Tanglewood Preview — 2014/06/28

This week there are no live BSO or Pops concerts. Instead of rebroadcasting an earlier concert on WCRB, as they put it on their BSO broadcast page:

WCRB previews Tanglewood 2014, which features four BSO concerts led by Music Director Designate Andris Nelsons, Mahler's ResurrectionSymphony conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi, and an All-Tchaikovsky concert featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

It should be interesting, and whet your appetite for what will be coming during the summer. On that page, there are various links, and you can also see the broadcast/webstream schedule for the summer.

Also note that on Monday, June 30, there will be another broadcast/stream of the recent John Williams Film Night at the Pops, and on Friday, July 4, they'll present the concert by the Pops Esplanade Orchestra. Tanglewood starts the following evening.

Boston Pops/Classical New England — 2014/06/21

WCRB will be broadcasting and streaming the "Film Night at the Pops" program which John Williams led on four evenings earlier this month. The station's BSO page has a brief description and links to other things having to do with the Boston Symphony, including the concerts available on demand. The orchestra's performance detail page offers the following description:

June 6-11 at Symphony Hall in Boston, Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams returns for this signature event of the season. Hear cherished and familiar themes from such favorite movie scores as Star Wars,Jaws, and Harry Potter. Mr. Williams will salute some of his illustrious predecessors, whose work influenced him, and in turn he will also lead selections by some of today's notable film composers, many of whom have undoubtedly been influenced by him. With the incomparable Boston Pops Orchestra led by the maestro of movie music, this is a concert not to be missed!

There will be a repeat broadcast/webstream on Monday, June 30 at 8:00 p.m., and it will then be made available on demand. John Williams will also conduct the Pops in a Film Night program at Tanglewood on August 2. It may be slightly different from the one he did in Symphony Hall.

Boston Pops/Classical New England — 2014/06/14

On Saturday, June 14, and again on Monday, June 23, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time, you can listen to "Gospel Night at the Pops." In addition to a brief blurb about the show, WCRB's BSO page has links to other items of potential interest to Pops and Symphony lovers. Unlike the previous couple of weeks, this Saturday's broadcast/webstream will be live, as noted on the BSO's performance detail page. (Next week it's back to pre-recorded concerts for the John Williams show.)

The annual Boston Pops Gospel Night, an audience favorite for more than 21 years, brings the 2014 season to a rousing close, as guest conductor Charles Floyd returns to lead the orchestra and the Boston Pops Gospel Choir in a program of music designed to inspire, delight, and thrill an audience. The virtuosic vocal ensemble Take 6, celebrating their 25th anniversary, joins the orchestra to show why Quincy Jones calls them "the baddest vocal cats on the planet." It's sure to be an unforgettable evening!

So you can tune your radio or your computer to WCRB for the Pops' Gospel Night. Enjoy.

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, RIP

I want to say a word in memory of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, the conductor, who died a couple of days ago. Although I hadn't been aware of him before I started attending Boston Symphony concerts nine or ten years ago, he was a frequent presence on the podium over the past decade, often as a substitute when James Levine's injuries forced him to cancel — but also in programs in which he was scheduled to conduct. I'm not enough of an expert in such things to be able to say whether he was good, great, or something in between, but I know that I enjoyed his concerts, and it surely means something that BSO management wanted him to conduct when a scheduled conductor had to withdraw — he could be relied on for a good performance. So I'm sorry that I'll have no more chances to attend concerts conducted by him. May he rest in peace.

The Boston Globe had a good obituary, (Check out the videos. The shorter one is with the BSO.) and the Harvard Musical Intelligencer ran an article a week earlier, when he announced his retirement, and updated it when he died. There is also a fine notice from WCRB with links to recent performances of his with the BSO, now available on demand.

Boston Pops/Classical New England — 2014/06/07

Tonight, and again on Monday, June 16, at 8:00 p. m. on both dates, it's the (previously recorded) Arthur Fiedler Concert. The BSO's performance detail page —which also has links to some performer bios — describes it as follows:

One of Arthur Fiedler's many innovations was his strong emphasis on music of American composers. This program showcases works by such homegrown masters as Bernstein (Candide Overture), Copland ("Buckaroo Holiday" from Rodeo), and Ellington ("It Don't Mean a Thing"), plus Leroy Anderson's Piano Concerto with frequent Pops guest Michael Chertock as soloist (May 8 & 9 only.) Fiedler is credited with discovering Anderson, who created both original compositions, including "The Typewriter," and brilliant arrangements for the Pops. Rounding out the program are familiar movie themes E.T.and Harry Potter by our own John Williams, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Dancing Queen." On May 27, join us for the Arthur Fiedler Concert, a heartfelt tribute to the legendary conductor whose name was synonymous with the Boston Pops for nearly fifty years.

As you can see, it was given on May 27. It should be worth hearing. There doesn't seem to be a review of the concert, but here's an obituary for Richard Hayman, who did a lot of arranging for the Pops during the Fiedler era.

Listen over WCRB at 99.5 FM if you're near Boston, or catch the webstream here by clicking the Listen Live button.

Boston Pops/Classical New England — 2014/05/31

(I'm posting this way early because I'll be leaving on Thursday to go to my 50th college reunion.)

This week the Saturday evening broadcast/stream on WCRB is "The Corner of Broadway and Soul" with Billy Porter — a program which was given on May 20 and 21 and recorded for broadcast now. The WCRB page says:

Billy Porter electrified Broadway audiences last year, winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance in the hitKinky Boots. He joins Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops "at the corner of Broadway and soul!"

while the Pops program detail page says:

Billy Porter electrified Broadway audiences last year, winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance in the hit Kinky Boots. He has been described as "a force of nature"; in addition to his Broadway roles in Grease, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Miss Saigon, he is also a recording artist, songwriter, and director. His talents lie "at the corner of Broadway and soul," and he belts a Broadway ballad as expertly as his voice soars on a rhythm-driven beat. Join the Pops for an unforgettable evening featuring Broadway's most dynamic new talent.

There will be the usual repeat, this time on Monday, June 9. Both it and the May 31 broadcast are at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time.

I can't find a review on the Boston Globe website, so you can come to it free of expectations, should you choose to listen. It could be quite enjoyable.

Boston Pops/Classical New England — 2014/05/24

This week WCRB begins their broadcasts/webstreams of this season's Pops Concerts (recorded for broadcast earlier in the season). Here's what you can hear on May 24 and 26 at 8:00 p.m., according to the station's BSO page:

The Boston Pops 2014 broadcast season kicks off with "The Very Best of the Boston Pops," featuring music by Bernstein, Copland, Ellington, and more, all conducted by Keith Lockhart!

Since I haven't been/won't be at any of the concerts to be transmitted — other than the one conducted by John Williams — I generally will have no comments of my own. The Boston Musical Intelligencer doesn't review the Pops either. I'll see if I can find Globe reviews.

BSO/Classical New England — 2014/05/17

This evening (Saturday, May 17, at 8:00 p.m., Boston Time), WCRB will broadcast and stream the BSO concert of March 14, 2014. The all-Beethoven concert, conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi, begins with Leonore Overture No. 3. Then Yefim Bronfman is the soloist in Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2. The program repeats on Monday, June 2.

The station's BSO page has a link to an interview with Yefim Bronfman and other items. It also gives information about upcoming broadcasts/webstreams in the BSO time slots until the Tanglewood season begins.

This concert was the first of a series of three in which the Orchestra performed all five Beethoven piano concertos, the triple concerto, and the three Leonore overtures. This concert was only given on Thursday and Friday evenings, March 13 and14, while the other two were given on Saturdays and thus could be broadcast and streamed live. This one had to be recorded, and this is the first broadcast.

The orchestra's performance detail page has the usual links to program notes, audio previews, and performer bios. It notes the the Friday performance included an introduction by bassist Todd Seeber. I suppose that will be included. The page also has the following description:

German conductor Christoph von Dohnányi and the Soviet-born, Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman collaborate with the BSO in a series of three all-Beethoven programs featuring all five of the composer's piano concertos, plus the Triple Concerto for piano, violin, and cello, and his three Leonore overtures.

The little the Globe reviewer said about the actual performance was favorable. As usual, the Boston Musical Intelligencer was quite detailed, so much so that it could provide a guide to what to listen for during the concert. The reviewer was pleased. At the time, I wrote about it:

My reaction was that it was a well played performance. It didn't seem to me that the performers did anything especially unusual with the music. (I've heard other pianists seem to "swing" a couple of phrases, and Mr. Bronfman didn't.) But they played it straightforwardly, with only one or two seemingly missed notes in the piano. The sound was transparent, meaning that it seemed to me that no instruments seemed to drown others out. This may be partly because of the small number of orchestra members needed in the concertos, and no doubt partly the doing of the conductor. The clarinet solo in the first concerto was particularly impressive, and it was good that the horns played softly when appropriate (often they have seemed to overpower the rest of the winds). There's an enthusiastic review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. In the (shorter) Boston Globe review, there is less opinion, with a heavier proportion of factual description, but the opinions expressed are favorable.

So I think it's worth tuning in.

BSO/Classical New England — 2014/05/10

As I've noted, the Boston Symphony's 2013-2014 season has ended. For most of this month and next, the Boston Pops will be performing in Symphony, and Classical New England/WCRB will be recording a number of their concerts to broadcast and stream. But this week and next it's time for some symphony concerts that were not broadcast earlier in the season. This week, and on Monday, May 19, it's an all-Mozart program from March 8, which was displaced by the March 6 performance of Salome. This concert features Menahem Pressler tickling the ivories, with members of the BSO. The performance detail page supplies the following:

Acclaimed for decades as a founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio, eminent pianist Menahem Pressler-who recently turned ninety in December 2013-joins members of the BSO for an intimate all-Mozart program of smaller ensemble works, including the Piano Quartet in E-flat, considered one of the composer's greatest chamber music masterpieces. The outer works on this concert-two popular serenades, multi-movement works designed as entertainment during parties-duplicate the all-Mozart program of January 14.

And as of this writing, the links to notes and audio material still seems to be available. You can also find a bit of information and links on the WCRB page devoted to the BSO. If you're not within radio range of the station, go to their website for the stream. I couldn't find a review of this concert, but here's one in the Boston Musical Intelligencer which covers and earlier performance which included the two serenades (but a different quartet with a different pianist).

Enjoy.

Reviews: BSO 2014/04/25-26; H&H "Samson"

I'm finally getting around to posting a link to a somewhat belated Globe review of the final Boston Symphony concert of the past season. This concert — originally broadcast and streamed on April 25 — will be broadcast and streamed again on Monday, May 5. I've previously given other information and links.

Meanwhile, I went to the Handel and Haydn's performance of Handel's "Samson" on May 2. The program booklet referred to the richness of musical coloration which Handel put into the orchestration. I was paying closer attention to the words and may have missed some of that aspect of the oratorio. At any rate I considered it well played and sung, and definitely worth hearing. So far, no review has appeared in the Globe, but there is an extensive one in the Boston Musical Intelligencer. At the performance I attended, there were signs in the lobby advising us that the concert was being recorded for a later broadcast, so you may have a chance to hear it. I'll let you know if I learn anything about it.