BSO — 2022/03/05

 This evening we get an unfamiliar piece, a new piece, and a warhorse which is a "signature piece" of the BSO, Here'a the WCRB synopsis:

Saturday, March 5, and Monday, March 14, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, the Greek violinist joins the Boston Symphony as the soloist in the American premiere of Unsuk Chin’s "Shards of Silence" Violin Concerto, and Andris Nelsons conducts Ives and Berlioz’s otherworldly "Symphonie fantastique."

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin

IVES The Unanswered Question
Unsuk CHIN Violin Concerto No. 2, Scherben der Stille (Shards of Silence) (American premiere; BSO co-commission)
BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique

Hear a preview of Unsuk Chin's Violin Concerto No. 2 with Leonidas Kavakos using the player above (transcript below).

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Leonidas Kavakos, who's back in Boston for an American premiere, a concerto that was written just for you. Leonidas, thank you for spending a little bit of time with me today. I appreciate it.

As usual, you can read or listen to the interview at the WCRB page.

The BSO's program page has links to the program notes as well as the following summary:

Music Director Andris Nelsons is joined by one of his frequent collaborators, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, for the American premiere of celebrated Korean-German composer Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto No. 2, Scherben der Stille(“Shards of Silence”). Co-commissioned for Mr. Kavakos by the BSO, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, and the London Symphony Orchestra, the concerto receives its U.S. premiere in March 2022 at Symphony Hall. Chin won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 2004 for her first violin concerto. A staple of the BSO’s repertoire for generations, Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique virtually defined the emotional intensity of musical Romanticism while also vastly expanding orchestral virtuosity. Opening the program is the American composer Charles Ives’s mysterious, innovative tone poem The Unanswered Question (1908), which features a striking solo trumpet part.

There is a tepid review in the Intelligencer. I can't find a review in the Globe.

I always like to give new pieces a chance. My brother will call from Tokyo at 8:00 this evening, so I'll miss the live broadcast this evening, but I'll listen to the rebroadcast on March 14. I'm also looking forward to hearing "The Unanswered Question." Ives is definitely idiosyncratic. I'm confident almost everybody will like the Berlioz after intermission.

8:00 p.m., Boston Time, this evening and March 24.

BSO — 2022/02/26

 This evening's concert has four pieces. Here's the summary from WCRB, where you can hear it this evening and again in a little over a week:

Saturday, February 26, and Monday, March 7, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, the Latvian violinist is the soloist in Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in works by Pärt and Stravinsky, as well as Saariaho’s "Saarikoski Songs," soprano Anu Komsi.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Baiba Skride, violin
Anu Komsi, soprano

Arvo PÄRT Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 1
Kaija SAARIAHO Saarikoski Songs (world premiere of orchestral version; BSO co-commission)
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1919 version)

To hear Baiba Skride describe the challenges of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, click on the player above (transcript below).

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Baiba Skride

You may well want to check out the program notes on the BSO's performance page. Regrettably, it does not give the texts of the poems in the Saariaho piece. They were in the program booklet, and I found them helpful. But the program notes on all four works are worth reading if you listen. There is also this overall description of the program:

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons is joined by his compatriot, violinist Baiba Skride, for Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, which was written in the late 1940s but only premiered in 1955, after Stalin’s death helped relax the constraints on artistic expression in the USSR. The concerto contains a version of the composer’s musical “signature,” suggesting that was a work of powerful personal importance. It was composed for and dedicated to David Oistrakh. Opening the program is the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s poignant homage to Shostakovich’s great friend, the English composer Benjamin Britten. 
Finnish soprano Anu Komsi makes her BSO debut in the world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s own orchestrations of her song cycle on poems of the great 20th century Finnish poet Pentti Saarikoski. Saariaho wrote the original piano and voice versions of these songs for Anu Komsi. The Suite from Stravinsky’s 1909 ballet score The Firebird closes the program. The composer’s astonishingly imaginative orchestration perfectly captured the magical atmosphere of this Russian legend, and the Ballets Russes premiere in Paris swept the composer to worldwide fame.

You'll note that the Saariaho work is getting the world premiere of the orchestral version and the soprano her BSO debut at this week's concerts.

There are tepid reviews in the Globe and in the Intelligencer, the latter being especially critical of the playing of the violin concerto.

I was there on Thursday. The opening piece was calm and inoffensive. The violin concerto was less bombastic than most Shostakovich orchestral works, with two slow movements. I almost dozed off. After intermission, I found the first three of Saariaho's poem settings unattractive, while the final two seemed to fit the mood of the texts and were interesting to hear. Overall, though, I thought the singer handled the difficult "music" very admirably. She deserved the loud applause she got. The "Firebird" suite is Stravinsky at his most lyrical (most of it), and I enjoyed it, even if the critics weren't thrilled.

I can't give the concert a warm recommendation for general audiences. I do recommend the first piece, by Aarvo Pärt, though. If you like modern music, you might want to stick around for the rest.

BSO — 2022/02/19

 WCRB says:

Saturday, February 19, and Monday, February 28, 2022

8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, German pianist Martin Helmchen returns to Symphony Hall as the soloist in Mozart’s effervescent Piano Concerto No. 17, and Herbert Blomstedt leads the BSO in Bruckner’s colossal "Romantic" Symphony.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Martin Helmchen, piano

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K.453
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4, Romantic

To hear a preview of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 with Martin Helmchen, click on the player above, and read the transcript below.

I'll add to this later. Now I'll just say I never liked hearing something by Bruckner as much as this performance.

BSO — 2022/02/12

 WCRB says: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2021-10-05/from-russia-and-the-bso-with-love

Saturday, February 12, and Monday, February 21, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, Philippe Jordan makes his BSO debut conducting an all-Russian program of Borodin, a suite from Prokofiev’s "Romeo and Juliet," and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Yefim Bronfman.

Philippe Jordan, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

BORODIN Overture to Prince Igor
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
PROKOFIEV Suite from Romeo and Juliet

To hear Philippe Jordan describe his own suite from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, the differences between conducting ballet music for a ballet and in concert, and the complicated history of Borodin's Prince Igor Overture, use the player above. (And see the transcript below.)

Hear Yefim Bronfman describe the challenge of returning to Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto after being away from it for many years, the value of hearing the composer play it, and the mysteries of choosing the right instrument to play it on. (And see the transcript below.):

Here's the link to the BSO page: https://www.bso.org/events/borodin-rachmaninoff-prokofiev

There are favorable reviews in the Intelligencer https://www.classical-scene.com/2022/02/11/titanic-supercharged/

and in the Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/02/11/arts/drama-distinction-conductor-philippe-jordan-pianist-yefim-bronfman-bso/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results

So it's probably worth hearing.

BSO — 2022/02/05

 The BSO had originally planned to give us a program consisting of Dvořák's Sixth Symphony and the Glagolitic Mass by Janáček. But they decided, mostly, I guess, for the safety of the performers, to substitute Janáček's "Jealousy" and Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto for the Mass. Since I'm unfamiliar with the Mass in question, I don't know whether to be happy or sad over the change. It allowed a pianist to make his debut wth the BSO.

Here's WCRB's synopsis:

Saturday, February 5, and Monday, February 14, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, the Czech conductor returns to Symphony Hall to lead the BSO in a celebration of Czech music through Janáček’s Jealousy and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6, juxtaposed with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring the BSO debut of Lukáš Vondráček.

Jakub Hrůša, conductor
Lukáš Vondráček, piano

JANÁČEK Jealousy
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 6

To hear a preview, in which Jakub Hrůša describes the character of Janáček’s Jealousy, why he loves to perform Dvořák's Symphony No. 6, and recounts the origins of his artistic collaboration with Lukáš Vondráček, use the player above.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Jakub Hrůša, who's here for the second time. Jakub, thanks so much for your time today, I appreciate it.

Jakub Hrůša My pleasure. 

As you see, there's an interview with the conductor which you can listen to via a link on the page where the synopsisis given or read on that page.

The BSO's own page about the concert has links to performer bios as well as to the program notes, which explain what "Jealousy" is all about. They enhanced my listening, but they're probably not essential.

I was there on Thursday and enjoyed the concert. The first piece was brief and not tough to take. The other two are standard repertoire which should present no challenges. In the concerto there were some problems of balance between piano and orchestra. There were occasional points where I couldn't hear the piano. I know the pianist was playing because I could see his hands moving on the keyboard, but sometimes the orchestra was playing too loudly and drowned him out. Other times the orchestra wasn't too loud but he was playing so softly that his sound didn't carry to where I was sitting. What I heard was good. Maybe the radio engineers can adjust the balance so everything comes through.

But what I liked best was the symphony after intermission. It was compelling all the way through.

Let's see what the reviewers thought. There is a rave review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. If you were unsure whether or not to listen, this should make up your mind to "tune in." BTW, the reviewer found no balance problems in the concerto. The Globe is also highly favorable. 

So that's three thumbs up (counting mine). Enjoy tonight and February 14 at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, over WCRB.

BSO — 2022/01/29

 As I have long imagined, WCRB records the BSO Thursday concerts as a backup in case something untoward happens to prevent a live broadcast of the same program on Saturday. Today it happened. The frightful weather we're having in the Boston area has occasioned the cancellatioon of this evening' performance, but we will be able to hear the same music, as recorded on Thursday evening. Good going, WCRB!

Here's how they synopsize it on their BSO page:

Saturday, January 29, and Monday, February 7, 2021
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès conducts an evening of modern pieces, including Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and his own Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, both with soloist Kirill Gerstein.

Thomas Adès, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

BERG Three Pieces for Orchestra
RAVEL Piano Concerto in D for the left hand
Thomas ADÈS Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
RAVEL La Valse

To hear Thomas Adès describe the connections among the different works on this program, the continually fascinating performances of Kirill Gerstein, and a look ahead to his BSO program at Tanglewood, click on the player above.

Transcript:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Thomas Adès, who's back in Boston here for a really fascinating

As I often do, I've also included the first words of an interview with Maestro Adès. You can read the whole thing or listen to it at the WCRB page.

I wasn't there on Thursday  (not part of my subscription) but there are reviews in both the Globe and the Intelligencer. Both note some problems with balance between sections, but are overall favorable. In the BMInt, Mark DeVoto writes like the musicologist that he is, with lots of specifics. The Globe's reviewer, Jeremy Eichler, writing at the layman's level, was enthusiastic for the selection of pieces and very happy with the performance — almost a rave review. There are some interesting comments on the article, as well.

The BSO itself has this description of the program:

BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès is joined by pianist Kirill Gerstein in reprise performances of Adès’s own Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, a BSO-commissioned work written for Gerstein and premiered at Symphony Hall in 2019. Gerstein and Adès have since performed the concerto worldwide to great acclaim, and the BSO’s recording of it was nominated for a Grammy Award. Gerstein also performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, which Ravel completed in 1930 for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm due to an injury in World War I. Ravel’s fascination with jazz shows up in the concerto’s syncopated rhythms and energy. Exhibiting stark differences as well as fascinating similarities, both Ravel’s La Valse and Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra—written a few years apart during and after World War I—seem to be modern commentaries, both admiring and critical, of the music and society of a bygone 19th century Europe.

As of this writing, they're still letting us see their program notes here,

So, if "modern music" doesn't send you screaming from the room, this should be worth hearing. In fact, the Ravel pieces are at least semi-tame. So why not give it a listen this evening and/or February 7 at 8:00 EST.

P.S. Don't forget the rebroadcast of last week's concert of music by Brahms, Nabors, and Tchaikovsky on January 31 at 8:00 p.m.

Ricardo Muti at Rome Opera House

 Maestro Muti was conducting a performance of Nabucco in 2011when the following happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPANwyaSlX4

The Italian government had announced massive cuts in the budget for culture, which would have devastated Italian opera houses,  among other things. Alex Ross wrote about it at the time:

https://www.therestisnoise.com/2010/10/the-italian-opera-situation.html

He explains the situation and the aftermath of this event. The video he embedded shows how long the applause was before the shout of "Viva l'Italia" and Maestro Muti's speech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_gmtO6JnRs&t=1s

The first one I gave has French and English translations of the chorus as well as a French translation of the speech.

BSO — 2022/01/15

 Here's WCRB's synopsis of this evening's BSO concert:

Saturday, January 15, and Monday, January 24, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is the soloist in Liszt's acrobatic Piano Concerto No. 2, plus Andris Nelsons conducts an American premiere by Augusta Read Thomas and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Augusta READ THOMAS Dance Foldings (American premiere)
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4

The BSO program detail page puts it thus:

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO and a frequent collaborator, the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, in a passionate and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2 by Franz Liszt — who himself was considered the most brilliant performer of the 19th century Romantic era. These concerts open with the American premiere of Augusta Read Thomas' Dance Foldings, which Thomas describes as “like jazz big band with Stravinsky ballets.” Closing the program is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, one of the composer’s sunniest and most congenial works.

I was there on Thursday and found the "Dance Foldings" unexciting but not hard to listen to except for occasional high-pitched screeches from the trumpets. Maybe they won't be so bad filtered through the raio system. It helped that Ms Thomas described her music as influenced by Duke Ellington & Ella Fitzgerald and by Stravinsky's early ballets (apparently meaning Petrouchka and Firebird). You may also want to rwad the program note for the piece (and even the others).

The Globe's review is mainly off topic of the music itself, but it's favorable. The review in the Intelligencer is more to the point and quite favorable.

At 8:00 this evening and/or on the 24th you can see what you think.

BSO — 2022/01/08

The BSO is back live this week. I didn't go to the concert on Thursday, and I'm sorry I missed it. I'm looking forward to hearing the broadcast this evening. WCRB says:

Saturday, January 8, and Monday, January 17, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, the American violinist returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, with Andris Nelsons also conducting Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and a world premiere by HK Gruber.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin

HK GRUBER Short Stories from the Vienna Woods (world premiere; BSO co-commission)
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 5
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 5

Since we're back to live concerts, there's also a performance detail page at the BSO website. It tells us:

Andris Nelsons leads a world premiere originally scheduled for spring 2020, the Viennese composer HK Gruber’s Short Stories from the Vienna Woods, a BSO co-commission with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. This orchestral score is a suite of music from the composer’s opera Tales from the Vienna Wood, based on the socially critical play by the same name by Ödön von Horváth. The title’s reference to the famous Strauss waltz mirrors the wide- ranging popular and classical variety of Gruber’s music.
Though he would later be the embodiment of the Viennese Classical composer, Wolfgang Mozart was still living in Salzburg when he wrote all five of his violin concertos. Beloved American violinist Hilary Hahn plays Mozart’s Concerto No. 5, from 1775, which in addition to its energy and elegance is notable for its unusual finale, which features the surprising “Turkish” episode that gives the concerto its nickname.
The BSO under Serge Koussevitzky gave the American premiere of Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 in 1945. Written in 1944, the symphony looks beyond the turmoil of World War II to celebrate the nobility of the human spirit.

THere is also a link to the program notes, which give at least some idea of how the Gruber piece will be. Thus far there is no review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer, but the one in the Globe is enthusiastic. It makes the Gruber seem interesting. That review is what has me looking forward to hearing the concert (until my brother calls).

You can listen this evening at 8:00 Boston Time, and there will be the usual rebroadcast in nine days, on January 17, also at 8:00.

Enjoy.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/01/01

 Sorry to be posting at the last minute. I almost forgot. It doesn't seem to be an acrual concert this evening, but several recordings from way back when.

Saturday, January 1, 2022
8:00 PM

Saturday at 8pm, ring in the new year with CRB and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with timeless waltzes by Lanner and Strauss and Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll," capped off with Beethoven's eternal Symphony No. 9 — all conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Erich Leinsdorf, conductor

Jane Marsh, soprano
Josephine Veasey, mezzo-soprano
Placido Domingo, tenor
Sherrill Milnes, baritone

Joseph LANNER "Die Mozartisten" Waltzes
WAGNER Siegfried Idyll
MOZART Flute Quartet in D, K. 285: III. Rondo (Boston Symphony Chamber Players)
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9, Choral
STRAUSS II, arr. SCHOENBERG Roses from the South (Boston Symphony Chamber Players)