BSO/Classical New England — 2017/09/02

Sorry to be so late. I've been busy. Here are the essentials from the WCRB website.
http://classicalwcrb.org/post/all-french-program-alain-altinoglu#stream/0

Saturday, September 2, 2017
8:00 PM

This is an encore broadcast originally recorded on April 1, 2017.

Alain Altinoglu, conductor
Renaud Capuçon, violin

BERLIOZ Roman Carnival Overture
LALO Symphonie espagnole
DUTILLEUX Symphony No. 2, Le Double
ROUSSEL Bacchus et Ariane, Suite No. 2

Hear the concert on demand

Hear a preview with Alain Altinoglu on The Answered Question:

TAGS: 

BSO — 2017/04/01

This week we have a French guest conductor leading an all French concert. See the BSO's performance detail page for the usual links to background information. There, the program is described as follows:

French conductor Alain Altinoglu, making his BSO debut, leads this all-French program and is joined by his countryman, the violinist Renaud Capuçon, for Édouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, written for the great Spanish virtuoso Sarasate in 1874 and a brilliant concerto in all but name. Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, by turns romantic and exuberant, opens the program. Albert Roussel's Suite No. 2 from his 1930 ballet Bacchus et Ariane was strongly championed with the BSO by Charles Munch. It was also Munch who introduced Henri Dutilleux's music to the orchestra and called for the commission of his atmospheric Symphony No. 2, Le Double, to commemorate the BSO's 75th anniversary.

(Some emphasis added.)

The reviews are favorable. The Globe finds no fault. The Boston Musical Intelligencer, with no space limitations, goes into more detail, but only has a couple of minor faults to find. I didn't go because I seemed to have a bit of a cold, but I'm looking forward to hearing the first half this evening, before my brother calls from Japan, and the rest in the rebroadcast on Monday, April 10.

As always, you can hear it tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST over WCRB on line or on air. And there is the usual rebroadcast at 8:00 p.m. on April 10. Their website has much information about their programming, including this page devoted to the concert, with a link to a podcast.

Enjoy.

BSO — 2012/11/29-12/01

This week's Boston Symphony program is mostly French, with three French composers, a French conductor, and a French pianist. There is also music by a Scottish composer. Some details are provided in the BSO's details page, which also has links to program notes, audio previews, and an interview with the conductor.

Returning to the BSO podium for the third consecutive season, French conductor Stéphane Denève leads the BSO in a trio of French works by composers from his native country: Berlioz's dynamic overture to his unfinished early opera Les Francs-juges, Albert Roussel's Suite No. 2 from his 1930 ballet Bacchus et Ariane, and Saint-Saëns's Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian, with fellow Frenchman Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist. Also on the program are the Three Interludes from The Sacrifice, Scottish contemporary composer James MacMillan's 2006 opera on a story from The Mabinogion, an ancient collection of Welsh legend.

I was there on Thursday, and I'm looking forward to hearing the music again on the broadcast and the webstream repeat. I wouldn't call any of it the greatest music of all time, but it all was good and I think a rehearing or two will bring even more understanding and enjoyment. The newest piece, interludes from MacMillan's opera "The Sacrifice, felt more accessible during the performance than had MacMillan's St. John Passion, which we heard almost three years ago. The Globe's reviewer was very pleased with the performance.

Go to Classical New England to listen to the webstream approximately live this evening and check out their BSO page for broadcast/streaming schedules as well as their own interview with the conductor.

BSO — 2011/04/14-16

Today there's another BSO concert to be streamed over WCRB. The website of the BSO has the following to say.

French conductor Stéphane Denève, music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and chief conductor designate of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, makes his Boston Symphony debut substituting for Sir Colin Davis in these concerts. As originally planned, acclaimed American pianist Jonathan Biss is soloist in Beethoven’s epic Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, the last and most powerful of Beethoven’s concertos. Replacing the two originally scheduled works by Sibelius are two works from the French repertoire for which Mr. Denève has an inborn affinity—Albert Roussel’s Symphony No. 3 and Maurice Ravel’s La Valse. Commissioned for the BSO’s 50th anniversary, Roussel’s multi-faceted and colorful Symphony No. 3 was premiered by Serge Koussevitzky and the orchestra in October 1930. Completed in 1920, Ravel’s brilliantly atmospheric masterpiece La Valse, which closes the program, was the composer’s unsettling musical farewell to the golden era of Vienna.

The Globe liked it. I particularly enjoyed the Roussel symphony. As I commented elsewhere, I had been looking forward to the Sibelius (5th Symphony and Tapiola) which had originally been scheduled for after intermission. But Sir Colin Davis had to withdraw, and the conductor taking his place is more familiar with Roussel and Ravel. But after hearing the Roussel symphony on Thursday, I'm glad that the change was made and I got a chance to hear it. I also found the pianist in the Beethoven not forceful enough: the piano got swallowed by the orchestra too often. But it's still the "Emperor" Concerto, and worth hearing.