Tanglewood — 2013/07/19-21

This weekend we have mid-late 19th Century music on Friday and Saturday evenings and baroque on Sunday afternoon.

July 19  brings us Wagner, Liszt, and Brahms. The BSO performance detail page puts it like this:

Russian maestro Vladimir Jurowski, principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, makes his Tanglewood debut on Friday, July 19, at 8:30 p.m., leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a program of Wagner, Liszt, and Brahms. Eminent French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the orchestra as soloist in Liszt's devilishly difficult Totentanz, a barnstorming fantasia based on the Dies irae that is one of the showiest works in the repertoire. To begin the program is the pomp and grandeur of Wagner's Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and concluding the evening is Brahms's monumental Symphony No. 1, with which the composer finally took up the imposing symphonic mantel of Beethoven.

      – some emphasis supplied
This we they have given us links to notes and audio material.


July 20  returns to Wagner for the final act of Die Walküre. You can find links to the program notes at the performance detail page. There you can also click on performer photos for bios. They synopsize the concert as follows:

On Saturday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m., German conductor Lothar Koenigs, music director of the Welsh National Opera, makes his BSO conducting debut, leading the orchestra in a concert performance of Act III of Wagner's Die Walküre. Though the act begins with the furor of the famous "Ride of the Valkyries," what fallows is some of the most intimate and emotionally charged music of the composer's massive Ring cycle. The cast of leading Wagnerian singers includes sopranos Katarina Dalayman (Brünnhilde) and Amber Wagner (Sieglinde), and bass-baritone Bryn Terfel (Wotan). The performance, along with the prelude toDie Meistersinger on Friday evening, is part of the BSO's celebration of Wagner's Bicentennial in 2013.

     – some emphasis supplied


July 21  On Sunday afternoon, the orchestra goes for baroque. (The pun is an oldie but goodie, IMO, and I didn't try to resist.) The performance detail page has links to program notes and performer bios, and informs us

Conductor, violinist, and violist Pinchas Zukerman returns to the Shed stage on Sunday, July 21, at 2:30 p.m. for an afternoon of Baroque music, following the success of his all-Bach program with the BSO in 2012. The program will also feature a number of the BSO's players as part of the orchestra's ongoing commitment to feature the individual members of the orchestra. The afternoon's program includes Vivaldi's Concerto in B-flat for violin, cello, and strings, featuring Mr. Zukerman and his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth; Vivaldi's Concerto in C minor for violin and strings, Il Sospetto; Bach's Concerto No. 2 in E for violin and strings, and Telemann's Concerto in G for viola and strings. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, featuring BSO principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe, principal oboe player John Ferrillo, and principal trumpet player Thomas Rolfs, completes the program.

     – some emphasis supplied

I'm happy to see our modern orchestra including baroque music in the repertory. For one thing, it's just enjoyable to listen to. For another, while the historically informed performances may be much more like what the composers expected and audiences heard back then, I see no need for modern ensembles to give up the repertoire entirely.


Classical New England will broadcast and stream all three concerts, as usual, with only a few seconds' delay, and their BSO page gives a brief summary of what is in store for this weekend and the remaining weekends of the Tanglewood season. I forget whether the warm-up material starts an hour or a half hour before concert time. Well, it's not too important either way. If you arrive early, you hear some music. And if you miss half of the preliminaries, that's not the important part, anyway.

Enjoy!

Tanglewood — 2013/07/12-14

July 12  This evening (as I write) the BSO will give us three works: Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, the Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand, by Ravel, with Leon Fleisher as soloist, and (presumably after intermission) Scheherezade, by Rimsky-Korsakov. The performance detail page explains that this is an "Underscore Fridays" concert:

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. Dates: July 12, August 2, August 23.

Strangely, although they tell us that James Sommerville will be the musician who talks about the pieces, there is no mention of the names of the conductor or the soloist in the Ravel. You have to click on the pictures to find out that Kazushi Ono is conducting and Fleisher is playing the piano. (Double click the photos for bios.) The page is also short on program notes, linking none except for the Ravel.

July 13  Saturday brings us West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. David Newman will conduct the orchestra, while the movie is played. Performance detail says

There will be one twenty minute intermission during this performance.

The cinematic magic of West Side Story comes alive at Tanglewood on Saturday, July 13, when conductor David Newman, in his BSO debut, leads the orchestra in a live performance of Bernstein's electrifying score while the newly re-mastered film is shown on large screens in high definition with the original vocals and dialogue intact. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story won ten Academy Awards©-more than any other musical film-including Best Picture. Released in 1961 with choreography by Jerome Robbins and a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, the film is one of the greatest achievements in the history of movie musicals. West Side Story ©1961
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All rights reserved. A.M.P.A.S.

I imagine it will be quite a challenge to sync the orchestra with the recorded singers. There isn't the flexibility that you have when all performers are live.

July 14  On Sunday afternoon, per performance detail:

STRAVINSKY - Suite from Pulcinella
HAYDN - Cello Concerto No. 1 in C
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 8
Audio Podcast - Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos speaks with Brian Bell about the Beethoven 8th Symphony, being performed this Sunday at Tanglewood.

Again, note the dearth of information: no notes or audio preview of the Stravinsky or Haydn and no mention of the cello soloist's name. By clicking on the photo, we discover that it's Lynn Harrell.

I'd like to hear the Friday, but I'd also like to go to the baseball game of the college summer league  North Shore Navigators. I saw West Side Story performed by high school students a few years ago, and I don't especially need to hear it again. Sunday afternoon's program sounds good: I'm looking forward to it.

As usual, Classical New England will broadcast all three concerts and stream them live. The Friday and Saturday concerts are scheduled for 8:30 p.m., Boston (and Western Mass.) time, and Sunday's is at 2:30. p.m. The broadcast schedule doesn't make it clear whether the pre-concert features begin an hour or a half hour before concert time. There are links on CNE's BSO page to a couple of items connected with these concerts, and a fair amount of other items which could be of some interest.

Tanglewood — 2013/07/05-07

As mentioned in my post a week ago, during the Tanglewood season — unlike the winter season at Symphony Hall — programs are not repeated in live performance. This means that we get a different show each day. The season opens this evening, July 5.

July 5  Friday evening we get an all-Tchaikovsky program, with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos on the podium and Joshua Bell as violin soloist. The composer's Violin Concerto will precede the intermission and his Symphony No. 5 will follow it. The BSO's performance detail page has links to program notes and audio previews. The concert is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m., Eastern Daylight Saving Time (1/2 hour later than Symphony Hall concerts. "Pre-game" programming on Classical New England begins at 7:00, according to their website. But it looks as if they expect the Friday and Saturday concerts to begin at 8:00. I don't know if the later concert time will lead to an adjustment of the starting time of the preview show.

At any rate, Classical New England will be broadcasting and streaming all three concerts each weekend of the season.


July 6  Another concert conducted by Maestro Frühbeck will consist of a single work: Mahler's Symphony No. 3. Again consult the performance detail page for links to audio previews and program notes. Once more, the concert is scheduled to begin at 8:30. You can make your best guess about when the warm up on Classical New England will start.


July 7  Sunday's matinee is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Doubtless, there will be preliminaries at 1:00 or 2:00. This concert will not be performed by the Boston Synohiny but by the Boston Pops under the baton of their conductor, Keith Lockhart, wth guest artist Vince Gill. The BSO site doesn't give much more information, but the CNE page on their BSO broadcasts/streams gives the following snippet:

On Sunday, special guest star Vince Gill joins the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart for a tribute to the American West.

Boston Symphony & Pops — 2013/06/29-30

This evening, June 29, Classical New England will present the 75th Anniversary Tanglewood Gala Concert. This is a concert that was performed last season, on July 14. CNE describes it thus:

Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Gala
Conductors Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Stefan Asbury, David Zinman, and Andris Nelsons join the BSO, the Pops, and the TMC Orchestra in a celebration of Tanglewood.

And here's what I said in my post for that weekend:

For Saturday evening, they are giving us a "Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration."

To celebrate Tanglewood's 75th Anniversary, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and Tanglewood Festival Chorus will all appear, along with conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart, Andris Nelsons, and David Zinman; soloists Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Peter Serkin, James Taylor, and Anne-Sophie Mutter. The program will be wide-ranging and will include works by Tanglewood legends including Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein.

Here's a more complete rundown from the detail page.

Program to include -
COPLAND - Fanfare for the Common Man
BERNSTEIN - Three dance episodes fromOn the Town
- Selections from The Great American Songbook
HAYDN - Piano Concerto in D, 2nd and 3rd movements
TCHAIKOVSKY - Andante cantabile, for cello and strings
SARASATE - Carmen Fantasy, for violin and orchestra
RAVEL - La Valse
BEETHOVEN - Choral Fantasy

I'm definitely looking forward to the Choral Fantasy. The rest of it should be okay, too.

What none of us knew at the time was that conductor Andris Nelsons would be chosen to become the Music Director of the BSO. This is one of the two concerts he has conducted with the orchestra which have been broadcast. The other was during last winter's subscription season.


In the Sunday afternoon slot, they'll be retransmitting the Film Night concert conducted by John Williams which they gave us on the 22nd.


Next weekend the BSO's 2013 Tanglewood season begins. This means there will be live concerts friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons, with a different program each time. Most concerts will be by the BSO, but there will be a few by other groups. I'll try to supply details each week.

Boston Pops — 2013/06/22

This evening, June 22, Classical New England will broadcast and stream the Pops "Film Night" Concert with John Williams conducting. The BSO performance detail page describes it thus:

Join Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams as he celebrates decades of unforgettable music-making. His contributions to cinematic music are unsurpassed, and include such beloved scores as Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones, E.T., the Harry Potter series, and so many more. Film Night brings you another memorable evening as Williams leads the Pops in an exciting selection of some of his favorite music and film clips.

The program will be repeated on June 30 at 1:00 p.m. Tonight the concert is at 8:00, with preliminaries from the radio station at 7:00 as usual.


Tomorrow's rebroadcast and stream will be the "Pixar in Concert" program from last Saturday, June 15. I described it in my previous post on the Pops concerts.

Boston Pops — 2013/06/15 (& 06/16 repeat of 06/08)

Saturday evening June 15, Classical New England will broadcast and stream the Boston Pops "Pixar in Concert" A description from the performance detail page:

From the "Toy Story" trilogy and "Cars" to "The Incredibles" and "Up", Pixar has forever changed filmmaking and given audiences of all ages some of the most beloved characters in cinematic history. Now, for the first time ever, the Boston Pops presents "Pixar in Concert," with visually stunning clips and memorable scores from Pixar's thirteen feature films including "Finding Nemo", "Monsters Inc.", and its latest release, "Brave". All of your favorite Pixar characters come to life on screen in this highflying, heart-pounding night of non-stop entertainment. Thomas Wilkins conducts. Performances on June 4 and 5, 2013 at 8PM. Presentation licensed by Disney Concert Library ©Disney/ Pixar.

As usual, the rebroadcast is Sunday June 23 at 1:00 p.m.


My apologies for not getting around to posting anything last weekend. The rebroadcast/stream on June 16 at 1:00 p.m. over Classical New England will be "Matthew Morrison from Glee." Here's the performance detail on that show:

Actor, dancer, singer-songwriter Matthew Morrison is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, his Tony-nominated performance in The Light On The Piazza, and most notably for his Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated role as Will Schuester on the Fox television show Glee. Come and see Morrison perform hits from his forthcoming album of Broadway standards, and be wowed by this modern song-and-dance man.

Interestingly, these are not the concerts which were scheduled for the Saturdays in question. They were performed earlier, in mid-week concerts which seem to have been recorded for weekend broadcast and streaming.

Boston Pops — 2013/05/25 & 06/01

I'll be away next weekend, so here's the story for this time and next. Unless something goes terribly wrong, I'll be back by June 8.

June 25 (repeat June 2) — Gospel Night  Here's how the performance detail page describes it.

Revel in the rousing sounds of Gospel music. The passion, the delight, the celebration that is at the heart of all Gospel music will entertain and enlighten you throughout the concert. Featured is the Boston Pops Gospel Choir, whose exuberant sound will leave you walking on air as you leave Symphony Hall after one of the Boston Pops most popular nights. Charles Floyd, conductor. Gospel Night 2013 is Saturday, May 25, 2013 at 8PM

June 1 (repeat June 9) — Music from the Mad Men Era  Performance detail tells us:

The Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart will invoke the sophistication and style of the 1960s in concerts throughout May and June inspired by AMC's period drama Mad Men. Song stylist Steve Lippia, whom Keith Lockhart has called, "the absolute vocal reincarnation of the Sinatra sound," will step into the limelight, to perform the smoky standards that define the chic sounds of the '60's. Lockhart, Lippia, and the Boston Pops will perform everything ranging from this era's lounge Latin to the tunes of the British Invasion, as well as such classic songs as "Fly Me to the Moon," "Mack the Knife," and "The Best is Yet to Come". Performances on May 21-22, 31 and June 1, 2013.

The times for the live and repeat broadcasts and webstreams over Classical New England are as usual. See previous posts. Also see their page for their info about it.

June 26  The afternoon retransmission is last Saturday's Tribute to Marvin Hammlisch.

Boston Pops — 2013/05/18

It's Boston University Night at the Pops (meaning that at some point they'll perform the university's Alma Mater and the sports "Fight Song"). The BSO performance detail page tells us

Join Broadway stars Jodi Benson, Doug LaBrecque, and Donna McKechnie as they pay tribute to the wonderful talents of one of the greatest contributors to music over the last century, Marvin Hamlisch. As composer, Hamlisch won virtually every major award: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globes. On Broadway, he wrote the music for the long-running show, A Chorus Line and They're Playing Our Song. His more than forty motion picture scores include his Oscarwinning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for The Sting. This memorable concert will feature music from his vast array of timeless music.

I was at the Hamlisch tribute show on Tuesday, and it was good. Since the theme of the Pops season is "Lights, Camera, Action!" there's lots of movie music in it. So I think you'll enjoy it if you like that sort of thing. Pre-concert show on Classical New England is at 7:00, concert at 8:00, rebroadcast/webstream May 26 at 1:00.

Tomorrow, May 19,  at 1:00, they retransmit last week's "Fantasia" program.

The Boston Pops Season Begins — 2013/05/11

As noted last time, the winter season of the Boston Symphony ended on May 4. That concert will be retransmitted on May 12 on Classical New England at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time. From now until June 30, we will be getting the Boston Pops instead on Saturday evenings at 7:00 with retransmissions on Sundays eight days after the live broadcast/webstream.

This evening's concert is described thus on the CNE's BSO page.

Fantasia!
Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops bring you the music of Disney's groundbreaking animated films Fantasia and Fantasia 2000.

You can also find the schedule for the rest of the Pops season there.

For its part, the Boston Symphony's performance detail page gives a bit more info.

Disney shares one of its crown jewels of feature animation in this concert showcasing selections from the original Fantasia andFantasia 2000. Enjoy Disney's groundbreaking marriage of symphonic music and animation. These screenings, accompanied by the live performance of some of the most memorable classical music ever composed, are brought to life by the Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart. Ideal for the whole family, this is an unforgettable experience! Presentation licensed by Disney Concert Library ©Disney.

The principal orchestral concerts of the Symphony's Tanglewood season will begin on July 5, and continue August 25. There will be concerts on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. and on Sundays at 2:30 p.m. — with a different program each time. I expect all of these performances to be broadcast and streamed live over Classical New England.

So for now, you can enjoy some lighter fare, if that's to your taste, and in July and August, it will be a real bonanza of the more usual concert repertoire, with plenty of famous guest artists. Some pieces that were played during the winter season find their way into the schedule for Tanglewood as well, but there will also be plenty that wasn't played last winter. The full Tanglewood season brochure is here.

Double Post: BSO — 2013/05/02-04 & Orgy® Period

It's time for more orgies. WHRB is having their spring Orgy® Period. The program director summarizes it thusly:

Hooray for Orgy® Season! Get ready for three weeks of unique and exciting programming that's unlike the offerings of any other Boston station.

Classical fans will enjoy the music of Corelli, Feldman, Van Cliburn, Dowland, Lutoslawski, and more. Record Hospital followers will enjoy feminist punk, Flipper, Modest Mouse, Neurosis, and others. Fans of TDS can look forward to selections including Eurotronica, rap philosophers, women in hip hop, Blackwatch, Dungeon, and the Native Tongues. From Scorsese and the Blues to Cole Porter's timeless jazz to songs based on sports teams to an evening of Broadway, there's sure to be something for everyone.

Check out the program guide for the list of all 39 orgies® coming this May.

As he notes, more detail is in the Program Guide. Classical Orgies include:
May 6 — Van Cliburn
May 7 — Tokyo String Quartet
May 8 — John Dowland
May 9-10 — Ballet
May 12 — Warhorse Orgy
May 13 — Witold Lotoslawski Centenary
May 14-16 — 75th Birthday Orgy (Bolcom, Tower, Corigliano, and Harbison)
May 18 — Felix Weingartner

See the program Guide for the beginning and ending times of each orgy. Note also the Sunday evening operas listed for the summer on the last page of the guide. Sorry I wasn't alert and missed the Corelli Orgy on May 1.


Meanwhile the Boston Symphony closes out its season with a couple of "warhorses:" the Brahms Violin Concerto, and the Schubert Great C major Symphony. The detail page, with the usual links to audio and notes, describes the program as follows:

Bernard Haitink returns to the podium to lead the BSO's final concerts of its 2012-13 season, featuring the compelling Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider in Brahms's soaring Violin Concerto. Mr. Haitink and the orchestra then end the season in grand fashion with Schubert's Symphony in C, The Great-the composer's ultimate (in both senses of the word: it is his biggest and last word in the genre) symphony-famously praised for its "heavenly length" by Robert Schumann, who observed also that it "transports us into a world we cannot recall ever having been before."

I was there on Thursday and enjoyed it, as did the Globe's reviewer for the most part.
You can hear it streamed over Classical New England this evening live at 8:00 with preliminaries at 7:00, or rebroadcast at 1:00 p.m. on May 12. Tomorrow, May 15, the rebroadcast is last week's Schubert/Mahler program. Check their BSO page for links to interviews. For the remainder of May and June, it seems that the symphony time will be given over to Boston Pops concerts. Then comes the BSO at Tanglewood, with three distinct programs every weekend.