WCRB/Tanglewood — 2020/08/21-23

When there are concerts at Tanglewood, WCRB has broadcast the Friday and Saturday evening concerts live at 8:00 p.m. and delayed broadcasting the Sunday afternoon concert until 7:00 p.m. We get something similar this weekend, with concerts all three evenings.

The Friday and Saturday concerts are being given as part of a mini-series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Those two concerts long antedate my presence on the internet, so I have no omments of my own from the time of performance. For years now, Beethoven's 9th Symphony has concluded the Tanglewood season.


Friday, August 21, 2020.   Haydn's The Creation (libretto) https://www.classicalwcrb.org/sites/wcrb/files/202008/twd_930815_creation.pdf, conducted by Simon Rattle on Aug. 15, 1993.

This should be well worth hearing.


Saturday, August 22, 2020.  Berlioz's Requiem, conducted by Seiji Ozawa on Aug. 5, 1995.

A spectacular piece, not to be missed.

Sunday, August 23, 2020. Here's WCRB's description:

This Sunday at 7, Andris Nelsons leads the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and its "Ode to Joy," at Tanglewood.

Sunday, August 23, 2020

7:00 PM

This encore broadcast was originally recorded on Sunday, August 27, 2017.

Boston Symphony Orchestra/ Andris Nelsons, conductor/ Katie Van Kooten, soprano/ Tamara Mumford, mezzo-soprano/ Russell Thomas, tenor/ John Relyea, bass-baritone/ Tanglewood Festival Chorus

THOMPSON Alleluia

    (recorded on July 7, 1994, at Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood)

IVES “The Housatonic at Stockbridge” from Three Places in New England 

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

Here's what I wrote at the time:

For several years, the Beethoven 9th was the only piece performed at the Sunday afternoon season finale. Recently, there has been a curtain raiser to precede it, as is the case this year. Again, the performance detail page gives some particulars:

For the second year in a row, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in its traditional season-ending performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Sunday, August 27. The performance features soprano Katie Van Kooten in her BSO and Tanglewood debuts; mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford; tenor Russell Thomas; and bass-baritone John Relyea, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Maestro Nelsons and the BSO open the program with Charles Ives's tribute to Western Massachusetts, "The Housatonic at Stockbridge" from Three Places in New England.

(Some emphasis added.)

Remember, WCRB broadcasts and streams the Saturday concert at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, and the Sunday concert by tape delay at 7:00 p.m. Check out their website for the other material they have.

Enjoy the concerts!

Haydn — "The Creation"

Actually, it was "Die Schöpfung," since they performed it in German.

In this case "they" are Boston Baroque, and I attended their performance on Friday evening, October 21. The review in the Boston Globe praised conductor Martin Pearlman and the soloists and orchestra, and only faulted the chorus for unclear "diction." It's a piece with many excellent moments. I'm somewhat familiar with it from recordings, and it was good to hear it done in a very good live performance.

The decision to go was very much last-minute. I had only started to think about it on Thursday, and bough the tickets by phone on Friday afternoon. My arrival was also last-minute, as I was a bit late leaving home, and my subway connections got me to Jordan Hall at almost 8:10. The orchestra was tuning as I entered the auditorium. I had been afraid I'd miss the overture, but fortunately Maestro Pearlman had decided to wait for me. LOL

They are also recording the oratorio. I've stopped buying recordings, but if you like Haydn, I expect the recording to be worth buying.