BSO — 2023/03/04

 WCRB says:

Saturday, March 4, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, March 13

André Raphel conducts the Boston Symphony in the first part of “Voices of Loss, Reckoning, and Hope,” including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Petite Suite and William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony, as well as Uri Caine’s The Passion of Octavius Catto, commemorating the life of the 19th century civil rights pioneer.

André Raphel, conductor
Barbara Walker, vocalist
Uri Caine Trio
Catto Chorus

Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Petite Suite de Concert
William Grant STILL Symphony No. 1, Afro-American
Uri CAINE The Passion of Octavius Catto

LOUD SOUND WARNING: About 25 minutes into The Passion of Octavius Catto, a starter's pistol is fired several times.

Read program notes for this concert

To hear a preview of the program with André Raphel, use the player above, and read the transcript below:

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with André Raphel, who is here with the Boston Symphony for a fascinating program:

And here's the synopsis from the performance detail page:

American conductor André Raphel leads this first program in a series exploring complex social issues. The centerpiece of these concerts is Philadelphia jazz pianist and composer Uri Caine’s gospel and popular music-based The Passion of Octavius Catto, which tells of the 19th-century civil rights leader’s fight for justice. English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s charming potpourri Petite Suite de Concert dates from about 1911. In four movements, “Longing,” “Sorrow,” “Humor,” and “Aspiration,” William Grant Still’s 1930 Afro-American Symphony, his best-known work, is a blues-tinged panorama of the composer’s heritage.

Festival: Voices of Loss, Reckoning, and Hope is supported by the generosity of the Elinor V. Crawford Living Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation.

Support for these performances of “The Passion of Octavius Catto” has been generously provided by Vita L. Weir and Edward Brice, Jr., and Pamela Everhart and Karl Coiscou.

---

André Raphel, conductor
Uri Caine Trio
Uri Caine, piano
Mike Boone, bass
Clarence Penn, drums
Barbara Walker, vocalist
Catto Chorus

COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Petite Suite de Concert 
STILL Symphony No. 1, Afro-American
---- Intermission----

Uri CAINE The Passion of Octavius Catto

There is not a review but a preview of this and the next two weeks in the Globe.  The Intelligencer has nothing I could find. Since it wasn't part of my subscription, I can't shed any light beyond what you read in the BSO's program notes, other than to say that I have generally good impressions of Coleridge-Taylor and Still and no idea about Caine.

BSO/Classical New England — 2023/02/25

The orchestra isn't performing in Symphony Hall this week, so WCRB is treating us to an encore broadcast as noted here:

Saturday, February 25, 2023
8:00 PM

Tonight at 8, Lisa Batiashvili is the soloist in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, and Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in William Grant Still's tribute to the Finnish composer, as well as a Symphonic Fantasy on Richard Strauss's opera "The Woman Without a Shadow," in an encore broadcast on CRB.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Lisa Batiashvili, violin

STILL Threnody: In Memory of Jan Sibelius
STRAUSS Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten
SIBELIUS Violin Concerto

This concert was originally broadcast on October 16, 2021 and is no longer available on demand.

Hear a conversation with Lisa Batiashvili and CRB's Brian McCreath with the audio player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: 

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath from

I wrote about it at the time it was performed, and I have nothing to add except that my vague memory is that it was okay.

The links to the reviews in my post still work, but the one to the performance detail page doesn't. It is archived here. The links to the notes on each piece still work there.

WCRB doesn't promise another rebroadcast nine days hence, and based on past practice I wouldn't expect one. So "it's now or never." Enjoy.

BSO — 2023/02/18

 The newest piece from the BSO this evening was composed in 1939. As always, we start with WCRB's synopsis:

Saturday, February 18, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, February 27

French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the Boston Symphony for Saint-Saëns’s virtuosic Egyptian Concerto, and Israeli conductor Lahav Shani leads the BSO in his Symphony Hall debut with Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and Rachmaninoff’s dazzling Symphonic Dances.

Lahav Shani, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, Classical
SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances

To hear a preview of Saint-Saëns's Piano Concerto No. 5 with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, use the player above, and read the transcript below:

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Sym

The BSO's performance detail page tells us just a bit more about each piece  and provides the usual links:

Israeli conductor Lahav Shani, making his Symphony Hall debut, and elegant French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet perform Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian, a brilliantly virtuosic but tuneful Romantic-era work for which Thibaudet is an ideal interpreter. Sergei Prokofiev’s delightful First Symphony was conceived as a 20th-century successor to works by Wolfgang Mozart and Joseph Haydn. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s ingeniously constructed, brilliantly colorful Symphonic Dances was his last finished work. 

---

Lahav Shani, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, Classical (15)

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian (29)

---- Intermission----

RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances (33)

The reviews are in. The Globe likes the way all the music was performed. The Intelligencer is maybe a notch less fulsome but still quite favorable.

I misread the season preview brochure and thought that this concert was one I wasn't especially interested in, so I decided to stay home. It was nice to relax, but I'm sorry I missed the show. Interestingly (to me) the brochure from last spring said the piano concerto would be by Aram KLhachaturian, another 20th Century piece. I don't see any explanation of the change, but maybe they thought it would make the concert "too much of a muchness," and opted for the 19th Century concerto instead.

Enjoy this evening and on the 27th.

BSO — 2023/02/11

A brand new piece and one we don't hear often, then after intermission a warhorse. Here's WCRB's synopsis and the beginning words on the interview transcript:

Saturday, February 11, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, February 20

British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason makes his Boston Symphony debut with Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo, and Andris Nelsons conducts the world premiere of Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances and Beethoven’s poetic Symphony No. 7.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello

Carlos SIMON Four Black American Dances (world premiere)
BLOCH Schelomo: Rhapsodie hébraïque, for cello and orchestra
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

To hear a preview of Bloch's Schelomo with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

For information about Carlos Simon's Requiem for the Enslaved, visit Hub New Music.

For information about Sheku Kanneh-Mason's Song, visit Decca.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who's here in Boston for actually the third time, but the first time with the Boston Symphony. Sheku, thanks a lot for your time today. I appreciate it.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason Thank you so much for havin

The BSO performance detail page gives the following brief blurb along with links to the full program notes:

Exciting young English cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason makes his BSO debut in Ernest Bloch’s 1916 Schelomo ("King Solomon"), in which the expansively melodic cello role represents the voice of the king. Opening the concert is the premiere of a BSO-commissioned work by the talented Washington, D.C.-based composer Carlos Simon. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 builds in excitement from its atmospheric introduction through its thrilling finale.

The reviews, both in the Intelligencer and the Globe, are favorable, although the Globe isn't happy with some of the tempi in the Beethoven.

I had a meeting to attend on Thursday, so I missed my chance to hear it then although it was part of my subscription. So I'm especially looking forward to hearing the first half of the concert this evening. I'm confident the Beethoven will be okay despite the critic's quibbles. I'll miss at least part of it because of my brother's call from Tokyo, but that's okay. There will be a chance on the 20th.

Enjoy!

BSO — 2023/02/04

 This evening we get to hear large swaths of Wagner's opera "Tannhäuser." I saw a Metropolitan Opera performance when it was transmitted to theaters several years ago, and I think it's a good show. Here's how WCRB describes the concert:

Saturday, February 4, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, February 13

Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and a stellar lineup of soloists in highlights from Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Amber Wagner, soprano (Elisabeth)
Marina Prudenskaya, mezzo-soprano (Venus)
Klaus Florian Vogt, tenor (Tannhäuser)
Christian Gerhaher, baritone (Wolfram)
Tanglewood Festival Chorus

ALL-WAGNER
Overture and “Venusberg Music” from Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser, Act III

To hear a preview with Andris Nelsons, use the player above and read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Andris Nelsons, who's back in Boston to lead a concert of excerpts

Next we look at the BSO performance detail page, which has links links to the very helpful program notes:

Andris Nelsons and the BSO’s continuing tradition of performing opera in concert brings us excerpts from Richard Wagner’s early opera Tannhäuser, which had its premiere in Dresden in 1845. A German minstrel-knight, Tannhäuser (tenor Klaus Florian Vogt), struggles to reject the world’s sensual pleasures, represented by the "Venusburg Music" of the opera’s Act I. He is redeemed by the pure love of Elisabeth, sung by Amber Wagner, and with the help of the wise minstrel Wolfram, sung by Christian Gerhaher.

Sung in German with English supertitles

This week’s performances by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus are supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.

---

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Amber Wagner, soprano (Elisabeth)
Klaus Florian Vogt, tenor (Tannhäuser)
Christian Gerhaher, baritone (Wolfram)
Marina Prudenskaya, soprano (Venus)
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor

ALL-WAGNER program

Overture and Venusberg Music from Tannhäuser (25)

---- Intermission----

Tannhäuser Act III (60)

The reviews are both favorable. The Globe thinks the opening of the overture was too slow. The Intelligencer is similar, but the reviewer garbles the story line.

The thing is, the opera is fiction using the historical characters of the great medieval poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia (also known as Elizabeth of Hungary), and the poet/minstrel Tannhäuser. There was also a jubilee year in which pilgrims flocked to Rome. But basically, the opera is a pretty good story of sin, love, and redemption.

If you'd like to follow along with the libretto, here's a link. http://www.murashev.com/opera/Tannhäuser_libretto_English_German

I recommend listening this evening at 8:00, Boston Time, and on Febreuary 13, also at 8:00.

BSO — 2023/01/28

 WCRB tells us:

Saturday, January 28, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, February 6

Latvian violinist Baiba Skride returns to the Boston Symphony for Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and Andris Nelsons conducts in the world premiere of Steven Mackey’s Concerto for Curved Space as well as Brahms’s Symphony No. 4.

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Baiba Skride, violin

Steven MACKEY Concerto for Curved Space, for orchestra (world premiere)
SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 2
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4

To hear a preview of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 2 with soloist Baiba Skride, use the player above, and read the transcript below:

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Baiba Skride, who's back with the Boston Symphony. Shostakovich, once again, just like last year, but the Second Concerto. Baiba, thank you for a little bit of your time today. I appreciate it.

Baiba Skride Oh, thank you so much for having me here. I'm so excited to be back with this orchestra, which I know quite well by now.

This concert wasn't part of my subscription, and I had a meeting to attend on Thursday evening anyway, so I can't tell you anything about the world premiere. What's more, I'll miss it this evening because I'll be attending a play at our local community theater. (The Sunday matinee was sold out when I wanted to buy a ticket. Here's what others have to say.

First we go to the BSO performance detail page. There we read:

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the world premiere of a BSO-commissioned Concerto for Curved Space, for orchestra by Grammy-winning American composer/guitarist Steven Mackey, whose vibrant music embraces a range of influences, from Ludwig van Beethoven to modern rock. Latvian violinist Baiba Skride returns to Symphony Hall for Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2, written for the great Ukrainian violinist David Oistrakh in 1967. Johannes Brahms’ profound and majestic Fourth Symphony closes the program.

Of course, there are links to the program notes from the booklet audience members receive.

The reviews are in. Jeffrey Gantz, in the Intelligencer, gives a lot about the music itself as well as how it was performed. He does his best to avoid complaining, but he still observes that tempos tended to be slow, resulting in a long evening in the hall. Over at the Globe, Jeremy Eichler has no complaints about the Mackey piece, but thinks that other two weren't performed up to BSO standards, and wonders why Baiba Skride is here so often.

So there you have it: a long evening beginning with an hour of unfamiliar music and ending with a beloved warhorse. I'll have to catch the rebroadcast on February 6. You can listen and decide what you think of it all this evening at 8:)0, Boston Time.

BSO — 2023/01/21

Tonight's BSO concert is all unfamiliar, but not really bad. Here's WCRB's description (with links):

Saturday January 21, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, January 30

Karina Canellakis takes up her baton at Symphony Hall for the very first time in a folk-inspired Boston Symphony program that features Dvořák’s The Wood Dove and Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra, and Nicola Benedetti makes her BSO debut with Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

Karina Canellakis, conductor
Nicola Benedetti, violin

DVOŘÁK The Wood Dove
SZYMANOWSKI Violin Concerto No. 2
LUTOSŁAWSKI Concerto for Orchestra

To hear a preview of the program with Karina Canellakis, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Karina Canellakis, who is here to conduct the Boston Symphony for the first time in this space, though, Karina, you have conducted the BSO a couple of t

Further information is available, as always, at the BSO performance detail page:

Making her BSO debut, violinist Nicola Benedetti joins conductor Karina Canellakis in her Symphony Hall debut for Karel Szymanowski’s scintillating Violin Concerto No. 2 from 1933, his last major work. His compatriot Witold Lutosławski’s folk-music influenced Concerto for Orchestra (1954) helped establish his international reputation. Antonín Dvořák’s nature-inspired tone poem Wood Dove has not been played by the BSO since 1905.

Check out the program notes for fuller descriptions of the pieces.

I was there on Thursday, and didn't find anythin too terrible. Dvořák is always pretty good, and "The Wood Dove" is no exception, despite the lurid program note. I'm always apprehensive about Szymanowski and Lutosławski, This time, the Szymanowski wasn't as dissonant as other things of his that I've heard. The piece by Lutosławski was bombastic  at one point I thought of Shostakovich  but it was a notch or so above tolerable.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer gives a very favorable and wordy review. The Globe review is enthusiastic and more descriptive.

SO the reviewers give two thumbs up, and I don't disagree, so I suggest listening in. If you miss it this evening or want to rehear it, the concert will be rebroadcast/streamed om Janiary 30 at 8:00 p.m.

BSO — 2023/01/14

 Even the familiar piece in this week's concert isn't very familiar. Two are quite unfamiliar, and one is brand new. Here's the summary (with links to interviews) from WCRB:

Saturday, January 14, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, January 23

Alan Gilbert conducts the Boston Symphony in a brimming program that includes Dvořák’s glittering Carnival Overture and the world premiere of Justin Dello Joio’s Piano Concerto, Oceans Apart, with soloist Garrick Ohlsson.

Alan Gilbert, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Lili BOULANGER D’un Matin de Printemps
STENHAMMAR Serenade
Justin DELLO JOIO Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Oceans Apart (world premiere)
DVOŘÁK Carnival Overture

To hear a preview of Justin Dello Joio's Oceans Apart, with pianist Garrick Ohlsson, use the player above and read the transcript in the tab below.

To hear a preview of the program with conductor Alan Gilbert, listen and read the transcript in the tab below.

(Surprisingly, the computer has converted the font of the original page to the one I''m using.) The BSO performance detail page tells a bit more and gives links to the program notes, which could be very useful.

American conductor Alan Gilbert and frequent BSO guest Garrick Ohlsson premiere Justin Dello Joio’s piano concerto Oceans Apart, written for Ohlsson. Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar’s wide-ranging 1911 Serenade has a satisfyingly symphonic scope. French composer Lili Boulanger’s impressionistic 1918 depiction of a spring morning and Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s celebratory Carnival Overture, from 1891, complete the program.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer gives good descriptions of the Stenhammar, Dello Joio, and Boulanger pieces, but not much about how well the orchestra did. The review in the Globe ignores the Dvořák, but is chatty about the others.

It wasn't part of my subscription, so I can't add anything. All in all, it doesn't strike me as a must listen concert, but it could be okay. It will be rebroadcast Monday week.

BSO — 2023/01/07

 The BSO is back live with an interestin concert. I was there on Thursday, but before I give my impressions, here's the official story. First let's hear from WCRB:

Saturday, January 7, 2023
8:00 PM

Encore broadcast on Monday, January 16

Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber leads the Boston Symphony in an exploration of Beethoven, through the composer’s own works and a world premiere by Ella Milch-Sheriff, and Midori is the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto.

Omer Meir Wellber, conductor
Midori, violin
Eli Danker, narrator

TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto in D
Ella MILCH-SHERIFF The Eternal Stranger (American premiere)
BEETHOVEN Funeral March from Symphony No. 3, Eroica
BEETHOVEN Leonore Overture No. 3

Hear a preview of The Eternal Stranger with conductor Omer Meir Wellber and Arun Rath of GBH News.

The preview of "The Eternal Stranger" is linked in that line on WCRB's page.

The orchestra's own performance detail page gives this synopsis:

Performing with the BSO at Symphony Hall for the first time since 2003, renowned violinist Midori joins Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber in his BSO debut for Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto. Israeli composer Ella Milch-Sheriff’s The Eternal Stranger for narrator and orchestra relates Ludwig van Beethoven’s difficulty in society due to his personality and deafness to the hostility and rejection experienced by refugees and other “strangers.” The funeral march from the Eroica Symphony and the overture from Beethoven’s opera about a political imprisonment remind us of the composer’s abiding universal humanity.

As usual, there are links to take you to the full program notes.

The review in the Globe talks about more than just the music, but finds it generally well performed. The Intelligencer presents a review which is all about the music, finding the Tchaikovsky excellent, the Beethoven good, and questioning the decision the program the Milch-Sheriff in connection with the Beethoven.

Like the Intelligencer, I thought there were points where the brass overpowered the strings. THe Milch-Sheriff music was okay, but not memorable. It worked to accompany the drama, which I thought was reasonably well performed. Unfortunately, you can't see the actor and his "stage business" on the radio. You also don't get to see the conductor,, which may be just as well, as his broad and energetic gestures were a little distraction.

You can't go wrong with the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, so I think this concert is definitely worth hearing. Not also that there will be a rebroadcast on January 16, so you can enjoy it again, or catch it if you have to miss this evening.

BSO/Classical New England — 2022/12/31

 Between being busy and being away, I've failed to post for several weeks, but here's what WCRB is offering this evening in the 8:00 p.m. time slot: https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2021-12-21/a-new-years-day-celebration

Saturday, December 31, 2022
8:00 PM

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)

This concert was originally broadcast on January 1, 2022 and is no longer available on demand.

Obviously, the performance wasn't given on January 1, 2022. Apparently WCRB put it together for that Saturday and decided it was worth a replay. It should be worth a listen.

The Orchestra will be back performing live next week.