BSO/Classical New England — 2024/09/21

 This evening we get the last of the encore broadcasts before live BSO concerts resum at Symphony Hall.

WCRB informs us:

Saturday, September 21, 2024
8:00pm

In an encore broadcast, Hilary Hahn returns to Symphony Hall and the Boston Symphony as the soloist in the Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms. The program, led by Andris Nelsons, also includes Mozart’s charming, lesser-known Symphony No. 33 and Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s orchestrally imaginative Archora, inspired by the primordial energy of her Icelandic homeland.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Archora 
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART Symphony No. 33
Johannes BRAHMS Violin Concerto

This concert was originally broadcast on April 20, 2024, and is no longer available on demand.

To hear a preview of Brahms's Violin Concerto with Hilary Hahn, as well as her reflections of her #100daysofpractice Instagram series, use the player above and read the transcript below.

Hear more from Hilary Hahn, with Jeremy Siegel, on GBH's Morning Edition.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Hilary Hahn

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

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Hilary Hahn, violin

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Archora
MOZART Symphony No. 33
Intermission
BRAHMS Violin Concerto

Thursday evening's performance by Hilary Hahn is supported by the Roberta M. Strang Memorial Fund.
Thursday evening’s concert is in memory of Eric N. Birch, supported by Sandra O. Moose.
Friday afternoon's concert is supported by the Plimpton Shattuck Fund.
Saturday evening’s performance by Hilary Hahn is supported by Jerry Nelson
Support for this program has been provided, in part, by the E. Nakamichi Foundation

Opening the program is Wolfgang Mozart’s charming Symphony No. 33, followed by Anna Thorvaldsdottir's monumental work Archora, a recording of which was named among the best of 2023 by the Boston Globe, New York Times, and NPR. Closing the program, international star Hilary Hahn is soloist in one of the greatest works in the repertoire: Brahms’s Violin Concerto. Brahms composed this rich, lyrical work in 1878 for, and with the advice of, his friend Joseph Joachim, a towering virtuoso of the age.

I posted about it at the time and concluded "The program wasn't part of my subscription, so I can't give you any personal impressions. The review in the Globe was favorable and gives an encouraging overview of the Thorvaldsdottir piece. The Intelligencer is also favorable, with a more detailed description of the Thorvaldsdottir.

"All in all, this semms like a concert worth hearing."

BSO — 2024/04/20

 This evening the BSO will give us a couple of pieces from the standard repertory along with one unfamiliar item to open. Here's the summary from WCRB:

Saturday, April 20, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, April 29

Hilary Hahn returns to Symphony Hall and the Boston Symphony as the soloist in the Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms. The program, led by Andris Nelsons, also includes Mozart’s charming, lesser-known Symphony No. 33 and Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s orchestrally imaginative Archora, inspired by the primordial energy of her Icelandic homeland.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Archora 
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART Symphony No. 33
Johannes BRAHMS Violin Concerto

To hear a preview of Brahms's Violin Concerto with Hilary Hahn, as well as her reflections of her #100daysofpractice Instagram series, use the player above and read the transcript below.

Hear more from Hilary Hahn, with Jeremy Siegel, on GBH's Morning Edition.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Hilary Hahn, who has returned to the Boston Symphony for the Violin 

The BSO performance detail page has the following overall description:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA 

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Hilary Hahn, violin 

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Archora
MOZART Symphony No. 33
Intermission
BRAHMS Violin Concerto

[…]

Opening the program is Wolfgang Mozart’s charming Symphony No. 33, followed by Anna Thorvaldsdottir's monumental work Archora, a recording of which was named among the best of 2023 by the Boston Globe, New York Times, and NPR. Closing the program, international star Hilary Hahn is soloist in one of the greatest works in the repertoire: Brahms’s Violin Concerto. Brahms composed this rich, lyrical work in 1878 for, and with the advice of, his friend Joseph Joachim, a towering virtuoso of the age. 

The program notes are all linked, and could be interesting previews.

The program wasn't part of my subscription, so I can't give you any personal impressions. The review in the Globe was favorable and gives an encouraging overview of the Thorvaldsdottir piece. The Intelligencer is also favorable, with a more detailed description of the Thorvaldsdottir.

All in all, this semms like a concert worth hearing.

BSO/Classical New England — 2020/10/17

This evening, WCRB gives an encore broadcast of the concert given on March 7, 2020. It was last concert they gave in Symphony Hall before the pandemic forced a shutdown; and a couple of days ago the orchestra announced that the entire 2020-21 season has been cancelled. (Previously, they had only cancelled through December 31. So this evening you get to hear the last notes they will have played in Symphony Hall at least until September, 2021. (Maybe they'll be able to do something at Tanglewood next summer.)

And what, you may ask, was this concert, historic in its own way? Unfortunately, I only posted about it after the event, and that very briefly. Here, with appropriate edits, is what I said:

Last Saturday's concert was worth hearing … . It included a recent piece by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, a Prokofiev piano concerto, and a Sibelius Symphony. See the performance detail page for more information. There was a favorab;e review in the Intelligencer; the Globe review was mixed.

This is how that performance detail page described it (note also the usual links):

Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu and the BSO are joined by the young Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho, 2015 winner of the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition. In his BSO debut, he performs Prokofiev’s difficult but sparkling Piano Concerto No. 2. Hannu Lintu also leads the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, probably his most widely popular symphony. The composer’s folk-music-influenced but unique and sophisticated voice is clearly heard in this beloved piece. Lintu also introduces to the BSO repertoire music by the contemporary Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, whose work has a physical, protean power not unrelated to Sibelius’ music. She earned her doctorate at the University of California, San Diego, and her music has been performed by such ensembles as the New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin philharmonic orchestras.

(All emphasis added.)

The title of the Thorvaldsdottir piece, not given in the above excerpt, is "Metacosmos."

The reviews I mentioned are here for the Globe and here for the Intelligencer.

So definitely, give it a listen if you can this evening at 8:00 over WCRB.