BSO — 2019/11/16

This week's concert is pleasant enough. As the performance detail page informs us:

Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO for his countryman Edvard Grieg’s powerful Piano Concerto, a staple of the virtuoso repertoire. Austrian soprano Genia Kühmeier makes her BSO debut as soloist in the last movement of Mahler’s sunlit, expansive Symphony No. 4, completed in 1900. The Fourth is the last of the composer’s three Wunderhornsymphonies, which feature vocal settings of texts from the folk-poem collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a preoccupation of Mahler’s for more than a decade. The final movement is an expansion of his 1892 song “Das himmlische Leben” (“Heavenly Life”).

(Some emphasis added.)

So far, there is no review in the Intelligencer.  The one in the Globe is generally quite favorable, especially for the Grieg. I was there on Thursday, and was quite satisfied.

So give it a listen over WCRB tonight and/or Monday, November 25. Both shows start at 8:00 p.m., EST. I think you'll like what you hear.

And don't forget the links available on both the WCRB and BSO websites.

BSO — 2019/11/09

One of the reviewers said there are two concerts this evening; before intermission it is music by French composers, and afterwards it is Russian (or perhaps we should say Soviet). Anyway, there are three pieces on the program. Here is how the performance detail page summarizes it:

Andris Nelsons and the BSO continue their survey of the complete symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich with his Twelfth, The Year 1917, composed in 1961. Its subtitle refers to the successful Bolshevik Revolution that resulted in the establishment of the communist Soviet Union. These are the BSO’s first performances of the complete symphony. (Its third movement, “Aurora,” named for a warship whose crew took part in the Revolution, was performed during a series of BSO Youth Concerts marking the composer’s centenary in November 2006.)

Opening these concerts are the American premiere performances of the French-American composer Betsy Jolas’ Letters from Bachville, a BSO commission. Jolas, who celebrates her 93rd birthday in 2019, has been on the faculty of the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center on several occasions. The outstanding Mitsuko Uchida joins the BSO and Mr. Nelsons for Ravel’s scintillating and poignant Piano Concerto in G.

(Some emphasis added.)

Don't forget the links to additional information which can be found on that page as well as on WCRB's page describing this concert.

The reviews are in. The Globe reviewer found the last three movements of the Shostakovich and the slow movement of the Ravel well played, and found no fault with any of the rest of it. As for the new piece by Betsy Jolas, he was noncommittal. The reviewer in the Musical Intelligencer gave Jolas even shorter, and equally noncommittal, shrift. He enthused over the playing of the Ravel, then dismissed the Shostakovich as too long and, except in the slow movement, too loud.

I was there on Thursday and, like the reviewers, found little in "Letters from Bachville" that could be recognized as Bach. So I'd suggest just listening to it as a piece of music with no associations, and see how it feels. I didn't notice anything really terrible on Thursday, so it may be okay. Like the reviewers, I think the slow movement of the Ravel was the highlight of the evening.

You can listen (and enjoy at least some of it, I hope) this evening and again on Monday, November 18, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, over the broadcast and streaming facilities of WCRB.

BSO — 2019/11/02

Tonight we get to hear two orchestras for the price of one as the GHO (Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) joins the BSO for the final concert of "Leipzig Week in Boston." Here's the blurb from the performance detail page:

To conclude “Leipzig Week in Boston,” an intermixed orchestra of BSO and Gewandhausorchester members plays three concerts under Andris Nelsons’ direction. Haydn’s 1792 Sinfonia concertante—here featuring soloists from both the BSO and the GHO—was written during the first of the composer’s wildly successful visits to England, for which he also wrote the twelve “London” symphonies. Richard Strauss’ Festive Prelude for organ and orchestra, featuring French organist Olivier Latry as soloist, was written for the opening of Vienna’s Konzerthaus in 1913; its only BSO performances were later that same year. The organ also has a major role in the Russian composer and mystic Alexander Scriabin’s lushly exotic Poem of Ecstasy (1908), which features kaleidoscopic orchestral effects and rich, post-Romantic harmonies. Completing the program is Schoenberg’s intoxicating Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”) for strings, an 1899 tone poem considered to be the composer’s first masterpiece.

(Some emphasis added.)

Maestro Nelsons has the clout to bring this collaboration about since he is Kapellmeister of the GHO as well as Music Director of the BSO.

The Thursday concert wasn't part of my subscription, so I'm looking forward to hearing it for the first time this evening. I have heard the Scriabin and Schoenberg pieces before and I'd say they're okay. The first half of the concert will be new to me, and I expect it to be good.

The review in the Globe is definitely mixed. The reviewer finds combining the two orchestras less than a complete success (not saying anything was actually bad), although he found the Haydn good. The Boston Musical Intelligencer hasn't yet posted a review of this concert.

You can check out the links on the performance detail page as well as on WCRB's website.

And as always, you can hear it on air or over the web via WCRB tonight or November 11 at 8:00 p.m.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2019/10/26

The centerpiece of this week's concert is likely to be challenging, maybe even unpleasant. I refer to the piano concerto by Dieter Ammann. Normally, I go to concerts where a piece is to be given its world, American, or BSO premiere. But I was otherwise engaged on Thursday and Friday, so I'll be hearing it for the first time over the radio this evening. We have to rely on the program note (linked on the performance detail page) and the reviews to get an idea of what we are in for. Here's the synopsis of the concert from the performance detail page:

Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki returns for a program of sensually colorful French music as well as the American premiere of Swiss composer Dieter Ammann’s new work for piano and orchestra, written for the German-born Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger. Boasting both jazz and modernist credentials, Ammann writes music of great spontaneity and verve. Debussy’s three-movement La Mer—which was given its American premiere by the BSO in 1907—is among the greatest of all French orchestral works, a musical depiction of the changing states of the sea over the course of a day. The program also includes two shorter works: Fauré’s stately, gorgeous, and familiar Pavane, as well as the third movement of Olivier Messiaen’s early orchestral work L’Ascension (1932), which already demonstrates the composer’s unique voice as well as his Debussy-influenced musical heritage.

(Some emphasis added.)

Here are the reviews. The Globe is generally favorable, while the Intelligencer gives a lengthy description of "The Piano Concerto" and is less than thrilled with the conducting of the French pieces.

If the new piece proves intolerable, you can always come back after intermission. I'm not familiar with the Messiaen work, but from the descriptions, I'm guessing that it won't be quite so "advanced" as some of his later compositions.

As always, WCRB will transmit it all live this evening at 8:00 p.m. and retransmit it at the same time on Monday, November 4.

BSO — 2019/10/19

Sorry I missed last week, but I was away.

This week it's "the four B's," extending Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms with some Bartók. The performance detail page describes it like this:

The eminent Hungarian-born pianist András Schiff made his BSO debut in 1983 and last appeared with the orchestra in 2008. In his first appearances with the BSO as a conductor, he leads Bach’s F minor concerto and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 from the keyboard. After intermission, he takes the podium to conduct Brahms’s Haydn Variations and Bartók’s pungent folk-influenced Dance Suite. The Haydn Variations are based on the “Chorale St. Antoni,” a well-known melody once attributed to Haydn. Composed in 1873, this was Brahms’ biggest foray into purely orchestral music prior to completing his first symphony three years later. Based on a variety of traditional dance melodies, Bartók’s Dance Suite was immensely successful at the time of its 1923 premiere.

(Some emphasis added.)

The page has the usual links to program notes and related media. WCRB has a page with a link to an interview with Maestro Schiff.

I was still away on Thursday, so I didn't hear the performance, but the reviewer in the Globe was deeply impressed with Maestro Schiff's performance. The review in the Intelligencer is equally favorable, if less extensive.

So, by all means give a listen over WCRB this evening at 8:00, Boston Time. You can also hear the rebroadcast at 8 p.m. on Monday, October 28.

BSO — 2019/10/05

Sorry. I've run out of time. Here's the basics.

https://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/102512/  See this page for the usual links to additional information.

Firebrand Chinese pianist Yuja Wang returns to Symphony Hall to perform Shostakovich’s brightly powerful Piano Concerto No. 1, which includes virtuosic exchanges between the pianist and a solo trumpet, here the BSO’s principal trumpet, Thomas Rolfs. Opening the program is American composer James Lee III’s celebratory, at times mysterious Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula, a ten-minute work referring to the autumnal Feast of the Tabernacles. (Lee was a 2002 Fellow of the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center.) Closing the program is music from Bedřich Smetana’s patriotic orchestral cycle Má Vlast (“My Country”), colorful and widely varying musical pictures evoking the composer’s Czech homeland.

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.

BSO — 2019/09/21

This evening we get the first Saturday concert of the new season. Here's the orchestra's synopsis from their program detail page:

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the opening concerts of the orchestra’s 2019–20 season, which feature the world premiere of the second BSO commission by the young American composer Eric Nathan, his Concerto for Orchestra, which highlights the virtuosity of the BSO’s various instrumental sections. Two Poulenc works of diverse character frame the program: his exciting, neo-Baroque Concerto in D minor for two pianos—here featuring the Dutch duo-pianist brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen in their BSO debuts—and one of the most significant works first premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the French composer’s optimistic and lyrical Gloria, here with soprano Nicole Cabell and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. In addition, the TFC, six recent Vocal Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, and piano soloist Arthur Jussen join the BSO for Beethoven’s majestic Choral Fantasy.

(Some emphasis added.)

I couldn't find a review in the Boston Globe. The one in the Boston Musical Intelligencer is detailed and generally quite favorable.

I was there live on Thursday evening. The Poulenc concerto was enjoyable to listen to. Unfortunately over the radio you probably won't be able to tell which one is playing — which was a good part of the enjoyment — but it should be okay as a strictly aural experience. The Beethoven Choral Fantasy is basically a cheerful work, and I really looked forward to being able to hear it in the hall. The best part is at the end when the singing takes place, and I wish Beethoven found a way to extend that and maybe not spend quite so long building up to it. But all is well at the end. After intermission, the Nathan concerto seemed to be musical at points, and rarely just plain cacophonous — not nearly so bad as a quick glance at the program notes had led me to believe. That was a pleasant surprise. Finally, the Poulenc "Gloria" had some very nice singing from the soprano.

So I think it'll be mostly good listening over WCRB beginning at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time. I can't get their home page to come up on my computer so I can link their url, but you can find it in previous posts.

BSO/Classical New England — 2019/09/14

Today's "encore performance" comes from March 9 of this year. WCRB gives the basics on their website:

Saturday, September 14, 2019
8:00 PM

Recorded on March 9, 2019

Thomas Adès, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Thomas ADÈS Piano Concerto
   (world premiere; BSO commission)
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

(Emphasis added);

and the BSO program detail page provides further information:

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.

The WCRB page also has a link to a conversation with the soloist, and the BSO page has the usual links to background information.

My review at the time gives you my reaction to the performance two days earlier as well as links to the published reviews. It should be worth hearing (again) this evening at 8:00 via WCRB on air or on line. The WCRB home page also has a link to an article about Malcolm Lowe, the long-time concertmaster of the BSO, who will retire before the season opener next week. It includes the audio of an interview with him, and it should be interesting and informative.

Enjoy!

BSO/Classical New England — 2019/09/07

Here's the scoop on this evening's concert from WCRB:

Saturday, September 7, 2019
8:00 PM

In an encore broadcast of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt conducts Brahms's majestic Symphony No. 1, and guest soloist Truls Mørk showcases the lightheartedness of Haydn in his Cello Concerto No. 1.

Recorded on January 19, 2019

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Truls Mørk, cello

HAYDN Cello Concerto No. 1 in C
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1

(Emphasis added.)

The WCRB web page for the concert has a link to an interview with the cellist about the Haydn concerto. Their home page has links to a lot more about what they're presenting, as well as the "Listen Live" button for listening over the web. There is a bit more about it (including a link to the Globe review) in my preview posted in January.

It's good standard repertory, and most listeners should find it worth hearing. The show begins at 8:00 p.m.,  Boston Time.

Enjoy.