Classical music — orchestral and opera — has been one of my major interests for most of my life. I'll use this blog to tell about some of the concerts I'm attending and the opportunities to listen to some of them and other good programs on the web.
Maestro Muti was conducting a performance of Nabucco in 2011when the following happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPANwyaSlX4
The Italian government had announced massive cuts in the budget for culture, which would have devastated Italian opera houses, among other things. Alex Ross wrote about it at the time:
He explains the situation and the aftermath of this event. The video he embedded shows how long the applause was before the shout of "Viva l'Italia" and Maestro Muti's speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_gmtO6JnRs&t=1s
The first one I gave has French and English translations of the chorus as well as a French translation of the speech.
Friday, August 19. Here's how the BSO's performance detail page — with its usual links — describes the program:
Menahem Pressler-longtime pianist of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio-joins maestro Charles Dutoit and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Friday, August 19, at 8 p.m., for Mozart'sPiano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488, notable for its intimate, chamber-musical character and heightened lyricism. Mr. Dutoit-Tanglewood's 2016 season Koussevitzky Artist-opens the program with Mozart's overture to The Marriage of Figaro. The second half of the program is Rossini'sStabat Mater, the most significant of the composer's late works. This performance of the 1841 choral masterpiece features soprano Simona Saturova (Tanglewood debut), mezzo-soprano Marianna Pizzolato (Tanglewood debut), tenor Pavol Breslik, bass Riccardo Zanellato (Tanglewood debut), and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.
(Some emphasis added.)
You can't go wrong with one of Mozart's late piano concertos; the curtain-raiser is good; and Rossini's "Stabat Mater" is not to be missed. By all means, read the program note from the performance detaio page if you're unfamiliar with it or the "Stabat Mater" in general, and preview the text. To whet your appetite for the it, here's an excerpt from a rehearsal last year by the Paris Orchestra with tenor Paolo Fanale. Tonight's tenor was to have Metropolitan Opera star been Matthew Polenzani, but from the bio it seems that Pavol Breslik should be a more than adequate replacement. Much as I like Verdi (see tomorrow's program), if I could only hear one of this weekend's concerts, this would be it.
James Markey, who is scheduled to give the preliminary remarks for this evening's "Underscore Friday," is the orchestra's bass trombonist. He's fairly young and joined the orchestra only a few years ago.
Saturday, August 20. Saturday the first two acts of Aida by Verdi. The performance detail page, unsurprisingly, gives additional details:
BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons returns for two performances with the orchestra August 20 and 21. For the first performance, he leads the first two acts from Verdi's magnificent opera of star-crossed love in ancient Egypt, Aida, on Saturday, August 20, at 8 p.m. Maestro Nelsons and the orchestra are joined by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and a cast of vocal soloists, including soprano Kristine Opolais in the demanding title role, mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana (BSO and Tanglewood debuts) as Amneris, tenor Andrea Carè (BSO and Tanglewood debuts) as the male lead and love interest Radamès, baritone Franco Vassallo (BSO and Tanglewood debuts) as Amonasro, and bass Kwangchul Youn (Tanglewood debut) as Ramfis.
(Some emphasis added.)
I like the music of the first two acts of "Aida" better than that of the remainder of the opera. The biggest highlight, IMO is the Triumphal March in the second act. Strangely, the program notes suggest a different program, consisting of the chorus "Va, pensiero" from Verdi's opera Nabucco followed by the Triumphal Scene from "Aida." We'll find out on Saturday which it is. The two acts of "Aida" make for a long concert, the chorus and Triumphal scene, for a short one. Considering that the brochure printed months ago lists the longer program, it seems to me that the scaled down program represents the more recent thinking. Either way, it will be some really good music.
Sunday, August 21. The Sunday concert is a reprise of some of the music performed during last winters "Shakespeare Festival" at Symphony Hall The performance detail page informs us:
On Sunday, August 21, at 2:30 p.m., Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in a program that includes three works inspired by Shakespeare and honors the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death. The overture to Berlioz'sBéatrice et Bénédict(based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing) opens the program, followed by American composer George Tsontakis'sSonnets, a Shakespeare-inspired tone poem for English horn and orchestra commissioned by the BSO and featuring BSO English horn player Robert Sheena. The Mr. Sheena and the BSO gave the world premiere of Sonnetsearlier this year at Symphony Hall. Croatian pianist Dejan Lazić, making his BSO and Tanglewood debuts, joins Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra as soloist in Saint-Saens'sPiano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian, and the program closes with a suite from Prokofiev'sRomeo and Juliet, one of the composer's most familiar and popular pieces.
Gates open at Noon.
(Some emphasis added)
Here's what I wrote about the Tsontakis "Sonnets" back in February:
The Tsontakis Sonnets at a few points made me think of bits of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, which I guess means that the musical style is fairly accessible. You won't mistake it for Haydn, but you won't run screaming from the auditorium, or wherever you radio or computer speakers are located. In each sonnet, the music is softer at the beginning, corresponding to the first quatrian, and it intensifies for the second, and more so for the third. The it calms down for the final couplet. Glancing at the texts in the program notes, I could see some connection between the music and the theme of the sonnet. The BSO has posted a video of a bit of the second sonnet. It gives as good an impression of the piece as you can in a short time.
My review also included links to other reviews, and the program notes give a full description as well as the texts of the sonnets which inspired the music. The rest of the program is decent stuff, I supppose — I especially like the Berlioz while the Prokofiev seems popular. I don't recall the piano concerto, but I'm confident it'll be okay.
The Friday and Saturday concerts can be heard via WCRB radio or web at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, and the Sunday program will be aired and streamed at 7:00, p.m. (not live at 2:30). Their home page, in addition to the link for listening over the web, gives information about other special programming which may be of interest. Their BSO page, in addition to listing the works to be played, gives similar information about the remaining Tanglewood concert broadcasts and various other interesting items and links.
The "December Hiatus," as I called it, extends into the first weekend in January. The Boston Symphony returns to Symphony Hall on January 7 to resume their series of concerts. Meanwhile, WCRB gives us another "encore broadcast" and webstream of a concert from last summer's Tanglewood season. This week, the husband-wife duo of Music Director Andris Nelsons and Soprano Kristine Opolias collaborate in a concert given on August 15, 2015. Ms. Opolais sings operatic selections from Boito and Verdi, and the orchestra also plays music of Barber,Puccini, and Strauss.
Specifically, the program is Barber's Second Essay for Orchestra;"L'altra notte in fondo al mare" from Mephistophele by Boito; the Intermezzo from Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Act III; the "Willow Song and Ave Maria" from Otello by Verdi; and Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. I forget where the intermission comes. The link to the performance detail page in my post at the time it was given is still active and gives you further links to the program notes.
This concert will be broadcast and streamed on January 2, and again on January 10, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.
You may also be interested in another "encore" from Tanglewood: the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra with chorus and soloists performing Mahler's Symphony № 8 on August 8, 2015. WCRB's BSO page describes it as follows:
In an encore broadcast from the 2015 Tanglewood season, Andris Nelsons conducts the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and TMC Alumni, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus, and the American Boychoir in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, the "Symphony of a Thousand," with a cast of soloists that includes soprano Erin Wall, tenor Klaus Forian Vogt, and baritone Matthias Goerne.
(Emphasis added.)
My post has a link to the BSO's performance detail page, with a more complete list of soloists. This broadcast/stream will be on Sunday, January 3, at 7:00 p.m.
On Monday, January 10, we have the usual repeat of the concert broadcast and streamed a week ago, Mozart's final three symphonies, conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi.
Note that the WCRB BSO page has links to their podcast, "The Answered Question" for background interviews about both the Mahler and Mozart concerts.
This is the BSO's final weekend at Tanglewood this year, concluding, as usual in recent years, with the Beethoven 9th on Sunday.
Friday, August 14. The weekend kicks off with Music Director Andris Nelsons leading the orchestra and solo violinist Christian Tetzlaff in the MendelssohnViolin Concerto and Mahler'sSymphony No. 6. The performance detail page give links to the usual program notes, audio previews, and performer bios. It also gives the following notice:
Several Friday-evening Shed performances will be part of the popular UnderScore Friday series this season. At these performances, patrons will hear comments about the program directly from an onstage BSO musician. UnderScore Fridays will occur on July 17, July 31, and August 14.
This time, trumpeter Benjamin Wright will give the opening remarks.
Saturday, August 15.Maestro Nelsons returns to the podium, and his wife, Kristine Opolais, joins him and the orchestra for a couple of operatic numbers, including — appropriately for Assumption Day — an Ave Maria. The performance detail page gives this description:
Andris Nelsons conducts an array of Italian operas which include Verdi'sWillow Song and "Ave Maria" from Otello, Act IV, Puccini'sIntermezzo from Manon Lescaut Act III, and Boito's"L'altra notte in fondo al mare" from MefistofeleAct III starring soprano, Kristine Opolais. The BSO will then perform Strauss'sEin Heldenleben and Barber'sSecond Essay for Orchestra.
(Some emphasis added.)
Although the way they phrase it implies that both the Strauss and the Barber pieces will come after the operatic selections, the way they are listed lower in the page suggests that the Barber will open the concert, not conclude it. So far there is no background material on the music other than the Strauss.
Sunday, August 16. As indicated above, this is the final broadcast concert of this Tanglewood season. The performance detail page has some of the usual links, as well as this information about the concert:
The BSO's final concert of the 2015 Tanglewood season, under the direction of Asher Fisch, will open with the TMC Orchestra playing Copland'sSymphonic Ode. Also in the program is Beethoven'sSymphony no.9, with the Tanglewod Festival Chorus and the TMC Ochestra. Special guests include Julianna Di Giacomo, Renée Tatum, Paul Groves,and John Relyea.
(Emphasis added.)
Although this blurb indicates that the TMC Orchestra (not the BSO) will be performing the Beethoven, elsewhere on the page, when it mentions the TMC Orchestra it puts "(Copland)" after the listing, which suggests they will not be playing the Beethoven. We'll find out who plays the Beethoven when we listen in, I guess.
The Tanglewood Festival Chorus was founded 40 years ago with John Oliver as its director, to serve as the chorus for Boston Symphony and Pops concerts. Among their notable achievements is that they perform without having the printed music in their hands. They memorize every piece they sing, and that is Maestro Oliver's doing. For forty years he has been preparing the chorus for every performance. He is retiring at the end of the Tanglewood season, so the Beethoven Ninth will be the last performance for which he will have prepared the chorus.
The Friday and Saturday concerts will be at 8:30, and the Sunday at 2:30, Boston Time. WCRB will broadcast and stream them. The station's BSO page also has brief blurbs about these concerts. More importantly, since this is the end of the Tanglewood broadcast season, they revert on August 22 to the regular pattern of weekly concerts at 8:00 on Saturdays. That BSO page gives the schedule of "Encore Broadcasts" of concerts from last season that will take us from August 22 through September 26, after which the BSO returns to Symphony Hall and the live broadcasts/webstreams will resume.
The orchestra will be on tour in Europe, with concerts on 12 days in the period August 22—September 5. Then they may be able to take a little vacation before they have to start rehearsing for opening night in Symphony Hall, October 1.
This weekend we get a full schedule of concerts from Tanglewood. Mostly, it's music that's more or less familiar to classical audiences (and in some cases, the general public); but there are a couple of items that are new to me, at least, and that I look forward to hearing, along with most of the classics.
Friday, July 10. The Friday concert features works for organ, with Cameron Carpenter as soloist, and frequent guest conductor Stéphane Denève on the podium. BSO assistant timpanist Daniel Bauch (who seems to play timpani at least a third of the time at Symphony Hall) will be the other soloist in the concerto. Here's how the BSO's performance detail page describes it:
Popular guest conductor Stéphane Denève leads a program featuring the BSO debut of superstar organist Cameron Carpenter performing Poulenc'sConcerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani and Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3,Organ, on a program with Barber'sAdagio for Strings. Following his BSO appearance, organist Cameron Carpenter will give a short recital of virtuoso solo works, featuring his Marshall & Ogletree touring organ.
(Some emphasis added.)
See the performance detail page for links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios (click on the thumbnail picture), as during the Symphony Hall season.
The Barber seems to be the curtain-raiser. It's quite familiar, and deservedly so, IMO. I don't think I've ever heard the Poulenc, and I'm looking forward to hearing it — not that I like Poulenc all that much; I just wonder what it will be like. The Saint-Saëns organ concerto is given now and then at Symphony Hall to showcase the organ there, and it's not bad. I do wonder how the organ will sound outdoors and on what must be a smaller instrument that the one in Symphony Hall. It may well sound fuller over the radio than on the Tanglewood lawn. The show begins at 8:30 p.m., Pittsfield Time (same as Boston Time).
Saturday, July 11. In an interesting bit of programming, the overture to Verdi'sLa Forza del Destino will precede a concert performance of the first act of Puccini'sTosca. The BSO performance detail page is concise in its description and has no audio previews, but does give program notes and performer bios along with the following:
Bramwell Tovey will lead an all-Italian program to include a concert performance of Act I from Puccini's Tosca featuring Bryn Terfel as Scarpia and Sondra Radvonovsky as Tosca.
(Some emphasis added.)
The Verdi overture is a good piece: a nice patchwork of music from the opera itself. It seems to me that if Maestro Tovey felt it necessary to precede the Puccini with something else, it would have made sense to go outside the operatic repertoire, rather than preceding it with something designed to precede a different opera. Maybe it will work, though. We'll see. On the other hand, Puccini isn't a big favorite of mine, and I may well listen to the Red Sox after the Verdi. (See edit below.)**
Again, the concert starts at 8:30.
Sunday, July 12. The concert begins at 2:30, with The Light That Fills the World, by John Luther Adams.* Next will be Mozart'sViolin Concerto No. 3, K. 216, with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist. After intermission, they'll perform Symphony No. 7 by Dvořák. Former BSO assistant conductor Ludovic Morlot, now Music Director of the Seattle Symphony, will conduct the performance. I've told you everything that's mentioned in the blurb on the BSO performance detail page, but it's still worth seeing for the links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios.
When I saw the Adams work on the program, I was curious about it, and I tracked down a YouTube video of a performance.
It turns out what I saw is the original version of the piece for a chamber ensemble. The composer decided to orchestrate it for a normal-sized symphony orchestra, and that's the version the BSO will play. I found it easy enough to listen to. If you're at all uncertain about contemporary concert music, I suggest reading the composer's description, which is included in the program notes, and listening to the video. I'm looking forward to hearing it again.
* Not to be confused with John Coolidge Adams, the composer of the operas "Nixon in China," "The Death of Klinghoffer," and "Doctor Atomic," among other things.
As always, you can listen to these concerts approximately live over WCRB — either via broadcast, if you're within range of their signal, or via streaming on the world wide web — at the times indicated. The station's BSO page gives a very brief synopsis of each program, as well as a listing of future concerts they'll carry from Tanglewood. Note also, on their home page, an opportunity to vote for concerts from the past year to be broadcast/streamed during the interval in August and September between the end of the Tanglewood season and the beginning of the Symphony Hall season.
**Edited to add: It turns out the "Forza del Destino" overture isn't the only Verdi work on the program. They'll also present his "Stabat Mater," followed by "Ella giammai m'amò" from Don Carlo — which I really like — and "Ehi! paggio! l'onore" from Falstaff — which I don't really know. Then there's an intermission, followed by the Puccini. With these additional pieces, the program makes a lot more sense than just the two pieces shown of the BSO program detail page. I don't understand why the BSO won't list all works in a program on the performance detail page.
This weekend we get some mainstream composers from the late 18th to the early 20th century in roughly chronological order.
Friday July 25 We kick off the proceedings with Manfred Honeck leading the orchestra in music of Beethoven, Mozart, and Mendelssohn. As the BSO performance detail page describes it:
Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck, who last led the BSO this spring at Symphony Hall, makes his Tanglewood debut with two BSO performances Friday, July 25, and Saturday, July 26. The July 25 concert, at 8:30 p.m., features English piano soloist Paul Lewis, who elicited raves for his Symphony Hall performances with the orchestra in October 2013, in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414. Maestro Honeck also leads the orchestra in Beethoven's rarely performed overture to his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus, as well as Mendelssohn's dashing, breathless Symphony No. 4,Italian, which the composer called "the jolliest thing I have ever done."
(Some emphasis added.)
This should be very enjoyable. Although they don't mention it, Maestro Honeck is Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Check out the links on the detail page for further info (including performer bios by clicking on the thumbnail photos).
Saturday July 26Maestro Honeck returns on Saturday evening to lead a performance of Mahler'sSymphony No. 2, "Resurrection." See the performance detail page for links to program notes, audio preview, and performer bios. They offer this synopsis:
Manfred Honeck leads the BSO, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, soprano Camilla Tilling, and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly in Mahler's sprawling and transcendent Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, both one of the great works and the great spectacles of the symphonic repertoire. At approximately 85 minutes in length and calling for an oversized orchestra in addition to the numerous vocal forces, this massive work shakes the rafters and stirs the soul in equal proportions, demonstrating Mahler's ultra-Romantic musical language as well as the intense spirituality ever-present at the core of his work.
Again, worth hearing, in my opinion.
Sunday July 27 The matinee includes music of Rachmaninoff and Verdi and features the debut of conductor Jacques Lacombe. As always, there are links to background info on the performance detail page, which also give this description of the program:
Canadian conductor Jacques Lacombe makes his BSO and Tanglewood debuts on Sunday, July 27, at 2:30 p.m., leading a varied program of Rachmaninoff and Verdi. On the first half of the program, Venezuelan-American pianist Gabriela Montero plays Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, full of passionate emotion and hummable melodies that stick with the listener long after the performance has ended. The operatic second half of the program-featuring soprano Marjorie Owens, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop, tenor Issachah Savage, baritone Stephen Powell, and basses Morris Robinson and Julien Robbins-is devoted to the music of Verdi, including the Overture and Va, pensiero (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco and the Finale of Act II from Aida.
(Some emphasis added.)
Another very enjoyable concert, I think. The Verdi excerpts are all first rate.
WCRB will broadcast and stream all three concerts. Those on Friday and Saturday are scheduled for 8:30 p.m., Boston (and Lenox) Time, and Sunday's is at 2:30 p.m. Each will be preceded by a half-hour warm-up. These usually include recordings of other works by the composers on the concert or performances by the soloists or the conductor. The station's BSO page also gives overviews of the concerts, along with the schedule for the remainder of the Tanglewood broadcasts and links relating both to this weekend and to other BSO matters.
After several cancellations, this weekend's Tanglewood will go ahead nearly as planned as far as the music to be played is concerned.
July 26 Christoph Eschenbach had been scheduled to conduct this concert, which was to have included him playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12. But he had to cancel because of an inner ear infection which makes flying inadvisable. In his place, Edo de Waartwill conduct and Garrick Ohlsson will be piano soloist in Mozart's27th Piano Concerto and the orchestra will play his Symphony No 41, "Jupiter". As explained on the BSO performance detail page, this is Berkshire Night at Tanglewood.
Conductor Edo de Waart will take the Boston Symphony Orchestra podium on Friday, at 8:30 p.m. in the Shed, he leads the orchestra in an all-Mozart program that features soprano Christine Schäfer in the concert aria for soprano, piano, and orchestra "Ch'io mi scordi di te…Non temer, amato bene," K.505, considered one of Mozart's greatest achievements in the genre.
Links to program notes and audio previews are also available there as usual.
July 27 Music Director designate Andris Nelsons was scheduled to conduct the Manzoni Requiem by Verdi, but he suffered a concussion which was bad enough that the doctors advised him not to fly to America. The BSO managed to get Carlo Montanaro to conduct the piece. I'd never heard of him, but this appears to be fairly standard repertory for him. One of the basses in the chorus reports after rehearsals, that Maestro Montanaro goes for speed and emotion more than the nuance and precision which characterized Daniele Gatti's performance with the BSO last winter. So "fasten your seatbelts," and enjoy the ride. Again, links are available on the performance detail page, along with the following description:
Singing the demanding solo parts are soprano Kristīne Opolais (wife of Andris Nelsons), mezzo-soprano Lioba Braun, tenor Dmytro Popov (all three in their BSO debuts), bass-baritone Eric Owens; the Tanglewood Festival Chorus will also be featured. This performance of Verdi's Requiem pays tribute to the bicentennial of the composer's birth in 1813. The Requiem, composed in memory of the Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni, a hero of Verdi's, combines all of the composer's dramatic talent and the soaring vocal writing familiar from his operas with the traditional Requiem mass structure. Please note that there is no intermission in this concert.
BTW, after Nelsons cancelled, it turned out that Ferrucio Furlanetto had a bad cold and couldn't sing the bass part, which led to his replacement by Eric Owens.
July 28 Sunday afternoon at 2:30 Ludovic Morlot, a former assistant conductor of the BSO, now the Music Director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, will take Christoph Eschenbach's scheduled place at the podium to conduct the scheduled Dvořák and Prokofiev program, with Garrick Ohlsson again taking on the soloist role (this time as scheduled). Go to the performance detail page for audio and text links. Here's the "official" synopsis from that page.
American pianist and frequent Tanglewood guest Garrick Ohlsson joins the BSO for Prokofiev's exuberant Piano Concerto No. 3. Composed between 1917 and 1921, most of the work on the concerto was done during the summer of 1921, which Prokofiev spent in a town on the coast in Brittany. A mainstay of the modern concerto repertoire, it is one of the composer's most popular works. Dvořák'sCarnival Overture and the beloved Symphony No. 9,From theNew World, round out the program.
The Friday and Saturday concerts begin at 8:30, Massachusetts time, and the Sunday Matinee at 2:30. As usual, Classical New England plans to broadcast and stream the virtually live, with preliminary material which they have produced beginning a half hour before the scheduled start of the concert. While CNE's own BSO page doesn't add any further info about the concerts themselves, it summarizes them very succinctly and it contains links to other BSO related material and their schedule for the remaining Tanglewood 2013 broadcasts/webstreams.
Sorry, I got distracted. This week's concerts were
Conductor Charles Dutoit returns for his third week of concerts during the 2012-13 season, this time for a program featuring virtuoso English pianist Stephen Hough in Liszt's scintillatingly virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 1. The program begins with Hindemith'sSymphonic MetamorphosesonThemes of Weber-which translates material from works by Carl Maria von Weber into a virtuoso showpiece for orchestra-and concludes with music from Prokofiev's sweeping and colorful ballet scoreRomeo and Juliet.
Change of Time for Verdi Requiem Rebroadcast. Listening to the live concert this evening I learned that Classical New England will give their rebroadcast and webstream of last week's Verdi Requiem, not at the usual time of 1:00 p.m., but at 6:00 p.m. Boston time. I don't know why. But if you want to listen — and I recommend it — note the time.
Saturday, January 19 This evening's live broadcast/stream is the Verdi "Requiem." If you can't get to it today, be sure to catch the rebroadcast/stream on January 27. Both are on Classical New England, as is tomorrow afternoon's rebroadcast of last week's concert. As usual CNE's page about its BSO broadcasts has broadcast schedules as well as a link to an interview with the conductor. For its part the BSO themselves have detail about the performance on their website (keep clicking for more detail), including links to audio previews and program notes. You can also get some info about the performers by moving the cursor to their pictures, and even more by clicking on the picture. Here's what the BSO says about the performance:
To mark the bicentennial of Verdi's birth in 1813, Italian conductor Daniele Gatti, music director of the Orchestre National de France, leads the BSO in three performances of the composer's Requiem with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and four vocal soloists all making their BSO debuts. One of the greatest of all works for orchestra, soloists, and chorus, Verdi's massive, theatrical Requiem was completed in 1874, dedicated to the memory of the great Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni-a personal hero of Verdi's-and premiered on the first anniversary of Manzoni's death.
and
Requiem is presented under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic's "2013, Year of Italian Culture in the United States" www.ITALYinUS2013.org.
A year long journey that will promote Italy, engage and enthuse Americans, draw in the younger generations, enhance the close bonds between our two nations and create new and lasting partnerships.
TenorFabio Sartorihas withdrawn from the BSO's January 17, 18, and 19 performances of the Verdi Requiem because of illness. He will be replaced by American tenorStuart Neill, who will be making his BSO subscription debut. The rest of the program remains unchanged.
I was there on Thursday, and Maestro Gatti had all forces performing it in accordance with his vision of the piece, and I thought it was really good. The Boston Globe's reviewer also liked it, although he did not have the advantage of the inside info blogged in advance (four posts) and the self-review by "Just Another Bass." Anyway, I think it's well worth hearing.
Sunday, January 20 The 1:00 p.m. broadcast/stream repeats last week's Saturday concert. See my post of a week ago for info about it.
As I write, the Met is broadcasting "Il Trovatore," by Verdi. Give it a listen if you can.
This is the next to last week of BSO concerts for the season. Quoth the website:
The young Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski makes his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut under the baton of frequent guest conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos performing Liszt’s exciting Piano Concerto No. 2, an innovative, sparkling, one-movement work. 2011 marks the bicentennial of Liszt’s birth. Two orchestral showpieces bookend the concerto. The German composer Max Reger (1873-1916) was a transitional figure between the Romantic and the modern eras, but had a strong sense of the Germanic musical tradition. His Variations and Fugue employ a theme from one of Mozart’s most beloved piano sonatas, the A major K.331. Ravel’s familiar but exotic Boléro completes the program.
This week's BSO program has Moussorgsky, Beethoven, and Prokofiev. Here's how the website describes it.
Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo makes his BSO debut in these concerts and is joined by Romanian pianist Radu Lupu in Beethoven’s stormy Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor. Oramo also leads Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’sSixth Symphony, a three movement work moving from dark to light that Prokofiev wrote just after World War II in the Soviet Union. Beginning the program is Mussorgsky’s thrilling Night on Bald Mountain. [emphasis added]
I was there on Thursday, and, frankly, I was not looking forward to the "Night on Bald Mountain." I guess I consider it one of these pieces that gets played too often on the radio and not really worth spending time on. But, with an assist from the pre-concert lecture, I actually found it interesting and worthwhile. The Beethoven was well-played, I thought. The pre-concert lecture described the Prokofiev symphony as one of his most tragic works, but with that expectation in mind, I actually found it very engaging. I joined the standing ovation at the end. The conductor uses very broad gestures and swings and sways. But as the Globe reviewer notes, he drew top-notch playing from everyone.
As always, you can listen on WCRB. The concert begins at 8:00. And there is information about the music on the BSO website. Click on Media Center.
As I type, the Met is giving Verdi'sSimon Boccanegra, one of my favorites. James Levine is conducting.
Everything is available at the usual times over the usual webstreams.
The BSO website says this about the program that will be played on Saturday this week.
The illustrious American conductor Lorin Maazel brings a program anchored by Alexander Scriabin’s lushly exotic Poem of Ecstasy, which features kaleidoscopic orchestral effects including a major role for the Symphony Hall organ. Equally exotic but on a smaller scale is a 1917 Stravinsky work, The Song of the Nightingale. This symphonic poem of music from his opera The Nightingale is based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale with a Chinese theme. Tchaikovsky’s light, familiar Suite No. 3 for orchestra begins these concerts.
There's a lot more available if you click Launch Media Center on the page where I found the description. One minor tidbit is that when Maestro Maazel made his debut with the BSO fifty years ago, the Stravinsky and Scriabin pieces were on one of the two programs he gave. As always, you can hear the concert by listening to WCRB over the web at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, January 22. And as always there is an introductory show beginning an hour earlier.
I haven't found a review of the Thursday performance in print or on line.* I liked the Tchaikovsky best. It was all easy to take, and the last part was a big theme and variations, with the final variation being a polonaise. I really like the polonaise rhythm, and as any who know "Eugene Onegin" can attest, Tchaikovsky knows how to write a polonaise for orchestra. I very nearly gave a standing ovation. After intermission was okay. The Stravinsky was interesting, but I was ready for it to be over a few minutes before Stravinsky was. And the Scriabin was big and loud. Both pieces had some nifty solo playing.
*The Boston Globe finally got around to publishing a review in today's (Saturday) paper. Faint praise, except for the soloists, whom he names. — Note added January 22.
On Saturday afternoon, the Met is giving Verdi's "Rigoletto" at 1:00. WHRB will stream it. When I became interested in opera, the first complete opera recording I had was a Christmas present of "Rigoletto" with Leonard Warren in the title role and Toscanini conducting. If I'm not mistaken Erna Berger was Gilda, and the other principals were Nan Merriman and Italo Tajo. Anyway, I had been quite unfamiliar with that opera, but it proved quite satisfying. I've come to prefer some other Verdi operas, such as "Trovatore," "Don Carlo," and "Forza del Destiono," for example. But "Rigoletto" has fine music well matched to the tragic story.
The BSO website gives us the following information about the concert which I'll be attending tonight and which you can listen to over WCRB on Saturday.
Program:
DEBUSSY
Two Preludes—
Feuilles mortes (from Book 2) and
Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest (from Book 1)
performed in their original piano versions
and in orchestrations by Colin Matthews
DELIUS
Paris: A Nocturne (The Song of a Great City)
MOZART
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467
STRAUSS
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Guest Artists:
Sir Mark Elder, conductor
Lars Vogt, piano
About the Music
The English conductor Sir Mark Elder returns to the BSO podium for an eclectic program centering on Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 to be played by the outstanding German pianist Lars Vogt. These concerts begin with a selection of the contemporary English composer Colin Matthews’s orchestrations of Claude Debussy’s piano Preludes. The English composer Frederick Delius was known for his picturesque, illustrative scores; his 1901 Paris, A Nocturne is subtitled “Song of a Great City.” Strauss’s rollicking tone poem Till Eulenspiegel employs pioneering orchestral effects in telling the wild story of a mischievous rogue.
Additional information is available through the BSO website.
Debussy and Delius aren't my favorite composers by a long shot, but Delius is usually listenable. The Mozart should make it worth going out on a winter's evening, but I may not stick around for the Strauss, which I consider undeserving of the frequency with whic it is performed. Okay, we've heard it enough; let's move on. In fact, most of Richard Strauss's music belongs in that category, IMO.
My recent opera experience reminds me that I should probably note the availability of the live Saturday afternoon (Eastern Time) broadcasts of Metropolitan Opera performances. This week it's "La Traviata." If you don't have a broadcast station available for it, you can listen to the webstream via WHRB (see side panel for a link).
Last night (Wednesday, January 5) I went to a nearby movie theater for replay of the December 11 HD transmission of "Don Carlo" from the Metropolitan Opera. It was great. The most outstanding of a fine cast was Marina Poplavskaya, as Elisabetta. The basses were great as well, especially Ferruccio Furlanetto as Filippo and the unnamed comprimario who sang the role of the monk who seems to be the supposedly dead Emperor Carlo V. It's a great way to see first rate opera productions without having to travel far or pay opera house prices. Here is a link to a page giving locations outside the United States. For the United States, there are so many locations that you have two options, and then you enter your location to find nearby theaters. This is the page where you begin. And here's a page with the schedule for the rest of the season. They show dates for "encore performances" in the U.S. and Canada. I don't know if they are available in other countries. The live performances are Saturday matinees in New York, which means Saturday evenings in Europe.
I definitely want to see "Nixon in China," "Lucia di Lammermoor," "Il Trovatore," and "Die Walküre." If you aren't already an opera fan, my top recommendation would be "Il Trovatore." It's full of glorious music. I wish I had got to this sooner, because "Don Carlo" is even better, IMO. But both are fine examples of Verdi at his best.
You gotta try it. Even the ticket taker left the door to the theater open so he could hear it and occasionally came in to take a peek at last night's show.
This week the BSO is also doing opera in concert performances: "Oedipus Rex" by Stravinsky and "Bluebeard's Castle" by Bartók. Here's what the BSO website says about it:
And here's a link to their page, for further information. As usual, it can be heard over WCRB's stream at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, with "pre-game" show beginning an hour earlier. The Thursday performance is part of my subscription, so I'll be there. I don't expect it to be as great as "Don Carlo." Less than 60 years separates to dates of composition, but the music of Stravinsky and Bartók is so different from Verdi's as to seem to come from a different world, one in which I am much less at home. But the performances tonight could be exciting and gripping in their own way.
Verdi — Simon Boccanegra Boston Symphony Orchestra / January 29, 2009 8:00 PM / Symphony Hall / Boston, Massachusetts
Featured Artists James Levine conductor / Barbara Frittoli soprano (Amelia Grimaldi) / Marcello Giordani tenor (Gabriele Adorno) / José van Dam bass-baritone (Simon Boccanegra) / James Morris bass (Jacopo Fiesco) / Nicola Alaimo baritone (Paolo Albiani) / Raymond Aceto bass (Pietro) / Garrett Sorenson tenor (A Captain)
The BSO did concert performances of this Verdi opera last January, and WGBH was planning to rebroadcast it on February 8. For some reason, they didn't. But now it's scheduled for today, Sunday, May 17, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (just over 4 hours from when I'm posting this). I think the music is worth hearing. I attended one of the performances and thought it was well done.
This is the site for schedules, online ticket purchases, notes about works to be performed, information about various events including the Pops and Tanglewood seasons, online purchases of Symphony recordings and other merchandise, information about Symphony Hall, and more.
they broadcast and stream Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts, live performances in their studios, and concerts that they have recorded elsewhere, as well as commercial recordings
they broadcast and stream the Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinees and their own "Sunday Night at the Opera," recorded concerts by orchestras in other cities, as well as commercial recordings
located in Colorado Springs, CO — they broadcast and stream locally produced programming, including recordings of concerts by the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, as well as other orchestras around the country, the Met and commercial recordings
they do remarkably well on a shoestring budget — send a contribution if you can afford it
ABC Classic FM — www.abc.net.au/classic/
all classical
Australian broadcaster — also streams their programs
