Tanglewood — 2025/08/16-17

 A fairly standard couple of concerts remain for our listening pleasure this weekend. I'm sorry I got distracted and didn't post about the Friday offering.

August 16, 2025

Three front rank nineteenth century composers provided the music for this evening's program. Here's WCRB's description: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-05-27/handlers-boston-symphony-debut-with-hadelich-at-tanglewood

Saturday, August 16, 2025

8:00 PM

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Handler makes her Tanglewood and BSO debuts, conducting three major works from the Western classical tradition: Brahms’s Tragic Overture, Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with GRAMMY-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich.

Anna Handler, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

Johannes BRAHMS Tragic Overture
Robert SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto

See details of Augustin Hadelich's performances as the BSO's Artist-in-Residence during the 2025-2026 season.

To hear a preview of this program with conductor Anna Handler, use the player above.

The WCRB page has an audio interview with the conductor which could be interesting. There is no transcript, though.

The BSO's performance detail page https://www.bso.org/events/bso-august-16-augustin-hadelich?performance=2025-08-16-20%3A00 has the usual links to performer bios and program notes.

August 17, 2025

Tomorrow's concert, which we can hear at 7:00 p.m., Boston Time, gives us music by and about Sibelius along with a piano concerto. WCRB's synopsis follows: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-05-27/thibaudet-and-liszts-second-piano-concerto-at-tanglewood

Sunday, August 17, 2025
7:00 PM

Superstar pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins Dima Slobodeniouk in the Berkshires to perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on a program that also features two works by Sibelius and Threnody, an homage to the Finnish composer, written by William Grant Still.

Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

William Grant STILL Threnody (In Memory of Jan Sibelius) 
Franz LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2
Jean SIBELIUS Valse triste 
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 3

For links to the performer bios and program notes, go to the BSO's performance detail page:

https://www.bso.org/events/bso-august-17-jean-yves-thibau?performance=2025-08-17-14%3A30

These should be two very enjoyable evenings.

BSO — 2023/03/04

 WCRB says:

Saturday, March 4, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, March 13

André Raphel conducts the Boston Symphony in the first part of “Voices of Loss, Reckoning, and Hope,” including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Petite Suite and William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony, as well as Uri Caine’s The Passion of Octavius Catto, commemorating the life of the 19th century civil rights pioneer.

André Raphel, conductor
Barbara Walker, vocalist
Uri Caine Trio
Catto Chorus

Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Petite Suite de Concert
William Grant STILL Symphony No. 1, Afro-American
Uri CAINE The Passion of Octavius Catto

LOUD SOUND WARNING: About 25 minutes into The Passion of Octavius Catto, a starter's pistol is fired several times.

Read program notes for this concert

To hear a preview of the program with André Raphel, use the player above, and read the transcript below:

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with André Raphel, who is here with the Boston Symphony for a fascinating program:

And here's the synopsis from the performance detail page:

American conductor André Raphel leads this first program in a series exploring complex social issues. The centerpiece of these concerts is Philadelphia jazz pianist and composer Uri Caine’s gospel and popular music-based The Passion of Octavius Catto, which tells of the 19th-century civil rights leader’s fight for justice. English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s charming potpourri Petite Suite de Concert dates from about 1911. In four movements, “Longing,” “Sorrow,” “Humor,” and “Aspiration,” William Grant Still’s 1930 Afro-American Symphony, his best-known work, is a blues-tinged panorama of the composer’s heritage.

Festival: Voices of Loss, Reckoning, and Hope is supported by the generosity of the Elinor V. Crawford Living Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation.

Support for these performances of “The Passion of Octavius Catto” has been generously provided by Vita L. Weir and Edward Brice, Jr., and Pamela Everhart and Karl Coiscou.

---

André Raphel, conductor
Uri Caine Trio
Uri Caine, piano
Mike Boone, bass
Clarence Penn, drums
Barbara Walker, vocalist
Catto Chorus

COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Petite Suite de Concert 
STILL Symphony No. 1, Afro-American
---- Intermission----

Uri CAINE The Passion of Octavius Catto

There is not a review but a preview of this and the next two weeks in the Globe.  The Intelligencer has nothing I could find. Since it wasn't part of my subscription, I can't shed any light beyond what you read in the BSO's program notes, other than to say that I have generally good impressions of Coleridge-Taylor and Still and no idea about Caine.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/02/25

The orchestra isn't performing in Symphony Hall this week, so WCRB is treating us to an encore broadcast as noted here:

Saturday, February 25, 2023
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, Lisa Batiashvili is the soloist in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, and Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in William Grant Still's tribute to the Finnish composer, as well as a Symphonic Fantasy on Richard Strauss's opera "The Woman Without a Shadow," in an encore broadcast on CRB.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Lisa Batiashvili, violin

STILL Threnody: In Memory of Jan Sibelius
STRAUSS Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten
SIBELIUS Violin Concerto

This concert was originally broadcast on October 16, 2021 and is no longer available on demand.

Hear a conversation with Lisa Batiashvili and CRB's Brian McCreath with the audio player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: 

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath from

I wrote about it at the time it was performed, and I have nothing to add except that my vague memory is that it was okay.

The links to the reviews in my post still work, but the one to the performance detail page doesn't. It is archived here. The links to the notes on each piece still work there.

WCRB doesn't promise another rebroadcast nine days hence, and based on past practice I wouldn't expect one. So "it's now or never." Enjoy.

Tanglewood — 2022/07/22-24

 Friday, July 22, 2022.

Here's WCRB's "just the facts" announcement of what we'll hear via their station this evening from Tanglewood:

Friday, July 22, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, Karina Canellakis returns to the Berkshires to lead the Boston Symphony in Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances,” and Emanuel Ax is the soloist in Chopin’s dramatic Piano Concerto No. 2.

Karina Canellakis, conductor 
Emanuel Ax, piano

Richard WAGNER Prelude to Lohengrin, Act 1
Frédéric CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances

The Wagner is kind of thrilling. We had (I still have somewhere) recordings of the Chopin piano concertos Dad liked them. I don't remember this one specifically, but both have some good music in them. The Rachmaninoff is okay, not on my top 100 list, but definitely tolerable. As you'd expect with dances, it's got a strong beat.

For further information, including program notes and performer information, check out the BSO's own performance detail page. 

Saturday, July 23, 2022.

On Saturday, we get the following:

Saturday, July 23, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday night at 8pm, in a concert by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Andris Nelsons leads Gustav Mahler’s meditation on grief and triumph, and soprano Christine Goerke sings a rarely heard work by Berlioz.

Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra 
Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Christine Goerke, soprano 

Hector BERLIOZ The Death of Cleopatra 
Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 5

You can usually count on Berlioz for good stuff. Mahler can be long winded, but the music is pretty good.

Here's the link to the BSO performance detail page, where you can find what they think about it.

 Sunday, July 24, 2022.

The BSO rounds out the weekend with this concert on Sunday:

Sunday, July 24, 2022
7:00 PM (delayed broadcast of 2:30 PM concert)

Sunday night at 7pm, soprano Latonia Moore sings George Walker’s BSO-commissioned “Lilacs,” and Seong-Jin Cho is the soloist in Brahms’s mighty Piano Concerto No. 2, all led by Andris Nelsons.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Latonia Moore, soprano
Seong-Jin Cho, piano

William Grant STILL In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy 
George WALKER Lilacs
Johannes BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2

"Everybody" like Brahms better than I do, so don't let me dissuade you from listening, even though I think I'll like the Still piece better. I have no idea about Walker's "Lilacs," but with new compositions "you pays your money (or listens in) and takes your chances." Unfortunately, the performance detail page doesn't seem to have a full program note for "Lilacs."

Remember that the Sunday concert broadcast begins at 7:00, Boston Time, not 8:00 as on Friday and Saturday.

BSO/Classical New England — 2021/12/04

 The BSO is off for December, and Holiday Pops has taken over Symphony Hall. WCRB will treat us to a performance of Holiday Pops on Sunday, December 19. On Saturdays we will, as usual, have rebroadcasts of earlier concerts. This week it will be the August 14, 2021 concert from Tanglewood, with a piece from August 2 added. WCRB tells us:

Saturday, December 4, 2021
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast from the 2021 Tanglewood season, the BSO Assistant Conductor leads Elgar’s "Enigma" Variations, Elena Langer’s "Figaro Gets a Divorce," and Ravel’s jazz-infused Piano Concerto in G, with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Saturday night at 8pm.

Recorded on Aug. 14, 2021, at the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood

Anna Rakitina, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Elena LANGER Suite from Figaro Gets a Divorce
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G
William Grant STILL Darker America (Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Adam Hickox, conductor; Aug. 2, 2021)
ELGAR Enigma Variations

Learn more about this concert and listen to interviews at the Tanglewood Learning Institute online.

I wrote about the August 14 concert back then. WCRB wasn't broadcasting the Friday concerts last summer because the BSO wasn't doing the playing. So I have nothing specific about the Still piece they're interpolating. My general impression, though, is that Still is pretty good, so it'll probably be worth hearing.

The August 14 concert was favorably reviewed in the Intelligencer and in the Globe.

So it seems we're in for a good evening of pre-recorded music from the BSO. Enjoy.

BSO — 2021/10/16

 WCRB gives the basics about this evening's concert (plus an interview with the soloist):

Lisa Batiashvili is the soloist in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, and Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in William Grant Still's tribute to the Finnish composer, as well as a Symphonic Fantasy on Richard Strauss's opera "The Woman Without a Shadow," Saturday night at 8pm.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Lisa Batiashvili, violin

STILL Threnody: In Memory of Jan Sibelius
STRAUSS Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten
SIBELIUS Violin Concerto

To hear Lisa Batiashvili describe her deep history with Sibelius's concerto and much more, click on the player above.

Interview transcript:

The BSO performance detail page has links to program notes, performer bios (click on the thumbnails), and this description:

Acclaimed Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili returns to Symphony Hall for performances of Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto. A violinist himself, Sibelius employed his distinctive, Finnish folk music-influenced style in this fiery and lyrical concerto, the final version of which was premiered under Richard Strauss’s direction in 1905. Strauss’s own Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten (“Woman Without a Shadow”) is a 1946 distillation of his fabulist 1919 opera; the BSO hasn’t played music from the opera since the 1960s under Erich Leinsdorf. The concert opens with the great American composer William Grant Still’s Threnody: In Memoriam Jan Sibelius, composed in 1965. Though from very different traditions, Still and Sibelius were known to admire one another’s music.

It might be useful to read the notes about the Still and Strauss pieces. The review in the Globe is enthusiastic, that in the Intelligencer more curmudgeonly, though informative about the music.

I wasn't there on Thursday, so I can't comment. I can say that I'm curious to hear the unfamiliar music before the intermission, and I generally find Sibelius worth hearing.

So, I'd say it's worth listening to this one on WCRB at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.