BSO — 2025/11/08

 Tonight the BSO gives us a tribute to long time maestro Seiji Ozawa with Japanese conductor and violin soloist and a piece by a Japanese composer — all with connections to Ozawa. We find the following at WCRB's website: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-10/okisawas-bso-debut-and-tribute-to-seiji-ozawassical Music on WCRB

                Saturday, November 8, 2025

                8:00 PM

Japanese conductor Nodoka Okisawa, a protégée of former BSO Music Director Seiji Ozawa, makes her BSO debut with Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony and Takemitsu’s Requiem for strings, a work Stravinsky hailed as a masterpiece. The Ozawa tribute continues with Midori, a longtime Ozawa collaborator, as soloist in Dvořák’s Violin Concerto.

Nodoka Okisawa, conductor
Midori, violin

Tōru TAKEMITSU Requiem for strings
Antonín DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7

Learn about Seiji Ozawa's history and incredible legacy with the BSO.

See 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 Nodoka Okisawa, who's here with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the very first time. Ms. Okisawa, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it.

Nodoka Okisawa Thank you so much

Here's how the BSO introduces the concert on their performance detail page: https://www.bso.org/events/nov-6-8-takemitsu-dvorak?performance=2025-11-08-20:00

Boston Symphony Orchestra Nodoka Okisawa, conductor Midori, violin TAKEMITSU Requiem for strings  DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto       intermissionDVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7  

Japanese conductor Nodoka Okisawa was mentored by longtime BSO Music Director Seiji Ozawa, who appointed her the first principal guest conductor of the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto (formerly Saito Kinen) Festival. She makes her BSO debut, leading a program that is the first in our series of concerts examining the last three symphonies of Antonín Dvořák, whose work Ozawa especially loved. She is joined by beloved violinist Midori, a longtime Ozawa collaborator. The great Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, whose work Ozawa and the BSO promoted, was one of the first composers to gain a reputation in the West with his Requiem for strings — a work deemed a masterpiece by Igor Stravinsky.

As is often the case, there are links to performer bios and program notes. Click on the arrows.

I don't see a review in the lGlobe. The one in the Intelligencer https://www.classical-scene.com/2025/11/08/okisawa-midori/ is largely favorable but complains at several points that the orchestra was playing too loudly.

It seems this will be worth hearing.

BSO — 2017/04/29

This week's concert was definitely okay, and I'll listen to the broadcast this evening; but I'm not at all tempted to get a ticket and go back and hear it again in the hall on Tuesday. Here is how the orchestra's program detail page describes it (with a notable omission):
Continuing Andris Nelsons' and the BSO's traversal of the complete Shostakovich symphonies is the composer's Symphony No. 6, composed on the eve of World War II and following on the unmitigated success of his Symphony No. 5. Although overshadowed by the Fifth and Seventh (Leningrad), the Sixth is unmistakably Shostakovich in its sardonic humor and melancholy slow movement. The superb German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter opens the concert with Tchaikovsky's evergreen Violin Concerto, among the most popular works in the repertoire. Known for her exploration of contemporary repertoire, Ms. Mutter also performs Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu's 1987 homage to the phenomenal Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky [Nostalghia (In Memory of Andrej Tarkovskij)]. Takemitsu, himself a celebrated film composer, titled this atmospheric piece for violin and strings after one of Tarkovsky's late masterpieces.
(Most emphasis added.)

The omission is that the blurb fails to mention the Shostakovich Festive Overture, which opens the program. I guess the curtain raiser was an afterthought. It is, however, listed at the bottom of the page as part of the program. The page contains the usual links to podcast, performer bios, program notes, and audio previews.

The generally favorable reviews in the Globe and the Boston Musical Intelligencer, although differing on certain points, at least give a good idea of the music itself.Overall, though, I just didn't enjoy most of it. The opening Festive Overture was fun — nothing too serious, just loud, lively, and cheerful. In the Tchaikovsky, I found Ms. Mutter's tone harsh much of the time, especially on the lower strings, except in the second movement. The familiar sections often seemed strangely played, and the surrounding parts didn't seem related to them. I think the BMInt reviewer had the same feeling.

After intermission, the Takemitsu piece was better than I expected. I think of his music as unpleasant, but "Nostalghia" was calm and almost beautiful. But to me it was also dull and overlong. The first movement of the Shostakovich was also dull and overlong. The rest was livelier. Some of, as suggested by the program note sounded like "Rossini meets Prokofiev." So, while it had its moments, overall it was a disappointment.

As I said at the beginning, I will be listening to this evening's performance over WCRB at 8:00 Boston Time (EDT) and/or the rebroadcast/webstream on Monday, May 8. Maybe it will sound better the second time around. Listen in and see what you think, although I wouldn't blame you for deciding at some point that you've  heard enough and switching to something else. Maybe listening to the station's podcast in advance will make it more enjoyable.