BSO — 2019/03/16

The orchestra's program detail page, with the usual links to background material, tells us the following about this week's BSO concert:

The incomparable American soprano Renée Fleming returns to Symphony Hall to join Andris Nelsons and the BSO in the gorgeous and touching final scene from Richard Strauss's "conversation piece for music," the opera Capriccio. The opera's opening Sextet for Strings and luminous Moonlight Music will precede the vocal scene. On the second half is the composer's Also sprach Zarathustra, his tone poem based on the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's mystical meditation of the same name. The piece opens with a dramatic fanfare (widely known from its use by Stanley Kubrick in the sound track of 2001: A Space Odyssey), perhaps the most famous "sunrise" in music.

(Some emphasis added.)

This concert was not part of my subscription. Fortunately the reviews are in. The Globe gave a lot of information about the opera, and was generally pleased with the performance — a big fan of Renée Fleming. The Musical Intelligencer makes up for finding Ms. Fleming's age showing in the Strauss by giving us a glimpse into a master class she gave at New England Conservatory and praising her Thursday evening encore, with no complaints about the orchestra and compliments for several who had leading parts.

It seems it will be worthwhile to tune your radio or your computer to WCRB this evening (and/or Monday, March 25) at 8:00 to hear it all. Enjoy!

Handel and Haydn — 2019/03/10

On Sunday, March 10, I went to the afternoon concert of the Handel and Haydn Society at Symphony Hall. There were four works on the program. First was Coronation Anthem № 1, "Zadok the Priest," by Handel, which was performed by members of the high school Collaborative Youth Concerts Choruses and the H+H Orchestra, conducted by Emily Isaacson. The remainder of the concert was performed by the orchestra, conducted by Matthew Halls. It consisted of the Overture to "The Magic Flute," K. 620 by Mozart, Clarinet Concerto № 1 in f minor, op. 73, by Weber, with Eric Hoeprich as soloist, and, after intermission, Symphony № 5 in c minor, op. 67, by Beethoven.

For a group of high schoolers from various schools, the chorus performed quite well. I'd say they were flawless. The Mozart overture was also flawless but unspectacular. Eric Hoeprich is Dutch, but comes to play first clarinet with the H+H. He gave a very lively rendition of the solo part in the Weber. Toward the end of the slow movement, there were passages where the clarinet was accompanied only by three horns softly playing sustained chords. One of the horns was playing extremely low notes — something Weber calls for in other pieces as well. The horn players handled it all very well, and when they were finished is said, "Wow!" under my breath. The third horn player, John Aubrey, didn't seem to do much during the rest of the piece, and I suspect he was brought in just to handle the low notes. I find Weber's music very enjoyable, so I was happy to hear this piece so well performed. I gave a "Bravo!" at the end, and a "Bravi!" to the horn players when the conductor had them stand for a bow.

The Beethoven 5th was also wonderful. The H+H plays on period instruments and uses "historically informed" playing techniques. The result was a smaller orchestra than is common — mainly fewer strings — and it was possible to hear all the instruments. Details which often are buried were audible,  so it seemed that I could hear bits which I hadn't noticed before. The performance was very vigorous in the outer movements and, I thought, well-paced in the inner ones. The end of the symphony produces a GSO (guaranteed standing ovation), so other audience members provided the well-deserved bravos without waiting for encouragement from me.

I don't find any reviews of the concert, so for now you'll have to take my word for it that it was an excellent concert. I hope that WCRB will broadcast it sometime, and you can hear it for yourself.

BSO — 2019/03/09

This week the BSO sandwiches the world premiere of a piano concerto, conducted by the composer, between two late 19th Century orchestral pieces. Here's how the orchestra's performance detail page synopsizes the concert:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns for a concert featuring the world premiere of his Concerto for piano and orchestra , commissioned by the BSO and composed for Kirill Gerstein, a frequent collaborator. Mr. Adès also leads the orchestra in two Romantic-era scores. Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz depicts a scene from Nicolaus Lenau's 1836 poem Faust in which Mephistopheles plays demonically on a fiddle during a wedding. Tchaikovsky's emotionally intense and magnificently orchestrated Fourth Symphony, completed in 1878, represents the culmination of a traumatic period in the composer's life.

(Some emphasis added.)

I was there for theThursday concert, which had the very first performance of the piano concerto. It struck me as 21st Century Gershwin. There was some jazzy rhythm, there was a modicum of tune, but it was all overshadowed by noise. I couldn't say if it was exactly atonal, but it didn't seem very harmonious. It was tolerable and even interesting. Maybe a second hearing this evening will lead to greater understanding and appreciation. The Liszt was vigorous — happy to see Clint Foreman get some solo work in it, although most went to Elizabeth Ostling. The first movement of the Tchaikovsky went too long — his fault, not theirs.

The Globe review, which I hadn't read before writing the above paragraph, also notes Gershwinesque qualities in the concerto. The reviewer likes the Liszt and appreciates a couple of unusual touches in the Tchaikovsky. The Musical Intelligencer was also pleased.

Listen in this evening at 8:00 over the facilities of WCRB, see what you think of the concerto, and enjoy the classics. Don't forget the repeat on March 18 at 8:00 p.m. On the 11th, you have another chance to hear the Dvořák "Stabat Mater."

Enjoy!

BSO — 2019/03/02

This evening's concert is the "Stabat Mater" by Antonin Dvořák. Here's what the performance detail page tells us:

Dvořák wrote the piece in 1876-77 in response to the deaths of three of his children, using the traditional Medieval Latin poem on the subject of Mary's sorrow over Christ's death. Dvořák's poignant and dramatic setting expresses a heartfelt, personal experience of grief via the four solo roles, and its universality through the power of the chorus and orchestra. The BSO has only performed this work in its entirety on two previous occasions: under Seiji Ozawa in 1980, and in a single performance in Louisville, Kentucky, led by Arthur Nikisch in 1891.

If you are going to be giving the performance close attention, I recommend going to the link for the program notes where you can find the text, as well as a description of the music. But I think it can also work if you are listening without knowing the exact words, just with the idea of what it is about in general, and realizing that he was writing it shortly after the deaths of his three young children.

Both the Globe and the Musical Intelligencer have reviews that point out minor flaws in the performance while overall quite favorable. I was there and probably tried too hard to follow word for word, rather than taking in the overall experience of each section. It was high on my list of concerts to hear this season, and I'm glad I was there. One of the basses in the chorus has a blog, and earlier in the week he said a couple of things about it. One was that it is the saddest piece of choral music he knows — not just making musical gestures of sadness, but truly sad in spirit throughout until the closing lines. He also said that the chorus had to learn that pp is not mezzoforte. There were a couple of spots in the early going where it seemed that the orchestra was playing mezzoforte and drowning out the chorus's properly executed pp. As for being sad throughout, I didn't hear it that way. It was very sad in the beginning sections, but didn't seem to me to maintain that degree of sadness all the way through. Maybe you'll hear what he meant about it.

This is one I definitely recommend. (In addition to being great music, it can help you get in the mood for Lent, if you need or want any help in that area.) As always, WCRB presents it live with coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m., and there will be a rebroadcast at 8:00 on Monday, March 11. (On the 4th, they will replay last week's "Suor Angelica.)

The Thursday concert began with a performance of  "Nimrod" from the Enigma Variations by Elgar, which was added in memory of André Previn, who had died earlier that day. I don't know if they'll play it again this evening.

BSO — 2019/02/23

I'll let the program detail page tell about this evening's concert.

Andris Nelsons and the BSO continue their recent tradition of performing opera in concert with Giacomo Puccini's Suor Angelica ("Sister Angelica"), one of the three short operas composed in the 1910s and known collectively as Il trittico ("Triptych"). The story centers on the title character, who is living in a convent to repent a past sin, having a son out of wedlock. Acclaimed soprano Kristine Opolais sings the role of Sister Angelica in this concert performance. Opening the program is a work almost contemporary with Puccini's, Lili Boulanger's short tone poem D'un Soir triste("A somber evening"), one of few purely orchestral works completed by this young genius before her untimely death in 1918 at age 24. Also on the program is Debussy's immensely colorful Nocturnes, an 1899 masterpiece of musical Impressionism.

(Some emphasis added.)
See also the links to background information.

This concert wasn't part of my subscription (and it wasn't "must hear" for me, so I didn't pick up a ticket or exchange for it) so we'll have to depend on the reviews to hear how it went. The Globe reviewer was pleased in general with the opera, with a couple of cautions. She also found the pieces in the first half of the concert okay but nothing to rave about. The Musical Intelligencer's reviewer gives more detail about the works and the performance, but seems to have much the same take as the Globe: decent performances, but not "for the ages."

I'm planning to listen to the broadcast over WCRB at 8:00. Even if they aren't things I feel I must hear, I'd like to hear these pieces, given the opportunity. I don't think I've ever heard "D'un Soir triste" or "Suor Angelica," and if I've heard "Nocturnes," I'm certainly not familiar with it. So this concert can "expand my horizons." And maybe Kristine Opolais will dial back the intensity in the early going of the opera. See what you think.

Also, note the other programming mentioned on the WCRB website; and remember you have another chance to listen to last week's Schumann and Bruckner at 8:00 p.m. on February 25 and this evening's concert in the encore broadcast of March 4.

BSO — 2019/02/16

The BSO's program detail page has all the usual links to background information for this evening's concert, which it describes as follows:

Andris Nelsons and the BSO are joined by the firebrand Chinese pianist Yuja Wang for Schumann's Piano Concerto, a work blending the composer's unique Romantic lyricism and brilliance. The concerto began as a single-movement Fantasia written for his wife Clara, who was considered one of the great virtuosos of the age. Bruckner's magisterial Symphony No. 9, a work left just short of completion at the composer's death in 1896, shows the continuing influence of Wagner in its harmonic language and scope, with the particular Austrian grace and gift for counterpoint for which Bruckner was known.

(Emphasis added.)

I was there on Thursday and found it all worth  hearing. I had been afraid I'd get tired of the Bruckner because of its length, but it held my interest. The Schumann was very pleasant.

The reviewers had different reactions, especially to the Bruckner. The Globe reviewer liked the Schumann concerto's backstory, the music, and, in general, the performance — just the thing for St. Valentine's Day. She clearly is not fond of the Bruckner symphony, but thought that Nelsons and the orchestra performed it very well. On the other had, in the Musical Intelligencer the reviewer finds that Nelsons conducted the Bruckner very poorly., while the Schumann was satisfactory. I think you'd have to be more familiar than I am with the symphony to be aware of the things the reviewer is complaining about in Nelsons' approach.

So my recommendation is to just enjoy the music for what it is: a lovely concerto followed by a great big soundfest with lots of brass. WCRB, 8:00 p.m. EST repeated on February 25. (Last week's Wilson, Szymanowski, and Copland will be rebroadcast this coming Monday, the 18th.)

Enjoy!

BSO — 2019/02/09

It's all 20th Century music this week, but it could be worse. Some of it is very good and some of the rest isn't tough to take (at least for me). I'll let the BSO's program detail page give the introduction:

The Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO as soloist in the important Polish composer Karol Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1, a brilliant piece colored by both French Impressionism and German late Romanticism. American orchestral works open and close the concert. The St. Louis-born Olly Wilson, who died in March 2018 (and whose Sinfonia was commissioned by the BSO for its centennial), was a longtime faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley. His well-traveled orchestral work Lumina is a scintillating, single-movement orchestral landscape. Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3, premiered by the BSO under Serge Koussevitzky in 1946, is a substantial, expressively rich work incorporating the composer's familiar Fanfare for the Common Man as the theme of its final movement.

(Some emphasis added.)
Don't forget the links to performer bios and other info on the performance detail page.

I attended the performance on Thursday. The opening piece struck me as unmelodious and disjointed. I thought of Elliot Carter and Milton Babbitt, but this wasn't quite as cacophonous as their stuff. Anyway, I wouldn't blame anybody for skipping it. (The problem is knowing when to come back for the next piece. You should be safe if you're tuned in by 8:17.) Or, you might want to listen and see if it's better than I think it is. In the past Szymanowski's music has also struck me as unpleasant, but this is better than the things of his I had previously heard, so it was a pleasant surprise — lush is a word that comes to mind for the overall impression. After intermission Copland did not disappoint.

The reviews are in, and while both the Globe and the more extensive Intelligencer found minor details to criticize, both were generally satisfied. An interesting sidelight: when the reviewer in the Intelligencer, Mark DeVoto, was a college student, Aaron Copland autographed DeVoto's copy of the score of this evening's symphony.

As always, you can go to the WCRB website for information about their programs as well as the link to their live stream, where you can listen this evening at 8:00, EST if you're outside their broadcast range. The encore broadcast will be on the 18th, also at 8:00 p.m.


I'm sorry I never got around to posting anything last week. I had been present for the Thursday performance and enjoyed it all. The Haydn symphony and Mendelssohn violin concerto didn't disappoint. The Janáček pieces after intermission were quite accessible. Here are the links:
BSO performance detail page;
Globe review;
Intelligencer review.
WCRB will give the usual rebroadcast/stream on Monday, February 11, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, so there is still a chance to hear it. Enjoy.

BSO — 2019/01/26

This week the BSO gives us three works by Finnish composers and one by Mozart. The orchestra's program detail page has the usual links to background information, including all the program notes. It also provides this synopsis of the concert:

Making his BSO subscription series debut, conductor John Storgårds leads pianist Martin Helmchen in Mozart's gregarious, large-scale Piano Concerto in E-flat, K.482, composed in late 1785 when Mozart was also working on his comic opera The Marriage of Figaro. The Finnish Storgårds also brings three Finnish works to Symphony Hall, beginning with Kaija Saariaho's gorgeous study of orchestral color Ciel d'hiver ("Winter Sky"), an arrangement of a movement from her earlier, symphony-like Orion. Jean Sibelius's final two symphonies, nos. 6 and 7, are two of the greatest works in the symphonic literature. Though very different from one another, both demonstrate the composer's distinctively rich orchestration and organic, fluid transformations of material.

(Some emphasis added.)

Whether the Sibelius symphonies are "two of the greatest works in the symphonic literature" and "very different from one another" are matters of opinion, and mine differs from that of the writer of those words. To me, these symphonies were not nearly as engaging or interesting as his earlier symphonies. There was nothing very unpleasant in them, so they are certainly easier to listen to than a lot of 20th century music, but at one point I was reminded of what a critic said of a symphony of Bruckner: it's like a walk in the forest — you see nice things, but nothing happens. In other words, I found them dull. Perhaps I will feel differently if I can listen to them again during the rebroadcast on February 4. The Saariaho piece could have seemed dull too, but for whatever reason, it didn't. I thought it lived up to its name.

The reviewers don't agree with me about the Sibelius being dull, although the Globe doesn't seem to think they are very different from one another. Other than thinking that the Mozart concerto, while well performed, didn't belong with the other three works, the reviewer was very happy. The Intelligencer gives extensive analyses of the Finnish pieces (expressing more positively my Bruckner comparison). Overall, the review is positive, with some specific reservations.

By the way, there were women freelancers playing second flute, third horn in the Saariaho, and second, third, and side horns in the Sibelius. There was also a freelance tympanist for the Saariaho and the Sibelius 7th. In the 6th, percussionist Kyle Brightwell did the honors on the kettledrums, and gave an interesting contrast to the stranger. Throughout the symphony, young Mr. Brightwell could be seen almost constantly checking the tuning of his instruments by putting his ear close to the surface of a drum and tapping it with a finger. Usually, it was okay, but occasionally, he adjusted the tuning with a mechanism at the top of the instrument. The interloper, OTOH, apparently didn't have perfect or absolute pitch, so he relied on a little electronic device to check the pitches of the drums, and he felt no need to keep checking. He checked them before the symphony began, and only once during the piece.

Anyway, I think the concert, even if it isn't quite at the "must hear" level, is worth listening to when WCRB provides it on air and over the internet at 8:00 p.m. EST, live this evening, and recorded on February 4.

BSO — 2019/01/19

This post is being published earlier than usual because I'm trekking to Brooklyn on Saturday to join the celebration of my nephew's wedding. I won't be able to listen to the concert until the rebroadcast on the 28th. But since I don't like Brahms' symphonies, it's no great loss for me.

This week's concert should be very enjoyable for almost everybody. As the program detail page tells us:

Herbert Blomstedt, one of the great conductors of the era, returns to the BSO podium for a work central to the repertoire, Brahms's rich, complex Symphony No. 1. Grappling with the influence of Beethoven, Brahms famously delayed completing his First until well into his forties. Bearing several deliberate touches of homage to Beethoven but fully Brahmsian in its spirit and effect, it stands as one of the great works in the symphonic literature. Opening the program is Haydn's charming, genial Cello Concerto No. 1, featuring the brilliant Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk in his first appearances with the BSO since 2007.

(Emphasis added.)

At "press time" there is no review available in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Boston Globe reviewer found both pieces well performed. So it seems there will be a fine evening of good old standard repertoire.

Enjoy it over WCRB at 8:00 p.m. Saturday and/or 8:00 p.m Monday January 28.

BSO — 2019/01/12

This week it's Harbison, Mozart, and Vaughan Williams, in that order. The program detail page (which see for links to the usual background information) puts it thus:

English conductor Sir Andrew Davis and the BSO are joined by Italian pianist Alessio Bax in his BSO debut for one of Mozart's stormiest works, his C minor piano concerto, No. 24, one of the unsurpassed series of concertos from the height of his Vienna popularity. Opening the concert is Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison's 1986 Symphony No. 2, the four movements of which are called "Dawn," "Daylight," "Dusk," and "Darkness"-keys to its evolving expressive and musical character. This is one of several Harbison works being performed this year to mark the 80th birthday year of a composer closely associated with the BSO. Steeped in the musical tradition of England, Vaughan Williams's Fifth Symphony was composed at the beginning of World War II but maintains an optimistic and affirmative outlook.

(Emphasis added.)

The reviews are in. The Globe liked it. So did the Intelligencer, with much interesting detail, including an overall reference to "the symphony’s particularly severe mien, even in contrast to Harbison’s other work, [which] lodges it in our mind as a true 20^th century modernist artifact." So be prepared for the challenge.

I was unable to get to the performance on Thursday. I've been especially looking forward to hearing the Harbison symphony, although the Intelligencer review has me expecting some challenging music. You can hear what all the talk is about this evening at 8:00, EST, over the facilities of WCRB, with a repeat transmission on Monday, the 21st, also at 8:00 p.m. Last week's concert will be rebroadcast on the 14th. As usual, I recommend checking out their website for information about other programming.