Masur), steps in this week in place of the ailing Tugan Sokhiev, who was to have made his BSO debut. The Globe's review found no problem worth mentioning. As usual, the Boston Musical Intelligencer gives a much more detailed review, almost entirely laudatory. I liked Maestro Masur's conducting style, and found nothing in the music to dislike. In the Saint-Saëns it was distracting that the soloist spent a lot of time looking at the violins, much more than watching the conductor. Was he taking the beat from them, or did he have a crush on one of the violinists?

Here's what the orchestra says on their performance detail page.

*This week's scheduled conductor, Tugan Sokhiev, is suffering from influenza and a sinus infection, and cannot travel to Boston. BSO assistant conductor, Ken-David Masur, will take over the performances in his place. The program remains unchanged.Ken-David Masur is joined by the German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser for Saint-Saëns's Cello Concerto No. 1, a single-movement, fantasia-like work by turns fiery and charming. Opening the program is Hector Berlioz's Le Corsaire Overture, which, as was often the composer's practice, took shape from earlier sketches. The title is an incidental reference to James Fenimore Cooper's The Red Rover ("Le Corsaire rouge"). Rimsky Korsakov's orchestral masterpiece, the "symphonic suite" Scheherezade, masterfully spins out its Arabian Nights-inspired tableaux via transformations of an immediately recognizable musical motif. The work features a major solo violin part usually played by the orchestra's concertmaster.

(Some emphasis added.)
See that page also for links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios.

Listen over WCRB at 8:00 this evening or on February 2 for an enjoyable evening of good music-making, and see their BSO page for a preview with the conductor and other links.

BSO — 2014/03/27-29

This week Sir Andrew Davis conducts the BSO in Symphony No. 6 by Vaughan Williams, Piano Concerto No. 2 by Prokofiev — with Yuja Wang as soloist — and Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol to conclude the program. Go to the orchestra's performance detail page for the usual links to background info. There they also give this description of the program:

English conductor Sir Andrew Davis returns to the BSO podium with music by his great 20th-century compatriot Ralph Vaughan Williams-the dark and powerful Symphony No. 6, composed at the end of World War II. Sir Andrew and the BSO are then joined by the exciting, Beijing-born pianist Yuja Wang for Prokofiev's youthful Piano Concerto No. 2. Closing the concert is the scintillatingly orchestrated, romantic Capriccio espagnol by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

I can't offer my own comments on the performance, since it wasn't part of my subscription, and I chose to hear Trio Cleonice at the Harvard Musical Association that evening. The Globe's reviewer was generally positive, especially about the Vaughan Williams, while at the Boston Musical Intelligencer, the reviewer raved about the Prokofiev and found the Vaughan Williams less successful, particularly in the last two movements. I guess we'll need to listen and decide for ourselves about both works.

For new readers, if any, I'll note that WCRB/Classical New England broadcasts and streams the Saturday concerts live at 8:00 p.m., Eastern (Daylight) Time, and reprises them on the Monday evening nine days later, subsequently making them available for on demand listening over the web. They also provide a schedule of remaining BSO broadcasts/streams and links to background material on their own BSO page. (On Monday, March 31, the rebroadcast/stream will be of the final all-Beethoven concert, which I reported on a week ago.)

Classical New England — 2013/12/14

This week's offering from Classical New England in their regular Boston Symphony time period, beginning at 7:00 p.m. this evening, is a rebroadcast of a Tanglewood concert in which Leon Fleisher is soloist in Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The orchestra also plays the Siegfried Idyll by Wagner and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, all under the baton of Kazushi Ono. You can get links to an interview with Leon Fleisher, the schedule for future Saturday evenings this season, and other items at the station's BSO page.

This concert was given on July 12, 2013, and my post about it at the time is here. I'm happy to note that the BSO performance detail page which I linked at the time is still up at this point, and the links on that page are still working — including more program notes than were there when I originally posted.

Tanglewood — 2013/07/12-14

July 12  This evening (as I write) the BSO will give us three works: Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, the Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand, by Ravel, with Leon Fleisher as soloist, and (presumably after intermission) Scheherezade, by Rimsky-Korsakov. The performance detail page explains that this is an "Underscore Fridays" concert:

Several Friday-evening Shed performances will be part of the popular UnderScore Friday series this season. At these performances, patrons will hear comments about the program directly from an onstage BSO musician. Dates: July 12, August 2, August 23.

Strangely, although they tell us that James Sommerville will be the musician who talks about the pieces, there is no mention of the names of the conductor or the soloist in the Ravel. You have to click on the pictures to find out that Kazushi Ono is conducting and Fleisher is playing the piano. (Double click the photos for bios.) The page is also short on program notes, linking none except for the Ravel.

July 13  Saturday brings us West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. David Newman will conduct the orchestra, while the movie is played. Performance detail says

There will be one twenty minute intermission during this performance.

The cinematic magic of West Side Story comes alive at Tanglewood on Saturday, July 13, when conductor David Newman, in his BSO debut, leads the orchestra in a live performance of Bernstein's electrifying score while the newly re-mastered film is shown on large screens in high definition with the original vocals and dialogue intact. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story won ten Academy Awards©-more than any other musical film-including Best Picture. Released in 1961 with choreography by Jerome Robbins and a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, the film is one of the greatest achievements in the history of movie musicals. West Side Story ©1961
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All rights reserved. A.M.P.A.S.

I imagine it will be quite a challenge to sync the orchestra with the recorded singers. There isn't the flexibility that you have when all performers are live.

July 14  On Sunday afternoon, per performance detail:

STRAVINSKY - Suite from Pulcinella
HAYDN - Cello Concerto No. 1 in C
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 8
Audio Podcast - Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos speaks with Brian Bell about the Beethoven 8th Symphony, being performed this Sunday at Tanglewood.

Again, note the dearth of information: no notes or audio preview of the Stravinsky or Haydn and no mention of the cello soloist's name. By clicking on the photo, we discover that it's Lynn Harrell.

I'd like to hear the Friday, but I'd also like to go to the baseball game of the college summer league  North Shore Navigators. I saw West Side Story performed by high school students a few years ago, and I don't especially need to hear it again. Sunday afternoon's program sounds good: I'm looking forward to it.

As usual, Classical New England will broadcast all three concerts and stream them live. The Friday and Saturday concerts are scheduled for 8:30 p.m., Boston (and Western Mass.) time, and Sunday's is at 2:30. p.m. The broadcast schedule doesn't make it clear whether the pre-concert features begin an hour or a half hour before concert time. There are links on CNE's BSO page to a couple of items connected with these concerts, and a fair amount of other items which could be of some interest.