H & H Messiah — Sunday, December 2, 2012

Classical New England will broadcast and stream the Handel and Haydn Society's performance of Handel's "Messiah" live from Symphony Hall this afternoon at 3:00 Eastern Time. Definitely worth hearing, IMO. You can go here for CNE's links to program notes as well as information about other seasonal programming.

H & H's page about Messiah has further links and introduces the performance as follows:

A tradition for 159 years—make it yours! Harry Christophers conducts the Period Instrument Orchestra, Chorus, and internationally acclaimed soloists in Handel’s dramatic masterwork. Don’t miss Canadian superstars soprano Karina Gauvin and countertenor Daniel Taylor, British tenor extraordinaire James Gilchrist, and Boston's own premier baritone Sumner Thompson in this season’s unique rendition of this Boston tradition. No holiday season is complete without Handel’s stunning oratorio.

BSO — 2012/11/29-12/01

This week's Boston Symphony program is mostly French, with three French composers, a French conductor, and a French pianist. There is also music by a Scottish composer. Some details are provided in the BSO's details page, which also has links to program notes, audio previews, and an interview with the conductor.

Returning to the BSO podium for the third consecutive season, French conductor Stéphane Denève leads the BSO in a trio of French works by composers from his native country: Berlioz's dynamic overture to his unfinished early opera Les Francs-juges, Albert Roussel's Suite No. 2 from his 1930 ballet Bacchus et Ariane, and Saint-Saëns's Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian, with fellow Frenchman Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist. Also on the program are the Three Interludes from The Sacrifice, Scottish contemporary composer James MacMillan's 2006 opera on a story from The Mabinogion, an ancient collection of Welsh legend.

I was there on Thursday, and I'm looking forward to hearing the music again on the broadcast and the webstream repeat. I wouldn't call any of it the greatest music of all time, but it all was good and I think a rehearing or two will bring even more understanding and enjoyment. The newest piece, interludes from MacMillan's opera "The Sacrifice, felt more accessible during the performance than had MacMillan's St. John Passion, which we heard almost three years ago. The Globe's reviewer was very pleased with the performance.

Go to Classical New England to listen to the webstream approximately live this evening and check out their BSO page for broadcast/streaming schedules as well as their own interview with the conductor.

BSO — 2012/11/23-27

There was no concert on Thanksgiving, so the performances this week began with the Friday matinee and will continue, as frequently happens, through Tuesday evening. As usual, you can find links to the program notes, as well as audio previews of the works being presented, on the program details page of the BSO website. It also gives this brief synopsis of the program.

Christian Zacharias displays both his podium and keyboard skills in an all-Classical program featuring the three great masters of the Austro-German Classical style, beginning with the BSO's first-ever performances of Haydn's Symphony No. 76. The program continues with Mr. Zacharias at the keyboard for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 18. For the second half of the program, the BSO plays its first-ever performances of Beethoven's complete ballet score to The Creatures of Prometheus.

Actually, that last line is misleading. "The Creatures of Prometheus" consists of an overture and 16 "numbers." The BSO is performing the overture and seven of the remaining parts, including the finale. From the program note, it does not seem that they have ever done the full ballet.

You might want to check out more of the website for additional info about doings in Symphony Hall: future programs and artists, interviews with members of the orchestra, and other features.

Of course, Friday afternoon concerts are not part of my regular subscription series, all of which are for Thursday evenings, but I expected this to be an enjoyable concert, and my brother was interested also. So I got a couple of tickets. (Long-time readers may recall that I have gone to Friday concerts on the day after Thanksgiving in previous years.) I really enjoyed it. The music was not challenging or difficult to listen to, but it all had substance as well as style. As I said to my brother at the end of the concert, "This music deserves to be better known." Note, I didn't say "These composers," since they are extremely well known, but this particular music is not often performed, compared to other pieces by the same composers.

As of this moment, the Boston Globe's website doesn't yet have a review. When one becomes available, I'll post a link. So stay tuned.

Speaking of staying tuned, as usual you can hear the concert live on Saturday evening on radio or over the web at Classical New England, as always, at 8:00 Eastern Time, with pre-concert features beginning at 7:00. As usual, the concert will be rebroadcast eight days later, on December 2, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (or Boston Time, as I like to call it). Classical New England's Boston Symphony page has an interview with the conductor/pianist and other BSO-related features.

Enjoy!

Edited to add: The Boston Globe's reviewer liked the Beethoven but was less than thrilled with the pieces before intermission.

BSO — 2012/11/15-17

This week we have two pieces about creation, two with piano, and two by Sibelius — that's four in all. There is a certain amount of overlap among the categories. The BSO program details page has links to program notes as well as audio. It also tells us:

English conductor Thomas Adès takes the podium for concerts including his own composition In Seven Days, for piano and orchestra, featuring soloist Kirill Gerstein. Gerstein also performs Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1, dating from the composer's student years at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Framing the program are two works by Sibelius-his mystical tone poem Luonnotar for soprano and orchestra, a musical take on the Finnish creation story, featuring American soprano Dawn Upshaw; and his poetic, fantasia-like Symphony No. 6.

The pieces before intermission — "Luonnotar", and "In Seven Days" — are about accounts of creation (two very different accounts, I might add); the pieces immediately before and after intermission  — "In Seven Days" and the Prokofiev concerto include piano; and the concert begins and ends with works by Sibelius.


I found it all worth hearing. Sibelius is generally accessible, and these works are no exception. I found the Sixth Symphony quite episodic. That is, I didn't notice melodies returning and being developed, as in most earlier symphonies. Instead the orchestra does a bit of something, then a bit os something else, until it ends — all pleasant to listen to. Maybe if I listened to it repeatedly, I'd see patterns which weren't obvious in this hearing, but I'm unlikely to give myself that opportunity. The Prokofiev piano was similar in having segments follow each other with no connection or development that I noticed. It was more vigorous than the Sibelius. In fact, I didn't detect much development of themes in the works before the intermission either. But, again, it was all good. The Globe reviewer was very pleased.

Go to Classical New England for the webstreams Saturday at 8:00 p.m. (pregame at 7) and November 25 at 1:00 p.m.,  and for their features.

BSO — 2012/11/08-10

The BSO program details page for tonight's concert offers the following summary, along with the usual links to background info:

At the heart of the BSO's November 8-10 program-led by Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, and featuring Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov in his BSO debut-are two powerhouse Russian works: Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, a fan-favorite and repertoire staple, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5, described as a "hymn to free and happy Man," which the composer wrote in 1944 amidst the chaos of World War II. Puerto Rican-born composer Roberto Sierra's colorful Fandangos for orchestra (2000) opens the program.

I missed the Thursday performance to stay home and cook dinner for my brother, who was visiting. The Globe reviewer thought it was good. As always, go here to listen on Classical New England and here for scheduling info and features.

BSO — 2012/11/01-06

From the BSO program detail page, where you can also find links to audio material and the program notes (especially important for the Saariaho piece, I think):

Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena, chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, leads the American premiere of influential Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's Circle Map, for orchestra and electronics, a BSO co-commission. Violinist Gil Shaham, a frequent guest with the orchestra, joins the BSO for Benjamin Britten's rarely performed Violin Concerto, and the program concludes with Dvořák's darkly majestic Symphony No. 7, which bespeaks both his love for his native Bohemia and the influence of his mentor, Johannes Brahms.

I haven't heard it yet because I had to be at Mass for All Saints Day on the evening of Nov. 1. The Globe's reviewer liked the concert, with some reservations about Gil Shaham's approach to the Britten. OTOH, the online Boston Musical Intelligencer has a review which raves about the Britten, likes the Dvořák a lot, and finds the Saariaho piece wanting. See what you think.


Classical New England is where you can hear the concert live on November 3 at 8 p.m. (with "pre-game show" at 7) Boston Time, or rebroadcast/streamed on Nov. 11 at 1 p.m., as well as on demand. Broadcast/webstream schedules and links to background material are available on their BSO page.

BSO — 2012/10/25-27

Vocal pieces are on the program for this week. It's not part of my subscription, and I'll be out on Saturday evening, but I'll add a link to the Boston Globe's review (and any others I find) when I have a chance. Meanwhile, here's what the BSO website says about it.

Charles Dutoit takes the podium for a second week to lead the BSO, an international cast of vocal soloists, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a compelling operatic double bill pairing Stravinsky's The Nightingale and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges(The Child and the Magic Spells). Stravinsky's 1914 opera The Nightingale-begun before, but completed after, his famous trio of ballets for Sergei Diaghilev-is based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a Chinese emperor and two nightingales-one real, the other mechanical. Completed in 1925, Ravel's one-act opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges-the story of a child movingly taught the meaning of love and affection-is infused with whimsy and magic.

The performance detail page  has soloist info by clicking on their pictures. Classical New England broadcasts and streams live, beginning at 7:00 Saturday evening, with the concert scheduled for 8:00. Rebroadcast is a week and a day later, Sunday November 4 at 1:00 p.m., Eastern Time.


Edited Oct. 27 to add:

The Globe review was enthusiastic.

I also edited the line about the BSO performance detail page, because they have added written and audio material, as has Classical New England, since I wrote this and scheduled it for publication while I was away.

BSO — 2012/10/18-23

This week it's an interesting mix. I'm not really familiar with any of them. The BSO website performance details page gives the usual links to notes and audio material, as well as the following description:

Acclaimed conductor Charles Dutoit leads the BSO in a program overflowing with virtuosity. Soloist Nikolai Lugansky makes his BSO debut in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, a massive and daunting work that tests every aspect of a pianist's skill. Not to be outdone, the orchestra's first-chair wind players step to the front of the stage to demonstrate the orchestra's own resident virtuosity in Frank Martin's mid-20th-century Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani, Percussion, and String Orchestra. Opening the program is colorfully atmospheric music by Debussy: the rarely heard Symphonic Fragments from his incidental music to Gabriele d'Annunzio's mystery play The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian.

Bringing your cursor over the thumbnail photos identifies the performers, and clicking gets you fuller bios.

The first two pieces, those by Debussy and Martin, are infrequently performed. I think it's the first time I've heard either. Each was pleasant enough in its own way, and I wouldn't avoid either, but the thought occurred to me that they aren't really important, either. At intermission, another audience member remarked that it seemed that Dutoit was "conducting fog" in the Debussy. The music struck me as fairly static most of the time. There were not the slightly jarring harmonies and chord progressions I expect from Debussy. The Martin piece was definitely livelier. As for the Rachmaninoff, it's much better known, but I'm not familiar enough with it to rate the performance against a standard. As I listened, some passages in the piano seemed reminiscent of Chopin,  and at times the music seemed in the Tchaikovsky tradition. Certainly, the playing seemed flawless and energetic. The Globe reviewer liked the concert. So it could be your only opportunity to hear a couple of pleasant pieces and an energetic performance of a standard.

Again as usual, you can get scheduling info for Classical New England's broadcasts/webstreams, and on demand availability on their BSO page, and access the wbstream via the listen live button on their homepage.

BSO — 2012/10/11-13

This week, the BSO program has two works: Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4. Their website's performance detail page gives us the following description as well as providing links for program notes and audio previews.

Making his Boston Symphony debut, Vladimir Jurowski, principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is joined by German violinist Arabella Steinbacher for Mendelssohn's sparkling Violin Concerto. The program concludes with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4, a dark but powerfully majestic work the composer finished in 1936. He withdrew the work prior to its premiere due to fears of official condemnation, writing instead the universally acclaimed, heroic Fifth the following year. The Fourth waited another quarter-century for its first performance.

This concert is not part of my subscription, so I wasn't there on Thursday evening (or Friday afternoon).   The Boston Globe's reviewer found lots to like in the performance of the Shostakovich and gave mild criticism, in the space he had left, to the Mendelssohn. The review refers to the circumstances of the composition of the symphony and its being withheld from performance. More fully told, the 1930's were the height of Stalin's reign of terror. Musicians and writers were actually killed if Stalin thought that their work was somehow subserve. All art had to support the ideals of the Russian Revolution, and material that was insufficiently expressive of proletarian ideals (by being too formalistic — twelve tone or atonal, for example — or too inaccessible), which amounted to being not to Stalin's taste, was not tolerated. So having had earlier work criticized in Pravda and having seen what had happened to others, Shostakovich was justifiably fearful that presenting the symphony in 1936 could have cost him his life.

As always, you can listen on Classical New England — live this evening or retransmitted on October 21.

BSO — 2012/10/06-08*

Music inspired by literature is on the first half of this week's program, with a Dvořák symphony to follow the intermission. Here's the description from the BSO's performance detail page, where you also find the links to program notes and audio previews:

Acclaimed for his previous Boston Symphony performances at both Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall, BSO assistant conductor Marcelo Lehninger leads a program pairing the Romantic with the ruminative. American violinist Joshua Bell is soloist in Bernstein's Serenade inspired by Plato's Symposium, a dialogue on the nature and value of love. Also on the program are two audience favorites: Tchaikovsky's emotionally charged fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet, and Dvoˇrák's bucolic Symphony No. 8.

I definitely recommend looking at the program note for the Bernstein Serenade (maybe even print it out for reference during the concert) and previewing the piece on audio if you have time.

I thought that the still youngish conductor brought out the detail in the Tchaikovsky, but maybe it was partly because I was listening more closely than I usually do to that piece. Maestro Lehninger is a very demonstrative conductor — not that you'll see it, but perhaps you can imagine him turning his upper body around to "wind up" for dome of the climactic moments, and making sweeping gestures when it's loud, and little finger movements for softer rapid passages. The Bernstein Serenade was interesting. It is fairly typical Bernstein music, I think — not conventionally melodic, but with broadway-like moments and jazzy moments. It represents the participants in Plato's "Symposium" by evoking what he considers the overall mood of their successive speeches. Of course, Joshua Bell played very well. (During intermission I happened to see him posing for pictures and signing autographs outside the stage door to the main corridor, and I got his autograph in my program.) As for the Dvořák 8th Symphony, it made for pleasant, sometimes exciting, listening, with Maestro Lehninger again gesturing very expressively. The Boston Globe's review was generally favorable, but without much detail. I couldn't find review on the Boston Herald or Boston Phoenix websites. I guess you'll just have to trust me that it's worth hearing.

As always, Classical New England broadcasts and streams the 8:00 concert, with pre-concert programming beginning at 7:00. With the departure of Brian Bell, it seems that they no longer have the sort of background material they used to link on their BSO-related page. But it still gives scheduling information. Surprisingly, they now do the Sunday 1:00 p.m. repeats eight days after the original performance. So, for example, if you miss this evening's concert live, you can catch the rebroadcast/stream on October 14.


* On October 9, instead of repeating the program, they will play the Tchaikovsky and Dvořák but put Ervin Schulhoff's Concerto for String Quartet and Wind Orchestra in place of the Bernstein. If you're in the area, you might want to get a ticket. It could be interesting. Notes and audio preview are available on the performance detail page for that evening.