BSO — 2019/09/28

One great piece and one okay one (my opinion) are on the program this evening. Fortunately, the great one comes before my brother calls from Tokyo, so I get to hear it and only have to miss the okay one. Here's the description from the performance detail page (which also has the usual links to program notes etc.):

The outstanding Italian-born violinist Augustin Hadelich returns to Symphony Hall to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, a pinnacle of the violin repertoire. It is also one of the most challenging violin concertos, demanding the utmost sensitivity and sense of line in its many lyrical passages, as well as pinpoint intensity in its faster episodes. Richard Strauss wrote a series of tone poems in the 1890s depicting larger-than-life concepts via such characters as Don Juan, Don Quixote, and—in the somewhat tongue-in-cheek Ein Heldenleben (“A Heroic Life”)—himself. By contrast, in his 1903 tone poem Symphonia domestica he turns his unsurpassed orchestral imagination to “a day in my family life,” depicting the ordinary interactions of himself, his wife Pauline, and their young son. These performances are part of Andris Nelsons’ and the BSO’s ongoing focus on Strauss’ works.

(Some emphasis added.)

Again, the Boston Globe either couldn't be bothered to review the BSO performance on Thursday, or  they've skillfully hidden the review from me. The reviewer in the Boston Musical Intelligencer is ravished by the violin concerto and chuckles with amusement at the well played symphony.

The glitch with WCRB's home page continues, but there is this. I hope those of you who are outside the range of their radio signal can find your way to a Listen Live button. Or try WAMC in Albany, NY. Maybe they also have a webstream.

You may note that the page I linked also talks of the encore broadcasts on the Moday nine days after the actual performance. For some reason, it doesn't say anything about it until next week's concert. But I suppose it will do no harm to listen in on Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 at 8:00 p.m. to see if they give us the encores of last week's concert and this.

Tanglewood — 2011/07/22-24

The BSO website provides the following information.

All-Baroque Program 

Friday, July 22, 8:30PM

Young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado makes his BSO and Tanglewood debuts July 22 as he and the orchestra are joined by renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham for an all-Baroque program including vocal excerpts from Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride and arias from Handel's Alcina and Ariodonte. Handel's vocal music forms the heart of the Baroque opera repertoire, and Gluck, writing a generation later, was intent on making opera more natural, more diverse, and more dramatically interesting, as he pioneered reforms to the genre that influenced composers around the world and ushered in a new era of music for the theater.  The orchestral works by J. S. Bach and the French composer Jean-Phillippe Rameau, represented on this program by Rameau's Suite from Pygmalion and Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 4, display the era's instrumental music in its highest form.

Stucky, Brahms, and Beethoven 
Saturday, July 23, 8:30PM

Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden, currently music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, also makes his BSO and Tanglewood debuts this weekend, conducting Brahms's soaring, ever-popular Violin Concerto; Beethoven's masterful, dance-infused Symphony No. 7; and Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Steven Stucky's Rhapsodies, a series of 12 short and diverse episodes for orchestra. Each of the mesmerizing work's brief sections is begun by the sound of a single instrument playing alone, and that instrument's timbre is then imitated and interpreted by the rest of the orchestra.

All-Ravel Program 
Sunday, July 24, 2:30PM

Hot on the heels of his two recitals featuring Ravel's complete music for solo piano on July 20 and 21, outstanding pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet again takes center stage July 24, this time with the BSO and guest conductor Emmanuel Krivine, for another program exclusively featuring music by the French master. Mr. Thibaudet is the soloist for both of Ravel's piano concertos, the jazz-inflected Piano Concerto in G and the Piano Concerto in D for the left hand, which was commissioned by the famous concert pianist Paul Wittgenstein after he lost his right arm in World War I. Also on the program are Valses nobles et sentimentales—which Ravel adapted for orchestra from the original piano version—and the immortal Boléro.

This is certainly a varied weekend. There may be something for everyone, but each listener will probably find something that isn't exactly his or her favorite. I hope you'll find something worth listening to. WCRB begins their coverage 1 1/2 hours before each concert. WCRB is not your only resource. There are other stations which broadcast the concerts, and the BSO has its own media center — all as also indicated on the BSO website.

Radio Broadcasts and Streaming

Concerts from the Shed are broadcast each Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon in Boston on WCRB 99.5 FM and WGBH's HD2 all classical channel, in Albany on WAMC 90.3 FM and its satellite network, and in Connecticut on WMNR 88.1 FM. In addition, Sunday-afternoon concerts are broadcast on WFCR 88.5 in Amherst. Streaming audio of the broadcasts can also be accessed via the stations' websites atwww.wgbh.org/995; www.wamc.org;www.wmnr.org; and www.wfcr.org. How to listen-in from the BSO Media Center: You can listen LIVE to WGBH in our BSO MEDIA CENTER! Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 1pm Tanglewood concerts are broadcast LIVE by 99.5 All-Classical, a service of WGBH .

You can also check out the WCRB website for scheduling info and other features.

Tanglewood July 9-11, 2010 — Amazing Video

The weekend starts this evening with Mahler's Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection," conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas (who was an assistant conductor of the BSO way back when). James Levine would have conducted if he hadn't been recuperation from back surgery. The performance will also include Layla Claire, soprano, Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.


Saturday evening brings an all-Beethoven program with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducting the King Stephen Overture, Piano Concerto No. 3, with Gerhard Oppitz, piano, and Symphony No. 5.


On Sunday afternoon Maestro Frühbeck returns to lead the orchestra in Mozart's Serenade No. 6 in D, K.239, "Serenata notturna," and Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist, and Ein Heldenleben, by Richard Strauss.


BTW, a note on the BSO Tanglewood schedule page indicates that WAMC will broadcast/stream the Sunday concert. Dunno about the others.


Finally, check out this video. The note seems to be wrong about the singer's age. Elsewhere, I find he was born in 1992 and this performance was in 1995. Also the source says his voice changed a few months later. Apparently this is an aria that the No. 1 treble of the choir often sings at these family concerts. But, corrections to background info aside, I think he does a sensational job.

Tanglewood 2010 Season — July 9 - August 29

The Boston Symphony Tanglewood concerts this summer will all be broadcast on WCRB. Broadcasts will begin at 8:00 p.m. on the Friday and Saturday evenings and at 2:00 Sunday afternoons with a "pregame show." The concerts themselves begin one half hour later. The broadcasts are also to be streamed. (Click "Listen Live" near the upper right of the page.) Times are US Eastern Time.

I'll try to remember to let you know each week what is coming up, but of course you can always just tune in and find out. I'm not sure about WAMC, which also transmitted the concerts last summer. If I find out, I'll let you know.

Tanglewood August 21 – 23, 2009: End of Symphony Season — Not to Be Missed!

from the Boston Symphony website

"Kurt Masur Conducts Beethoven and Mendelssohn

Kurt Masur opens the BSO's final Tanglewood weekend August 21 leading two classical masterworks, Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 and Haydn's Symphony No. 88. The program's centerpiece is a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, featuring the BSO debut of one of Mr. Masur's favorite collaborators, the young French pianist David Fray. Mr. Fray has received numerous prizes and awards, and was BBC Music Magazine's "Newcomer of the Year" in 2008.

August 22, 2009 8:30 PM Kurt Masur dedicates a concert to showcasing the music of one of his most admired composers, Felix Mendelssohn. This BSO program features Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4, Italian, one of the composer's most beloved works, evoking the warm climes of the Mediterranean, as well as The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) Overture, begun during a visit to the Hebrides archipelago off the coast of Scotland. The evening's centerpiece is Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, featuring one of the BSO's most popular guest artists, the American violinist Gil Shaham.

Michael Tilson Thomas Conducts Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

On August 23, Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra's final program of the 2009 festival season, the annual grand finale performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The masterwork features the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, soprano Erin Wall and mezzo-soprano Kendall Gladen in their BSO debuts, tenor Stuart Skelton in his Tanglewood debut, and bass-baritone Raymond Aceto. The program begins with Ives' Decoration Day, the composer's stirring ode to Memorial Day."

The Friday and Saturday concerts are at 8:30 p.m. and are streamed on WAMC. The Sunday concert is at 2:30. It is also streamed on WAMC; and WGBH streams it with a "pre-game show" beginning at 2:00. All times are Eastern.

More info is available at the website on the Tanglewood pages.

Tanglewood July 24-26, 2009

Here's an excerpt from the BSO website.  As usual, the concerts will be streamed on WAMC, and WGBH will stream the Sunday concert with a "pre-game" show at 2:00 (all times Eastern).

"July 24, 25, and 26 Tanglewood Shed Performances

 The weekend begins as James Levine conducts Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and Harold in Italy, with BSO principal violist Steven Ansell, on a program with the Prelude to Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina and the dramatic Pictures at an Exhibition (July 24). Mr. Levine and the orchestra reprise last fall’s moving performance of Brahms’s A German Requiem, here featuring the distinguished German baritone Matthias Goerne, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (July 25). 

Conductor David Robertson and the BSO are joined by baritone Thomas Hampson and pianist Orli Shaham for an all-American program—Harris’s Symphony No. 3, Thomson’s Five Songs from William Blake, Barber’s Songs with Orchestra, and Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety (July 26).

 

Berlioz and Mussorgsky

 FRIDAY 

July 24, 2009 8:30 PM 

BSO principal violist Steven Ansell joins James Levine and the BSO for a performance of Berlioz’s Harold in Italy, which reflects the composer’s “poetic memories” of his “wanderings in the Abruzzi,” on Friday, July 24, at 8:30 p.m. in the Shed. This lively concert of programmatic orchestral showpieces also includes Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and two works by Mussorgsky, the Prelude to the opera Khovanshchina and the dramatic Pictures at an Exhibition, which depicts an imaginary tour of an art exhibit. Originally composed as a virtuoso piano piece, it is played by orchestras in a brilliantly colorful arrangement by Ravel. 

Brahms - A German Requiem

 SATURDAY 

July 25, 2009 8:30 PM 

A memorable highlight of the BSO’s fall season with James Levine was the series of performances of Brahms’ A German Requiem. The Tanglewood performance on  Saturday, July 25, at 8:30 p.m. in the Shed, will feature the distinguished German baritone Matthias Goerne, and soprano soloist Hei-Kyung Hong, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor.  Considered Brahms’s largest and one of his most personal works, A German Requiem originated with music written following the attempted suicide of dear friend Robert Schumann as well as music composed at the time of his mother’s death.

 

Harris, Thomson, Barber and Bernstein - An All American Program

 SUNDAY 

July 26, 2009 2:30 PM 

Esteemed baritone Thomas Hampson and pianist Orli Shaham join conductor David Robertson and the BSO for an all-American program, on Sunday, July 26, at 2:30 p.m. in the Shed.  Mr. Hampson is featured in Thomson’s Five Songs from William Blake and Barber’s Songs with Orchestra. One of the world’s leading baritones, he is in the midst of an in-depth examination of American vocal music, a commitment reflected by his multi-year “Song of America” tour sponsored by the Library of Congress. As part of this tour, Mr. Hampson performed a recital at Tanglewood on July 22 with pianist Craig Rutenberg, which included songs of Ives, Griffes, Carpenter, and Barber. Mr. Robertson, music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, brings his renowned expertise in the music of our time to the program, which also includes two 20th-century American orchestral classics, Harris’s Symphony No. 3 and Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety, the latter featuring Robertson’s wife, acclaimed pianist Orli Shaham."

Good News about BSO Concert Streams

I've discovered that WAMC, Northeast Public Radio, streams the Tanglewood concerts of the BSO. They are using the WCRB feed this evening, July 10, and I presume that will be their normal practice. Just go to the link and then to "Listen Live" at the right.

I believe that the Sunday afternoon concerts will also be streamed by WGBH.