BSO/Classical New England — 2025/12/13

We get "encore broadcasts" while the BSO is on hiatus and Holiday Pops takes over Symphony Hall. Return with us now to last February to hear music of Schubert and Brahms conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. WCRB informs us: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2024-10-31/blomstedt-conducts-the-bso

Saturday, December 13, 2025
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast, one of the masters of the art of conducting for over seven decades returns to lead the BSO in Franz Schubert's light-hearted, cheerful Symphony No. 6, as well as the First Symphony by Johannes Brahms.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor

Franz SCHUBERT Symphony No. 6
Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

This broadcast was originally broadcast on February 15, 2025, and is no longer available on demand.

To hear Herbert Blomstedt in a conversation with GBH's Arun Rath, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: 

Arun Rath This is GBH is All Things Considered. I'm Arun Rath.

The BSO performance detail page https://www.bso.org/events/schubert-brahams?performance=2025-02-15-20:00 seems to have a link to MaestroBlomstedt's bio, when you go to the page itself, but none to the program notes for the pieces played:

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor 

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 6
-Intermission-
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

Herbert Blomstedt, celebrating a seven-decade conducting career, returns to lead the BSO in Franz Schubert's light-hearted, cheerful Symphony No. 6, composed when he was 20 and notable as a satisfyingly classical work preceding his more searching later symphonies. Brahms was strongly influenced by Schubert but more so still by Beethoven, whose symphonic shadow apparently kept Brahms from completing his First Symphony until he was 43 years old. A prominent theme in its finale is a direct nod to Beethoven’s Ninth.

I posted about it at the time (with a number of embarrassing typos). You might be interested in my observations from the previous day's performance as well as the "enthusiastic review" in the Intelligencer, which I'm linking here again. https://www.classical-scene.com/2025/02/14/blomstedt-balm/

I definitely recommend listening this evening.

BSO — 2025/02/15

 WCRB says:

Saturday, February 15, 2025
8:00 PM

Herbert Blomstedt, one of the masters of the art of conducting for over seven decades, returns to lead the BSO in Franz Schubert's light-hearted, cheerful Symphony No. 6, as well as the First Symphony by Johannes Brahms.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor

Franz SCHUBERT Symphony No. 6
Johannes BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

To hear Herbert Blomstedt in a conversation with GBH's Arun Rath, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: 

Arun Rath This is GBH is All Things Considered. I'm Arun Rath. This shimmering, gorgeous music is Brahms's First Symphony, conducted by one of Brahms's most profound advocates. Herbert Blomstedt.

We get a fuller synopsis on the BSO's own performance detail page:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 6
-Intermission-
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

Herbert Blomstedt, celebrating a seven-decade conducting career, returns to lead the BSO in Franz Schubert's light-hearted, cheerful Symphony No. 6, composed when he was 20 and notable as a satisfyingly classical work preceding his more searching later symphonies. Brahms was strongly influenced by Schubert but more so still by Beethoven, whose symphonic shadow apparently kept Brahms from completing his First Symphony until he was 43 years old. A prominent theme in its finale is a direct nod to Beethoven’s Ninth.

There are links on that page to a performer bio and the program notes for the two symphonies.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer has an enthusiastic review with a good picture of the maestro seated at the podium and applauding the musicians, which he did upon attibal and after each piece. Thus far nothing in the Globe.

I was there on Friday afternoon. Maestro Blomstedt conducted with economy of gesture, rarely raising his hNDS bove his shoulders. It was a little concerning to see that he required assistance to walk to and from the podium, but he needed no assistance to conduct: he never even turned a page on the open score in front of him. I definitely enjoyed what I heard.

This concert is highly recommended.

This was ready to go before 8:00, but I got distracted listeening to the  interview with Maestrro Blomstedt, and only realized in the middle of the Schubert that I hadn't posted it. I'll point out that you can hear it all when WCRB rebroadcasts the concert ar 8:00 p.m. Boston Time on February 24.

BSO/Classical New England — 202

 With the Tanglewood season over and the first Saturday evening concert of the Symphony Hall season scheduled for September 28, WCRB has four evenings to fill. Tonight andthe following two weeks they'll give us "encore broadcasts from last season at Symphony Hall, all with artists making their debuts with the orchestra. I don't know what they're planning for September 21.

Here's what they're telling us about this evening's show:

Saturday, August 31, 2024

8:00pm

In an encore broadcast, Joana Mallwitz conducts Kodály’s "Dances of  Galánta" and Schubert's Symphony No. 9. Anna Vinnitskaya, also in her BSO debut, is the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 1.

Joana Mallwitz, conductor
Anna Vinnitskaya, piano

Zoltán KODÁLY Dances of Galánta 
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1
Franz SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9 in C, "Great"

This concert was originally broadcast on November 4, 2023, and is no longer available on demand.

In an interview with CRB's Brian McCreath, conductor Joana Mallwitz previews the program, reveals which piece of music sparked her desire to be a conductor, and talks about her new position as Chief Conductor of the Konzerthaus Orchestra of Berlin. To listen, use the player above and follow along with the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath from WCRB at Symphony Hall with Joana Mallwitz here in Boston for the Boston Symphony for the very first time.

As you see, there is an interview with the conductor, which you can access if you go to the WCRB page. I found it interesting.

The BSO's performance detail page for the concert is still available from last November with all the usual links, which can be useful. There we read:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Joana Mallwitz, conductor
Anna Vinnitskaya, piano

KODÁLY Dances of Galánta 
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1
Intermission 
SCHUBERT Symphony in C, The Great

German conductor Joana Mallwitz and Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya, both in their BSO debuts, perform Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s beloved and epic Piano Concerto No. 1, which originally premiered in Boston. The orchestra opens with the lively Dances of Galánta (1933) by Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, which combines traditional folk melodies from the composer’s home region with a symphonic context. In closing, Schubert’s towering Symphony in C, The Great, written near the end of his life and premiered a decade after his death by none other than Felix Mendelssohn.

I neglected to write asbout the original performance, but the reviews are also available. The Globe reviewer liked everything. The Musical Intelligencer gives us a review of the Saturday performance as well as the usual one of the preceding Thursday's performance.

This is all pretty standard and popular music, but the reviews indicate that the playing and conducting were special. It should be enjoyable to hear.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/12/03

 Now it's Holiday Pops time at Symphony Hall, so WCRB is giving us rebroadcasts. Here's this evening's program as given on their website:

Saturday, December 3, 2022
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast of the first of three programs encompassing Beethoven’s piano concertos, Paul Lewis is the soloist in the Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, alongside the world premiere of “Makeshift Castle,” by Julia Adolphe, all conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano

Julia ADOLPHE Makeshift Castle (world premiere; BSO co-commission)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3

Franz SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759, Unfinished: II. Andante con moto
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra
Nicolò Foron, conductor
Recorded on July 11, 2022, at the Koussevitzky Music Shed.

This concert was originally broadcast on July 29, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

It looks as if the Adolphe and Beethoven were one concert, and the Schubert is part of abother, and WCRB is adding the Schubert to round out the evening,Regrettably, I didn't post about either of the concerts. I was away on retreat on July 11, and I forgot to post about July 29. I think they"ll be giving us the July 30 and 31 over the next two weekends, and I did post about them back then. But for now, here's a quote from a review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer when they performed the Adolphe work again in October:

Accessible and fun Makeshift Castle by Julia Adolphe — a BSO co-commission — played on contrasts between inexorable brass and diverse and quiet orchestral textures. In her introduction, the composer pithily articulated a “contrast between permanence and ephemerality,” and indeed those fateful brass sounds persisted in the memory; no subsequent artifice could shake it off. Gorgeous pianissimo muted violins, harp interludes, auditory exciting exchanges between the piano and the bongo drums: the shimmering sonic smorgasbord took advantage of the technical might of the full BSO band. But any hope for resolution awaited subsequent works due to lucky or extremely clever program structure.

There is a fuller description of the piece in the program note from the BSO performance detail page.

So it seems "Makeshift Castle" will be okay, and of course the Beethoven and Schubert are well worth hearing.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/10/31

WCRB tells us that this evening's encore broadcast (and webstream) is of the concert of November 7, 2015. This is clearly an error. The orchestra's subscriber booklet for the year gives us October 31 as the Saturday on which this music was performed, and what I wrote at the time reflects that timing:

This week's Boston Symphony is pleasant music throughout — nothing challenging for listeners or, I suppose, performers, with music by Tchaikovsky, Elgar, and Schubert.  We read, on their performance detail page:

Violinist/conductor Pinchas Zukerman returns to the BSO podium in both roles in two short, beautiful Tchaikovsky works for violin and orchestra [Mélodie and Sérénade Mélancolique], and to lead the composer's famous Serenade for Strings. Edward Elgar's warmhearted Chanson de nuit is one of two brief pieces originally for solo violin and piano (the other being Chanson de matin), later rescored for orchestra. Franz Schubert wrote his charming, four-movement Symphony No. 5 when he was just nineteen. Its balance of materials and control of the orchestra show the influence of Mozart and Beethoven.

…

(Some emphasis added.)

See that page also for links to audio previews, program notes, their new "media center," and performer bio for Mr. Zukerman. Surprisingly, two of the five pieces are getting their first performances by the BSO — the two curtain raisers by Tchaikovsky — and the Elgar was never played by them in Symphony Hall.

As of this writing, there is no review yet in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Boston Globe has an unflattering review, finding the leadership of Maestro Zukerman uninspired and recalling superior performances of the main works by the orchestra in recent years. I was there on Thursday evening, and I found no fault with how anything was played. There's a lot to be said for a concert that's all "easy listening." But I was extremely annoyed by Zukerman's gesture when taking his bow at the end. He raised his hands about to shoulder level and made beckoning gestures with his fingers. The reviewer writes,

Taking his bows at the end of the night, Zukerman gestured to the crowd with his hands, as if to raise the level of the volume of the applause. There are other ways to do so.

I agree completely. The audience responded at once with cheers and much louder applause. I immediately walked out of the auditorium in disgust at the uncouth and unprofessional action. In my annoyance, I thought that Mr. Zukerman may have realized that his choice of unspectacular music didn't give the audience anything to go wild about, and maybe he thought the orchestra deserved a warmer ovation. (I later had the uncharitable thought that he chose pieces within his current capabilities as a violinist and as a conductor.) But it's an insult to the audience to tell them that they aren't applauding enough. I'm sorry many in the audience fell for it, and I wish I had had the presence of mind to boo the gesture before I left. Fortunately, if he does it again on Saturday, you won't see it over the radio or the internet.

Despite the unfortunate extraneous business at the end, I think the concert is worth listening to. You can do so over the radio and streaming facilities of WCRB — as you know by now, unless you're new to this blog. As usual, the … broadcast/webstream is on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time…. The station's BSO page includes a link to an  … [interview with Maestro Zukerman.]

Enjoy.

(Edited for relevance.)

As was the case with last week's rebroadcast, the performance detail page is no longer accessible on the BSO website. At least, it's not in its usual place. And, as was the case in 2015, the Intelligncer doesn't have a review available. So, apart from the quote from the performance detail page, you have only a Globe review for a preview of the show. I still recommend listening to WCRB at 8:00.

Tanglewood — 2019/08/23-25

This weekend is the end of the BSO's season at Tanglewood. It has become the tradition to close on Sunday with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. They could certainly do worse.


Friday, August 23, 2019.  The program presents more or less familiar music with two musicians who are new to me and, I suppose, most audiences. The BSO performance detail page explains:

BSO Assistant Conductor Yu-An Chang makes his BSO debut on Friday, August 23, leading Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Schubert’s Symphony No. 2, and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, featuring Conrad Tao. 

 

Pianist Ingrid Fliter had been scheduled to perform Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Friday, August 23 at the Koussevitzky Music Shed. Replacing Ms. Fliter in the Ravel concerto will be Conrad Tao who will make his Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood debuts. There are no other changes to the program.

(Some emphasis added.) 
Ravel isn't my favorite composer, but not too tough to take, so this concert should be a good one. It should be a comfortable debut for the new conductor.


Saturday, August 24, 2019.  The BSO takes the evening off, but many of its members (other than section principals) are also members of the Boston Pops and will be performing as such. The performance detail page tells us:

Long established as one of Tanglewood’s most anticipated and beloved evenings, John Williams’ Film Night returns on Saturday, August 24, with George and Roberta Berry Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams introducing the festive evening, which features the Boston Pops and conductor David Newman performing a program celebrating the music of Hollywood and more.

(Some emphasis added.)

Film buffs and Williams fans will especially enjoy this one.


Sunday, August 24, 2019.  Not only is the Beethoven Ninth the season closer, in recent years, it has also been the custom to preceded it with another, much briefer, piece. This year the opener is a choral work by Schoenberg. The performance detail page gives a link to the program notes, which make the connection to the "Ode for Joy" clear. We also have this overall synopsis:

With vocal soloists Nicole Cabell, J’Nai Bridges, Nicholas Phan, and Morris Robinson and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, returning guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the BSO in the orchestra’s traditional season-ending performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on Sunday, August 25. The concert opens with Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth) for unaccompanied chorus, also featuring the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden will be conducted by James Burton.

(Some emphasis added.)


Listen to it all over the facilities of WCRB* at 8:00 p.m. EDST on Friday and Saturday and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. It should be a good series of concerts.

* I can't get the WCRB website to open for me to provide the link, but you can find it in any of my earlier posts about BSO concerts.

BSO/Classical New England — 2017/12/30

While the Holiday Pops series continues in Symphony Hall, WCRB takes us back to a sunny Sunday afternoon at Tanglewood and retransmits the concert of August 13, 2017. Here's how the orchestra's performance detail page described it at the time:

On Sunday, August 13, young Israeli conductor Lahav Shani makes his BSO debut on a program featuring Tanglewood regular, violinist Joshua Bell in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.  Mr. Shani also lead the BSO in the overture to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Schubert's Symphony in C, The Great. The composer's ultimate symphony (in both senses of the word: it is his biggest and last work in the genre), the C major was famously praised for its "heavenly length" by Robert Schumann, who observed also that it "transports us into a world we cannot recall ever having been before."

(Some emphasis added.)

A review of the whole weekend at Tanglewood in the Boston Musical Intelligencer included favorable comments on this concert (Sunday at 2:30). I can't find a review in the Globe. I was there for the concert. At this point no specific memories stand out, but a general one of satisfaction.

So I definitely recommend listening to WCRB on air or on line this evening at 7:00 or 8:00*, Boston Time.

*There is some confusion. The web page says 7:00, but on Twitter they've been saying 8:00. Better check at 7:00 to be sure.

Tanglewood — 2017/08/11-13

This week I'll be able to enjoy the concerts live, barring unforeseen developments. A friend from the Syracuse area and I will meet a fellow blogger/tweeter from Western PA at Tanglewood. It's a weekend of mostly standard repertoire, the most challenging of which is Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." The only new piece is "Incantesimi," a curtain raiser by Julian Anderson, which was given its American premiere last January by the BSO. Christoph von Dohnányi had been scheduled to conduct back then and this weekend, but health considerations forced him to cancel both times, and both times, Juanjo Mena is his replacement. I posted about it on January 28, and you can see my comments and the links there. Briefly, I found it pretty good, and I recommend reading the program notes in advance and maybe even while listening on Saturday evening.


Friday, August 11, 2017,  brings us the "dreaded Rite of Spring," but not till we've heard some Dvořák and Brahms and refreshed ourselves during the intermission. Here's more from the BSO's own performance detail page, taking the pieces out of performance order as is their wont:

Violinist Gil Shaham and cellist Alisa Weilerstein join forces on Friday, August 11, for a performance of Brahms's Double Concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra, with Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the BSO. Brahms composed the concerto-his final orchestral work-as an olive branch to his old friend and close musical collaborator Joseph Joachim, with whom he'd had a falling out over Joachim's divorce. Also on the program are Dvořák's Carnival Overture and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, the score to an intensely dramatic ballet and on its own some of the most dramatic music ever written.

(Some emphasis supplied.)

See the performance detail page also for the usual links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios.


Saturday, August 12, 2017.  The concert begins with "Incantesimi," and the program detail page tells about that and the rest of the concert:

Conductor Juanjo Mena leads the BSO in Julian Anderson'sIncantesimi, a BSO-commissioned work that receives its American premiere with the BSO in January 2017.Incantesimi is a study in long lines, using "five musical ideas that orbit each other in ever-differing relationships." Mr. Mena and the orchestra are then joined by violinist Nikolaj Znaider for Brahms's lyrical and refined Violin Concerto. The BSO closes out the program with Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, one of the composer's most popular works.

At the advice of his doctors, Maestro Christoph von Dohnányi regrets that he cannot appear with the Boston Symphony this summer at Tanglewood. He is continuing to heal from a fall he suffered earlier this year and looks forward to leading the BSO as scheduled in November. Conductor Juanjo Mena steps in for Maestro von Dohnányi on Saturday, August 12, on a program featuring violinist Nikolaj Znaider performing Brahms's Violin Concerto. The program also includes Julian Anderson's Incantesimi and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7

(Some emphasis supplied.)

The usual links are on the performance detail page.


Sunday, August 13, 2017.  Read all about it on the program detail page and the material at the links there:

On Sunday, August 13, young Israeli conductor Lahav Shani makes his BSO debut on a program featuring Tanglewood regular, violinist Joshua Bell in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.  Mr. Shani also lead the BSO in the overture to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Schubert's Symphony in C, The Great. The composer's ultimate symphony (in both senses of the word: it is his biggest and last work in the genre), the C major was famously praised for its "heavenly length" by Robert Schumann, who observed also that it "transports us into a world we cannot recall ever having been before."

(Some emphasis added.)


It looks like a great series of concerts. You can listen on air or on line over the facilities of WCRB at 8:00 p.m. EDT Friday and Saturday, and 7:00 p.m. Sunday. Their homepage also gives links to a lot of other programming information.

Enjoy the shows.

BSO — 2017/01/28

A brief new piece and by two familiar ones make up today's concert. The orchestra's program detail page gives further information.

Juanjo Mena leads the American premiere of the fine English composer Julian Anderson's Incantesimi, co-commissioned by the BSO, the Royal Philharmonic Society, and the Berlin Philharmonic, which gave the world premiere in June 2016. Incantesimi is a study in long lines, using "five musical ideas that orbit each other in ever-differing relationships." French pianist/composer Jean-Frédéric Neuburger-introduced to BSO audiences in the 2014-15 season via the world premiere of his composition Aube-makes his BSO debut as piano soloist in Robert Schumann's passionate, lyrical Piano Concerto, which began life as a single-movement work and was written for Schumann's wife Clara, one of the great pianists of the age. Franz Schubert wrote his towering orchestral masterpiece, the so-called Great C major symphony, toward the end of his short life. Its exact dates have never been established, but he composed this formally and harmonically innovative piece at around the same time Beethoven wrote his Ninth Symphony.

Christoph von Dohnányi, upon the advice of his physician, cannot travel at this time due to the flu and has regretfully cancelled his engagement to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra, January 26-28. Conductor Juanjo Mena will replace Mr. Dohnányi for these concerts, also featuring pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, as well as the American premiere of Julian Anderson's Incantesimi, a BSO co-commission. The program remains the same.

(Some emphasis added.)

The reviews are very favorable, both in the Globe and in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. I was there on Thursday and greatly enjoyed it. The Anderson piece is certainly modern, but with the help of the BSO podcast and the program notes, it made sense. I didn't catch all the elements that they talked about, so I'm definitely looking forward to the chance to hear it again. The Schumann was pleasant throughout. I had been afraid that the Schubert would be too much, but it never was. At some point in the fourth movement, I realized that the conductor had kept it light throughout. It kept moving, and remained interesting, never dragging. The reviewers say the same thing in their own words.

I definitely recommend listening over WCRB at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. Check out their website for all sorts of information about their BSO programs and other features.

BSO/Classical New England — 2016/07/02

This is the final weekend before the Boston Symphony begins its Tanglewood season. In the regular 8:00 p.m. time slot, WCRB will give will give us a rebroadcast of the concert given on October 31, 2015. I posted about it at the time. If you got there, you'll find that I liked it better than the reviewer in the Boston Globe. Here's a listing of the contents from the station's BSO page.

In an encore broadcast, Pinchas Zukerman is both the conductor and violin soloist in a program that includes Tchaikovsky's Mélodie, Andante cantabile, and Serenade, Elgar's Chanson de la nuit, and Schubert's Symphony No. 5.

(Most emphasis added.)

As always you can hear it over the air at FM 99.5, if you're within range, or on line via a link on their homepage. I'm looking forward to another hearing.


The BSO page also gives, among other things, a schedule of the broadcasts for the Tanglewood season, which, as noted, begins next week. There are numerous concerts through the week and on the weekends. WCRB broadcasts and streams the major three of each weekend: Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sunday afternoon. But this year, they will only transmit the Friday and Saturday concerts live at 8:00 p.m.. The 2:30 p.m. Sunday concerts will be transmitted on Sunday evenings at 7:00. I'm disappointed that they won't be broadcast live, although the delay will probably make it more convenient for me to listen, since there will not be regular competition with the Red Sox games on TV. At any rate, get set for three straight evenings from Tanglewood on weekends beginning on July 8 and continuing through August 27 (ending on Saturday this year rather than Sunday).

Since I will not have heard the programs earlier in the week, and no reviews will be available at my "press time," I'll only have links to the preview materials on the orchestras website and WCRB's, with maybe an occasional remark about a piece I'm familiar with — no extensive personal comments.

BSO — 2015/10/29-31

This week's Boston Symphony is pleasant music throughout — nothing challenging for listeners or, I suppose, performers, with music by Tchaikovsky, Elgar, and Schubert.  We read, on their performance detail page:

Violinist/conductor Pinchas Zukerman returns to the BSO podium in both roles in two short, beautiful Tchaikovsky works for violin and orchestra [Mélodie and Sérénade Mélancolique], and to lead the composer's famous Serenade for Strings. Edward Elgar's warmhearted Chanson de nuit is one of two brief pieces originally for solo violin and piano (the other being Chanson de matin), later rescored for orchestra. Franz Schubert wrote his charming, four-movement Symphony No. 5 when he was just nineteen. Its balance of materials and control of the orchestra show the influence of Mozart and Beethoven.

Join the conversation online by using #BSOZukerman for this concert series or #BSO1516 on your social networks to discover the excitement of the season and connect with one another!

(Some emphasis added.)

See that page also for links to audio previews, program notes, their new "media center," and performer bio for Mr. Zukerman. Surprisingly, two of the five pieces are getting their first performances by the BSO — the two curtain raisers by Tchaikovsky — and the Elgar was never played by them in Symphony Hall.

As of this writing, there is no review yet in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Boston Globe has an unflattering review, finding the leadership of Maestro Zukerman uninspired and recalling superior performances of the main works by the orchestra in recent years. I was there on Thursday evening, and I found no fault with how anything was played. There's a lot to be said for a concert that's all "easy listening." But I was extremely annoyed by Zukerman's gesture when taking his bow at the end. He raised his hands about to shoulder level and made beckoning gestures with his fingers. The reviewer writes,

Taking his bows at the end of the night, Zukerman gestured to the crowd with his hands, as if to raise the level of the volume of the applause. There are other ways to do so.

I agree completely. The audience responded at once with cheers and much louder applause. I immediately walked out of the auditorium in disgust at the uncouth and unprofessional action. In my annoyance, I thought that Mr. Zukerman may have realized that his choice of unspectacular music didn't give the audience anything to go wild about, and maybe he thought the orchestra deserved a warmer ovation. (I later had the uncharitable thought that he chose pieces within his current capabilities as a violinist and as a conductor.) But it's an insult to the audience to tell them that they aren't applauding enough. I'm sorry many in the audience fell for it, and I wish I had had the presence of mind to boo the gesture before I left. Fortunately, if he does it again on Saturday, you won't see it over the radio or the internet.

Despite the unfortunate extraneous business at the end, I think the concert is worth listening to. You can do so over the radio and streaming facilities of WCRB — as you know by now, unless you're new to this blog. As usual, the live broadcast/webstream is on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, with a rerun on Monday, November 9, also at 8:00. The station's BSO page includes a link to an audio piece which, after looking back to the "Elektra" of two weeks ago, includes interviews with Mr. Zukerman and, unrelated to the BSO, with the mandolinist who will take over as host of "A Prairie Home Companion," Chris Thile.

Enjoy.

Tanglewood — 2015/07/31-08/02

This weekend brings us a number of familiar works from the core repertoire, works that would have been familiar and well-received a century ago, along with a couple of more recent pieces.


Friday, July 31.  The Friday concert is in a traditional format, with a curtain-raiser followed by another, longer piece. The major offering follows the intermission. Here's the BSO performance detail page's description:

Boston Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur will lead a program opening with the overture to Weber's Der Freischütz, followed by Schubert's Symphony No. 4, Tragic,  and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, with soloist Garrick Ohlsson.

(Some emphasis added.)

The page also notes that this is an "Underscore Friday," with a brief introduction from the stage by one of the musicians. It also gives the usual links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios.

The Weber overture is a thrilling piece containing some of the best themes from the opera — a very fine choice to open the concert. The Emperor concerto is one of Beethoven's greatest achievements, in my opinion. I have a dinner engagement that evening and I'll almost certainly miss the first half of the concert, but I hope to be home in time to hear the whole Beethoven concerto. It should all be enjoyable if you have a chance to listen.


Saturday, August 1.  For some reason, the BSO website isn't showing the program for this evening — although it was there when I began writing this post a half hour or so ago.* WCRB tells us:

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in Beethoven's "Triple" Concerto, with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, violinist Renaud Capuçon, and cellist Gautier Capuçon, and the Symphony No. 10 by Shostakovich.

(Emphasis added.)

While the Triple concerto may not be quite at the pinnacle occupied by the "Emperor" — having been composed with Beethoven's piano pupil the Archduke Rudolf, a talented amateur, as the intended soloist, rather than Beethoven himself or a good professional — it is definitely worth hearing. I don't recall the Shostakovich specifically. I'll just say that Shostakovich's music can be powerful but challenging.


Sunday, August 2.  The BSO gives us the following on their performance detail page:

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons will conduct Haydn's Symphony no. 90, Dean's Dramatis personae featuring trumpet player Håkan Hardenberger, and Strauss's Don Quixote with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violist Steven Ansell.

(Some emphasis added.)

There are full program notes and an audio preview of the Haydn linked on the BSO page. As noted there, Hardenberger was the soloist for the American premiere by the BSO last November. I reviewed it at the time** and liked it more than I had expected. I'm looking forward to hearing it again. The Strauss is being performed in observance of the 400th anniversary of the publication of Part II of Don Quixote.


The concerts can be heard via WCRB radio or web: Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m., Sunday at 2:30 — all Boston Time. Their BSO page, in addition to the description of the Saturday concert posted above, gives similar information about the remaining Tanglewood concert broadcasts along with an overview of the upcoming Symphony Hall season and various other interesting items and links.


* After drafting this post, I set it aside overnight, and now the BSO performance detail page is back, with the usual links to background material.


** "Spoiler" In my review of the Dean piece, I refer to a composer I was reminded of by the third part of the work. If you want to know who it is, it's Charles Ives.

BSO — 2014/10/30-11/04

This week the two S's, Sibelius and Schubert (or three if you count Symphony). Here's how the orchestra's performance detail page puts it:

Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena, chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, is joined by the fine German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann for Sibelius's great Violin Concerto. The Finnish composer wrote this work between 1902 and 1905, and Richard Strauss led the premiere of the definitive version. A violinist himself, Sibelius is said to have worked out his one-time ambition to become a concert virtuoso with this three-movement concerto, which features the composer's distinctive, Finnish folk music-influenced flavors in a work by turns fiery and lyrical. Franz Schubert wrote his towering orchestral masterpiece, the so-calledGreat C major symphony, toward the end of his short life. Its exact dates have never been established, but he wrote this formally and harmonically innovative piece at around the same time Beethoven wrote his Ninth Symphony.

(Some emphasis added.)

As always, the page has links to audio previews, program notes, and performer bios.

I was in the hall for Thursday's performance, and I enjoyed it a lot. The cadenza in the middle of the first movement of the Sibelius did not seem as long as the program note led me to expect. Come to think of it, nothing seemed long. Even the Schubert never seemed overlong. Every moment was welcome. There are pieces in which I have found myself thinking, "Enough!" but despite this symphony's oft-remarked length, it never felt like too much. There may have been a few technical lapses along the way, but nothing serious, nothing that could spoil the enjoyment of an evening of good music well played. (I'm beginning to wonder if I have some hearing loss. The brass don't overpower as they used to and the various sections of the orchestra seem more distinct. But reviewers have remarked on the latter phenomenon, so I hope it's the conductors who get the credit.)

For technical explanations, I turn to the published reviews. First, the Boston Globe. Then there is this from the dissatisfied reviewer in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. Maybe it was the speed that helped with the Schubert. It certainly never dragged, as it sometimes seems to.

You can form your own opinions if you listen this evening or November 10 at 8:00 p.m. over WCRB on air or via web stream. The station also has their own Boston Symphony page with symphony broadcast schedules and links to on-demand concerts from the past 12 months and lots of interviews.

Enjoy.

BSO — 2014/10/09-11

This evening Christian Zacharias conducts the orchestra in music of Schubert to open and close the concert and solos in a Mozart piano concerto before intermission. Here's the description from the orchestra's performance detail page:

The German pianist-conductor Christian Zacharias returns to the BSO in his dual role for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, performing from the keyboard as Mozart would have done for most of his concerto premieres during his Vienna years. This concerto, one of the composer's most joyous, may have been written for and premiered (in June 1784) by his student Barbara Ployer. Music by Mozart's Viennese successor Franz Schubert opens and closes the program. Schubert's familiar music for the 1823 play Rosamunde has had a successful life in the concert hall, although the play itself was a failure and has long since been lost. Completing the program is one of Schubert's most popular works, the haunting, two-movement Unfinished Symphony in B minor.

(Some emphasis added.)
That page is also where you can go for links to audio previews, program notes, and a performer bio.

This concert is not part of my subscription, so I can't offer my own thoughts about it. The Globe review, well-focused on the music, is generally favorable, with a couple of reservations. The reviewer in the Boston Musical Intelligencer also gave a generally favorable review. While they gave most praise to different aspects, they both found it worth hearing.

Hearing it is what you can do by radio or internet via WCRB this evening at 8:00 or Monday evening October 20, also at 8:00. It will also be available for a year for on-demand listening over the web. The station's BSO page gives the complete season broadcast/webstream schedule along with links to numerous interviews and on-demand concerts. Enjoy.

If you missed last week's Beethoven, Bartók, Tchaikovsky concert, it will be the broadcast/stream on Monday the 13th at 8:00 p.m., following the usual pattern of rebroadcasts.

Tanglewood — 2014/08/22-24

The last weekend of the BSO's Tanglewood season concludes, as usual, with a Sunday matinee performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with Charles Dutoit conducting. The symphony will be preceded by the composer's Choral Fantasy with Yefim Bronfman as piano soloist. Before that, on Friday evening, there will be chamber music; and on Saturday, there's an Italian (largely Roman) theme.


Friday August 22  The score by Harold Arlen to the movie The Wizard of Oz will be played by the Boston Pops under Keith Lockhart. Apparently, there is no permission from the copyright holders to broadcast it, because WCRB will be substituting a concert recorded on July 1. The performance detail page lists the performers and works to be performed but lacks most of the usual links to background information. We find this information on the WCRB BSO page:

On Friday, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players celebrate 50 years as an ensemble in a concert that includes Yehudi Wyner's Into the Evening Air, Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp, and Schubert's Octet. (recorded July 1)

(Some emphasis added.)

It might be interesting to hear the new piece by Wyner, and I'm sure the Schubert will be enjoyable. I'm not sure about the Debussy: I don't enjoy most of his music very much, but I'm not familiar with the flute sonata; so we'll see.


Saturday August 23  Saturday brings a more conventional program. Here's how the performance detail page puts it:

Charles Dutoit returns to the podium to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra. An Italian-themed program on August 23 begins with Berlioz's colorful Roman Carnival Overture and continues with Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, featuring pianist Kirill Gerstein as soloist. Completing the program is Respighi's scintillatingly orchestrated trio of Rome-centric tone poems: Roman Festivals, Fountains of Rome, and Pines of Rome.

(Some emphasis added.)

The usual links to performer bios, audio previews, and program notes can be found on that page as well. This should be quite a rousing concert.


Sunday August 24  It has become customary to close the BSO's Tanglewood season with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. As noted above, this year it is preceded by the Choral Fantasy. Consult the performance detail page for links to program notes, an audio preview, and performer bios. It gives this description of the program:

On August 24, the BSO's Tanglewood season comes to a close with its traditional performance of Beethoven's transcendent Symphony No. 9. The final concert begins with Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, which also features pianist Yefim Bronfman and which was a clear precedent for the Ninth Symphony's choral movement. Vocal soloists include sopranos Nicole Cabell and Meredith Hansen, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford, tenors Noah Stewart and Alex Richardson, and bass-baritone John Relyea.

It should be good listening. I like the Choral Fantasy maybe even better than the Ninth Symphony, but certainly both are worth hearing.


WCRB will be broadcasting and streaming the Saturday and Sunday concerts live, as usual, in addition to the pre-recorded concert of Friday. After that, they go back to the regular schedule of presenting BSO concerts on Saturday evenings. Until the BSO begins the Symphony Hall season, the three intervening Saturdays will have rebroadcasts. The station's BSO page has descriptions of those concerts as well as this weekend's and other useful links about on-demand availability of earlier concerts etc.