BSO — 2022/04/16

This is one I'd certainly want to hear if I weren't going to be in church for our Easter Vigil. Bell plays Beethoven. Who could ask for anything more. You can bet I'll be listening to the repeat on the 25th. WCRB gives us the basics as well as an interview with the conductor on their page:

Saturday, April 16, and Monday, April 25, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, the American violinist returns to the Boston Symphony as the soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, and Alan Gilbert conducts the world premiere of a work by Bernard Rands and Debussy’s "La Mer."

Alan Gilbert, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin

Bernard RANDS Symphonic Fantasy (world premiere; BSO co-commission)
Claude DEBUSSY La Mer
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto

To hear a preview of the concert with conductor Alan Gilbert, use the player above, or read the transcript below.

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Alan Gilbert, who is back here in Boston to lead the BSO in a program, a fascinating program of three very different pieces. But I don't know, maybe not as different as I'm thinking. Alan, thanks for a little bit of your time today.

The BSO goes a bit more in depth about each piece, with a link to the program notes on their program detail page. The program note includes a sort of description by Bernard Rands of his piece. I don't know what to expect after reading all about it, but I'm hoping it will be okay. IMO the Debussy is okay, but lots ogf people think it's great. And the Beethoven is one of the greatest of all time, IMO, and having Joshua Bell solo makes it not-to-be-missed.

The review in the Intelligencer is quite favorable and give reason to hope that the Rands piece will be okay. The Globe reviewer was noncommittal about the Rands and was very happy with the rest.

So it looks like good listening this evening and on April 25. (And if you don't like the Rands, it's only 20 minutes until the good stuff.) Enjoy.

BSO — 2022/04/02

 This evening the BSO is back live, performing the "War Requiem" by Benjamin Britten. Here's how WCRB describes it:

Saturday, April 2, and Monday, April 11, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, Antonio Pappano conducts the BSO in Britten’s mighty "War Requiem," with a cast of singers, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir.

Sir Antonio Pappano, conductor

Amanda Majeski, soprano
Ian Bostridge, tenor
Matthias Goerne, baritone
Tanglewood Festival Chorus and Boston Symphony Children’s Choir
James Burton, conductor

Benjamin BRITTEN War Requiem

To hear a preview of War Requiem with Antonio Pappano, use the player above.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Antonio Pappano, and Mr. Pappano, it is so good to have you here. It's been a little while since you've been to the Boston Symphony, though more recently with your orchestra, Santa Cecilia, just about five years ago here at the hall. It's good to have you back.

Antonio Pappano Thank you very much. I'm thrilled to be back.

Brian McCreath Well, this piece, the War Requiem by Britten, you know, I'm curious about the circumstances and the thoughts behind it as you originally programmed it

As you see, there is an interview with the conductor, with a link to the audio recording of it as well as a transcript if you go to their page.

The BSO's performance page has a link to the program notes, which contain the full text of the piece, which you may want to have available when you listen. There is also a fairly detailed analysis. You can also follow links to performer bios.

I didn't attend the Thursday performance because I felt as if I had a cold coming on, and rain was in the forecast. So I missed the performance of the Ukraqinian national anthem as well as the chance to hear the Requiem live so I can't give you my  own impressions and observations.

The Globe's review is quite favorable. Vance Koven, the musicologist, gives a good analysis of the piece and then praises the performance in the Intelligencer.

Needless to say, I suggest giving this a listen over WCRB this evening and/or April 11, at 8:00 EDT on WCRB.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/03/26

 WCRB presents the closing concert of last summer's season at Tanglewood. They tell us:

Saturday, March 26, 2022, and Monday, April 4, 2022

Tonight at 8, in an encore broadcast of the closing concert of the 2021 Boston Symphony Orchestra season at Tanglewood, it’s an all-Brahms concert with Leonidas Kavakos as the soloist in the Violin Concerto and Herbert Blomstedt conducting the Symphony No. 4.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin

ALL-BRAHMS PROGRAM
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 4

This concert was originally performed on August 15, 2021.

Learn more about this concert and listen to interviews at the Tanglewood Learning Institute online.

If you go to their web page, you'll find that the last line of their blurb is a link to the material at the Tanglewood Learning Institute. I tried it and can't find my way to anything about this concert. I made a short post about it at the time, but didn't say much about the music, and the link to the BSO performance detail page doesn't work anymore. I guess the BSO doesn't want to let us find out about past events.

Fortunately, the Boston Musical Intelligencer doesn't hide it's archives. There we find a brief but quite favorable review of the concert. The Globe's reviewer was unhappy with the choice of the Brahms symphony to end the season, and gave rather short shrift to the whole concert in a review which covered the whole weekend.

Again, WCRB will follow the custom of airing and streaming the concert both this evening at 8:00 and again on Monday (April 4) at 8:00. 

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/03/19

The BSO went "on tour " to New York and will be away today and next week. As usual, WCRB is filling the time with "Encore broadcasts. This evening it's the concert given at Tanglewood on July 18, 2021. Here's the scoop from WCRB:

Saturday, March 19, and Monday, March 28, 2022
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8pm, in an encore broadcast from the 2021 Tanglewood season, Gil Shaham returns to the Berkshires as the soloist in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3, and Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in pieces by the storied musical sibling pair Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin

MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL Overture in C
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 3
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 5, Reformation

This concert was originally performed on July 18, 2021.

Learn more about this concert and listen to interviews at the Tanglewood Learning Institute online.

All good listening. They'll also give us the rebroadcast Monday week, as it says.

I can't find the program notes from the concert on the BSO page. I posted about it in advance of the concert, and didn't have anything worth trying to track down now.

The Intelligencer didn't have a review. In the Globe, there is a review covering both July 17 and July 18. It focuses on the former. When it gets around to this concert, it is unenthusiastic, mildly critical on a few points. I don't think it should induce you to avoid the show.

So I give it my "thumbs up." Enjoy!

BSO — 2022/03/12

 Opera night at the BSO, as WCRB tells us:

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

Tonight at 8pm, Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Austrian composer’s 1925 opera "Wozzeck," starring soprano Christine Goerke as Marie and baritone Bo Skovhus as the title character.

Andris Nelsons, conductor

Cast to include
Bo Skovhus, baritone (Wozzeck)
Christine Goerke, soprano (Marie)
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano (Margret)
Christopher Ventris, tenor (Drum Major)
Mauro Peter, tenor (Andres)
Franz Hawlata, bass (Doctor)

BERG Wozzeck

See a translation of the Wozzeck libretto.

For a synopsis and notes, visit the BSO.

Click on the player above to hear Christine Goerke talk with CRB's Ron Della Chiesa about singing the role of Marie in Wozzeck, how film music opened up the emotion of the opera for her, and the camaraderie she shares with her colleagues. She begins by describing her debut with the Boston Symphony, singing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and an unexpected encounter backstage.

Interview transcript:

On WCRB's page, "visit the BSO" has a link to the BSO's own program detail. which I definitely recommend having with you if you listen.

The Intelligencer has a mixed review, on balance favorable though. The Globe's review finds no fault.

Alban Berg's music is "difficult" to mmy ears. I heard this opera when the Metropolitan Opera broadcast a performance 60 or more years ago, and I didn't like it. I'm not sure if I'll listen this evening, but I'll probably leave the radio on.

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.