REVIEW: Boston Symphony Orchestra, "A Tanglewood Weekend"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 17-18, 2024

by Michael J. Moran

Three of the 12 music experiences offered last weekend at Tanglewood highlighted the multi-faceted approach this leader of summer festivals takes to presenting, promoting, and preserving classical music.

Saturday afternoon featured the last of six concerts in Ozawa Hall by the Young Artists Orchestra of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (a younger version of Tanglewood Music Center training program). Conductor Justin Casinghino led the musicians, ages 14-20, in a colorful reading of 18-year-old BUTI composer Billy Waldman’s “Stellification,” which depicted how a planet becomes a star. This was followed by a fiery account of Gustav Mahler’s sprawling 1902 fifth symphony under Paul Haas’ dynamic baton. They played both demanding scores with a maturity and professionalism that belied their youth.

Later that day, the Linde Center hosted an enlightening lecture by Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) violist emeritus and Holocaust music scholar Mark Ludwig on “Trauma, Memory & Transcendence in Music.” It included Ludwig's video interview of composer Osvaldo Golijov about his song cycle “Falling Out of Time,” based on Israeli writer David Grossman’s novel of that name on the death of his son in the Lebanon War; and a moving performance by BSO members Si-Jing Huang and Takumi Taguchi, violins; Steven O. Laraia, viola; and Adam Esbensen, cello; of the third string quartet by Czech composer Viktor Ullmann. This was written in the Terezin concentration camp shortly before Ullmann's execution at Auschwitz in 1944. With these and other sources, Ludwig perceptively showed how music can lift the human spirit from profound grief to unexpected joy.  

Photo by Hilary Scott

An overflow BSO audience on Sunday afternoon found joy in the return of Yo-Yo Ma to the Shed after Covid forced the renowned cellist to cancel last summer. Before soloing in Robert Schumann’s poignant 1850 cello concerto, the ever-genial Ma thanked maestro Earl Lee, also a cellist, for his three years as BSO Assistant Conductor and asked him why he likes Schumann’s music. Lee’s answer: its “emotional conflict,” a quality well captured by the full, rich tone and trademark depth of feeling in Ma’s impassioned playing, with committed support from Lee and the BSO.      

The concert opened with Carlos Simon’s 2020 "Fate Now Conquers,” modestly introduced by the composer as a “riff” on Beethoven’s seventh symphony. The five-minute piece’s title quotes a Beethoven diary entry, based on which Simon remixes fragments of the symphony’s “Allegretto” second movement to suggest “the unpredictable ways of fate.” Lee and the BSO gave the mercurial work a playful and dynamic spin.  

Their thrilling performance of Beethoven’s 1813 symphony recalled the grace, humor, and verve of Leonard Bernstein’s classic BSO/Tanglewood performance in his last concert 34 years ago. Throughout the symphony, those in the Shed seemed to be having great fun, from a Berkshire wren loudly chirping along with the Allegretto in its ceiling perch. An instant standing ovation suggested that there’s no better way to end a typically varied and historic weekend at Tanglewood.   

ON THE ROAD: End of season thoughts on Tanglewood 2024

The Berkshires Summer is almost over?

www.tanglewood.org

by Shera Cohen

My introduction to the Berkshires was at, what I realize now, is the epicenter: Tanglewood. In fact, I had thought that this region of MA had two wonders going for it: the natural beauty of the landscape, and Tanglewood.

This young thespian in grade school knew nothing about Berkshire Theatre, Williamstown Theatre, or Shakespeare & Company. I omit the rest of the current theatres because they didn’t exist at that time.

To me, the Berkshires is over with the final wave of the conductor’s baton at Tanglewood’s perennial finale; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, complete with five soloists, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and full Boston Symphony Orchestra, all beneath the giant white, acoustically excellent shed. This year's epic performance will be Sunday, August 25, 2024.

The Gift of Music

Through the courtesy of Tanglewood, I recently gifted special friends something that could never be regifted: two tickets to “John Williams’ Film Night” to help them check an item off their Berkshire bucket-list. This specific concert is one of the venue’s top, fill-the-tent, crowd-the-lawn, best sellers. Even without Mr. Williams (unfortunately, ill and recovering from a hospital stay), the draw of movie music always makes for a winning concert.

Comments from my giftees were: the audience reacts to the conductors like they are rock stars, with their mere entrances on to the stage eliciting whoops of delight.The Lawn People are dedicated, many just hunker down in the pouring rain to enjoy the whole evening, layered up in raincoats, ponchos and bucket hats, with no discernible effect on their enthusiasm. Pops concerts automatically include multiple encores. Hmm? Why not include such well-known music in the program listing, especially when everyone knows that the encores are coming.

Violinist Midori

Mementos of the season

I’m a saver… program books and/or ticket stubs from every concert, play, dance, museum, festival, historic home, lecture, etc. since the 1960’s. They fill at least 5 large baskets. Admittedly, I don’t remember all of these events. Yet, among the standouts drumming in my memory include Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” performed by the BSO and Chorus at Tanglewood.

As of this posting date, Tanglewood’s 2024 Summer is not over, with 25 music events still on its calendar: BSO concerts, Chamber Music, Rehearsals, Talks & Walks, Chorus. concerts, and the Boston Pops.

REVIEW: Tanglewood, "Festival of Contemporary Music"

Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 25-29, 2024

by Michael J. Moran

Co-curators Tania Leon and Steven Mackey focused their selection of music for Tanglewood’s 60th annual Festival of Contemporary Music on the theme of “personal and public storytelling” by “the astonishing variety of musical voices active in the U.S.,” including their own. Three of the six FCM programs, performed mostly by Tanglewood Music Center fellows, illustrated their success in achieving this goal.

Zhaoyuan Qin

Thursday’s opening concert presented music for mixed ensembles by seven composers, starting with Leila Adu-Gilmore’s astonishing “United Underdog,” a loose variation for solo piano on “America the Beautiful,” performed with staggering virtuosity by Zhaoyuan Qin. Leon’s Cuban-inflected “Indigena” (“Indigenous”) featured sensational solos by trumpeter Michail Thompson. Trevor Weston’s ethereal “A.N.S. (A New Sound)” was sensitively played by flutist Elizabeth McCormack and marimbist Soojin Kang. Protean singing by mezzo-soprano Carmen Edano of touching poems by Nathaniel Bellows, accompanied by four nimble percussionists (Jack Rutledge, Matthew A. West, Jeremy D. Sreejayan, and Michael Rogers) playing 25 instruments, captured the fearless energy of Mackey’s rock-based “Afterlife.”

Friday’s concert followed a similar pattern of music by five composers for small instrumental groups. Standouts included: jazz pianist Vijay Iyer’s cross-genre “The Law of Returns” for piano quartet, which includes some improvised passages, and whose title denotes reinforcing interaction between performers and audience; and Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s stunning “Aid for Sex,” inspired by 2018 reports of sexual exploitation by UN aid distributors in war-torn Syria. 

Monday’s closing concert was performed by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. TMC conducting fellow Ross Jamie Collins led cogent accounts of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s declamatory curtain-raiser “Celebration” and Leon’s dazzling tribute to her Afro-Cuban ancestors, “Ser” (“Being”). TMC conducting fellow Na’Zir McFadden directed a vibrant take on T. J. Anderson’s challenging “Squares,” a dense collage of gospel, bop, and avant-garde classical traditions.

Orli Shaham & Stefan Asbury

Stefan Asbury, head of the TMC conducting program, took the podium for electrifying
renditions of the program’s two highlights. Mackey wrote his 2011 “Stumble to Grace” piano concerto for soloist Orli Shaham, who displayed a deep mastery of its technical and interpretive demands. She, Asbury, and the TMCO found infectious fun in its five “stages” of a child’s growing up and uninhibited joy in the exhilarating final fugue. Leon’s kaleidoscopic “Pasajes” (“Passages”) combined sharply contrasting sonorities from all sections of the orchestra to end the concert and the entire FCM on what felt like a note of all-embracing love. 

Many FCM composers were present at these concerts. Their frequent bows to enthusiastic audiences reinforced the power of classical music as a living art form. The composers’ thanks to the accomplished young performers will be priceless milestones in their brilliant musical careers.

REVIEW: Tanglewood , "Serge Koussevitzky Day"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 26, 2024

by Michael J. Moran

Three events today celebrated the 150th anniversary of Koussevitzky’s birth in Russia and the 100th anniversary of his arrival in Boston as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. By 15 years later he had also founded the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Center.

First came an insightful conversation before a packed house in the Linde Center’s Studio E, with music scholar Harlow Robinson, NPR radio host Tom Godell, and Koussevitzky biographer Victor Yuzefovich, who turned 600 boxes of scattered memorabilia into the Library of Congress’s Serge Koussevitzky archive. Clips of Koussevitzky speaking and excerpts from his BSO recordings conveyed his charismatic personality, his transformative effect on the BSO, and his championship of new music, especially by American composers. Russian-born Yuzefovich, while assisted by Boston-based translator Olga Birioukova, quipped that he speaks better English than Koussevitzky ever did.

Koussevitzky’s legacy as a double bass virtuoso before he became a conductor was showcased at the evening’s “Prelude” concert in Ozawa Hall, where BSO double bassists Carl Anderson and Benjamin Levy demonstrated the unwieldy instrument’s versatility in Giovanni Bottesini’s lively “Gran Duetto No. 3.” Levy joined BSO violinist Bonnie Bewick for a rollicking “Three Forks of Cheat,” based on a West Virgina fiddle tune. With BSO colleagues Danny Kim, viola, and Mickey Katz, cello, they revelled in Bewick’s arrangement of Bottesini’s “Tarantella” for double bass and string trio. The trio’s sprightly take on Erno Dohnanyi’s “Serenade” opened the concert.

The evening’s main event in the Music Shed highlighted its namesake’s small but notable output as a composer with Koussevitzky’s rarely heard 1903 concerto for double bass and orchestra. BSO principal double bass Edwin Barker and his colleagues under their Music Director Andris Nelsons played the 20-minute Tchaikovsky-influenced showpiece with technical polish and Romantic bravado. The concert opener, an evocative account of Steven Mackey’s colorful 2013 “Urban Ocean,” which Mackey introduced as depicting the mysterious interaction of the sea with humanity, recalled Koussevitzky’s legendary support for American composers.  

The program closed with lesser-known pieces by two Koussevitzky contemporaries whose music he especially favored. Jean Sibelius drew on Finnish mythology for his 1902 “The Origin of Fire,” for baritone, men’s chorus, and orchestra. Alexander Scriabin based his version of the story on Greek mythology in his 1910 “Prometheus, Poem of Fire,” for piano, chorus, and orchestra, which Koussevitzky premiered in Moscow, with the composer at the piano. Will Liverman was a forceful soloist in Sibelius, and Yefim Bronfman, seductive at the keyboard in Scriabin. Nelsons, the BSO, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, prepared by their conductor, James Burton, offered sumptuous backing in both these fascinating scores.

More background information is available at the BSO’s Koussevitzky 150th anniversary website: https://www.bso.org/exhibits/koussevitzky-150th-anniversary

 

REVIEW: Boston Pops Orchestra, "Broadway Today! Broadway’s Modern Masters"

Boston Pops Orchestra, Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 6, 2024

by Michael J. Moran

Joan Tower

One special joy of Tanglewood is the free short “Prelude” concerts which precede many weekend evening concerts. Tonight’s “Prelude” in the Linde Center’s bright and airy Studio E featured chamber music by three composers, played by 15 fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center. Spry-looking, 88-year-old Joan Tower cheerfully announced, “I’m still alive!,” in introducing her effervescent 15-minute 2020 string quintet “Purple Rain.”

Next came George Walker’s colorful two-movement 1999 woodwind quintet “Wind Set.” The program closed with the young Beethoven’s energetic 1796 quintet for piano and winds. All three pieces received polished and invigorating performances.

The main event was a semi-staged concert in the Koussevitzky Music Shed of highlights from 11 Broadway musicals of the 21st century, written by nine composers and/or lyricists, played in sumptuous arrangements by the full Boston Pops Orchestra under Keith Lockhart, and sung by six current Broadway stars. The shows, their creators, and the singers included many Tony Award recipients.  

An opening suite from Adam Guettel’s “The Light in the Piazza” featured a plush overture, Scarlett Strallen’s ravishing take on the stirring title song, and Victoria Clark’s poignant recreation of her Tony-winning role in the heartrending “Fable.” Bryce Pinkham revisited his starring title performance in Steven Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman’s “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” with a winsome “Foolish to Think” and a hilarious “Poison in My Pocket.”

Mandy Gonzalez, Darius de Haas, and Joshua Henry were all impressive in excerpts from David Yazbek’s “The Band’s Visit.” Pinkham sang a powerful “You Will Be Found” from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s “Dear Evan Hansen.” A Latin-flavored orchestral “In the Club” from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights” preceded Henry, Strallen, and Pinkham in three piercing selections from Jason Robert Brown’s “Parade.”

Photo by Hilary Scott

Gonzalez was as sensational in “Our Lady of the Underground” from Anais Mitchell’s “Hadestown” as de Haas was mesmerizing in “Memory Song” from Michael R. Jackson’s “A Strange Loop.” Clark movingly reprised her Tony-winning title role in two songs from Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Kimberly Akimbo.”

She completed her evening star turn as King George III in Miranda’s blockbuster “Hamilton,” turning the chorus of “You’ll Be Back” into a riotous crowd singalong; Henry was a forceful Aaron Burr in “The Room Where It Happened.” The full cast ended on a hopeful note with a rousing “Wait ‘til You See What’s Next” from Brown’s “Prince of Broadway.”

Subtle direction by the evening’s creator, Broadway star and frequent Pops collaborator Jason Danieley, and music supervision by Georgia Stitt further enhanced this memorable musical event.

REVIEW: "Tanglewood's Exceptional Work - Not Just 1, but 4 Concerts"

Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 
www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 6, 9, 16 & 22, 2023 
by Michael J. Moran 

Every summer Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall hosts world-class artists in many genres from across the globe. Four August concerts showcased the remarkable range of these attractions. 

The centerpiece of pianist Aaron Diehl’s August 6 program, with drummer Aaron Kimmel and bassist David Wong, was a sensitive reading of the first 12 in jazz pianist-composer Sir Roland Hanna’s rarely heard 1976 cycle of 24 Preludes. Diehl’s arrangements for trio of these expansive miniatures were faithful to their mixed classical and jazz roots, reflecting Debussy, bebop, and Rachmaninoff in equal measure. A dreamy account of Diehl’s own “Polaris,” a gently swinging take on his “Stella’s Groove,” honoring his mother, and Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma” in tango rhythm were other highlights of this imaginative show.   

Alisa Weilerstein photo by Hilary Scott 

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein’s hour-long August 9 program, entitled “Fragments 2,” defied tradition by mixing excerpts from newly commissioned multi-movement works with selections from Johann Sebastian Bach’s six suites for solo cello, playing them without pauses, and identifying them only after the performance. Varied lighting against a background of scenic elements, according to director Elkhanah Pulitzer, aimed to focus listeners on “the primacy of varying musical voices in dialogue.” Most affecting among the 18 pieces Weilerstein played with conviction and virtuosity, were seven by Bach and three each by Ana Sokolovic and Caroline Shaw, one of whose “Microfictions” included a touching vocalise by the cellist.    

  

O'Hara & Lipton photo by Hilary Scott

Pianist Bruce Liu’s concert a week later followed a more conventional format, though his repertoire was highly eclectic. First Prize winner at the 2021 Chopin International Piano Competition with Canadian, French, and Chinese roots, he moved fluidly through: an elegant selection of Rameau harpsichord pieces; a dramatic Beethoven “Waldstein” sonata; three glowing Chopin “Nouvelles Etudes;” a visceral Chopin “Funeral March” sonata; and a jazzy set of Variations, Opus 41, by Ukrainian Nikolai Kapustin. He capped the evening with a ravishing encore, Chopin’s posthumously published Nocturne #20 in C-sharp minor. 

  

On August 22, classically trained soprano, Broadway star, and Metropolitan Opera diva Kelli
O’Hara sang songs, some from shows she starred in, and shared memories from her career with engaging charisma. Her clear, radiant voice and expressive acting skills, backed by Dan Lipton’s agile piano, delivered gems like: an ebullient “What More Do I Need?,” from Sondheim’s “Saturday Night;” an ecstatic title song from Adam Guettel’s “Light in the Piazza;” a winning “Sun Went Out,” by her husband, Greg Naughton, with sweet vocal harmony from Lipton; a stirring “To Build a House,” from Jason Robert Brown’s “Bridges of Madison County;” and a vibrant “La Vie en Rose,” by Edith Piaf, in idiomatic French.   

Her jubilant encore, “I Could Have Danced All Night,” from Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady,” brought this far-reaching Ozawa Hall season to a festive close.

REVIEW: Boston Symphony Orchestra, "Adolphe/Strauss/Stravinsky"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 13, 2023 

by Michael J. Moran 

The program for Sunday’s (8/13) afternoon concert led by BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons proved as changeable as the Berkshire weather that afternoon. Days earlier, cellist Yo-Yo Ma cancelled his planned appearance after testing positive for COVID-19, and soprano Renee Fleming graciously stepped in. Thus, Dmitri Shostakovich’s first cello concerto was replaced by six songs with orchestra by Richard Strauss. The other two works on the program were unchanged. 

The concert opened with a rousing account of Julia Adolphe’s mercurial 2022 BSO commission “Makeshift Castle.” The 15-minute piece evokes a childhood memory of her father crying at the beauty of a sunset, her reflection on the joy of that moment, and her recent grief at his passing. The large orchestra vividly evoked its striking instrumental effects and frequent mood shifts. The rising American composer took a well-earned post-performance bow before an appreciative audience.

 

Renee Fleming

Fleming then received a hero’s welcome, not just for saving the day but for the warm charisma she brings to every performance. Her selection of six non-operatic songs composed or orchestrated throughout Strauss’s long career, between 1885 and 1948, was ideally suited to her lush, creamy soprano, and each found her in radiant voice. She was richly partnered by Nelsons and the BSO, who reveled in the sumptuous accompaniments. 

Standouts included: an ebullient “Muttertandelei” (“Mother Chatter”), with a text by Gottfried August Burger about a new mother’s delight in her young child; a dramatic Zueignung” (“Dedication”), to a text by Hermann von Gilm about gratitude for love; and a rapturous “Morgen” (“Tomorrow”), with a text by John Henry Mackay of hope for happiness, featuring gorgeous solos by associate concertmaster Alexander Velinzon and principal harp Jessica Zhou. By the end of Fleming’s set, a sudden rain shower outside the Koussevitzky Music Shed even gave way to sunshine. 

The program closed with a brilliant reading of Igor Stravinsky’s 1947 revision of his 1911 ballet “Petrushka.” Like much of Stravinsky’s music, “Petrushka” draws on Russian folk traditions. Its four scenes are set at a Shrovetide (pre-Lenten) Fair in 1830’s St. Petersburg, where three puppets – the trickster title character, a ballerina, and a Moor – enact their loves and jealousies. Nelsons and his musicians (including pianist Vytas Baksys as Petrushka) played this dazzling score with the same virtuosic flair they showcased all afternoon.  

When is an Artist a Genius? A Tribute to John Williams at Tanglewood

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/profiles/john-williams

August 5, 2023

by Shera Cohen

Photo Credit: BSO.org

If I was asked to define the work of composer/conductor John Williams in a single word, I would quickly answer, “genius”. Whether this is Webster’s definition or not, I really don’t care for the purposes of this article. I doubt that many would disagree with my description of this amazingly talented man.

On the evening of August 5, 2023, I was among the thousands charmed by the skills of John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Adding the magnificent grounds and ambiance of Tanglewood, a clear sky, and 75-degree weather made for the proverbial perfect day. My usual Tanglewood excursion includes dousing myself in bug spray. For some reason, I forgot this part of my regime; surprisingly the site seemed mosquito-free.

Tanglewood hosts Mr. Williams annually, or with the luck of precise scheduling, twice each summer. To date, I have been lucky enough to attend most of these glorious concerts, even the year that I broke my leg. If John Williams can stand to conduct the Boston Pops hour-long Act II of “Film Night” then walk across the stage and back countless times – each time earning more accolades than the last – then I can hobble on the grass with or without broken body parts. Yes, this 91-year-old man is a genius.

David Newman, an accomplished composer and conductor himself, lead the BSO in the first part of the evening’s program, all the while praising the talents of Mr. Williams. 

The program offered the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists and Vocal Program Chorus the unforgettable opportunity to sing some of Williams’ scores from the Olympics Anthems as well as “Star Wars”. I can only imagine how the members of these youth choruses will feel about this moment 50-years from now.

Although I hadn’t picked up a program book until the concert’s end, it was obvious that the Suite from “Far and Away” was imbedded with an Irish lilt, “Superman” focused on the Love Theme for a softer section rather than the “up in the air…it’s Superman” segment.

My favorite music piece was “The Cowboys Overture,” not movie music, but television. The fast-paced rousing segments brought back memories of good westerns which I’d seen as a child, as well as the theme of “The Marlboro Man”.

This concert focused on the lesser-known works by Williams rather than Indiana Jones I – 5. The second part of the concert was heavy with “Star Wars”. Accompanying those onstage, was a superbly edited montage of Olympian to Williams’ “Call of the Champions,” which I hadn’t realized was yet another display of genius.

If I am not wrong, “The Theme from Shindler’s List” is included at each Film Night. Mr. Williams’ music is not all pomp, circumstance, marches, and continuously embellished themes. Elita Kang’s violin set a serious, melancholy tone. Sometimes, it is amazing that the man who brought us the “crushing” music of Indie, Luke, ET, Superman, et al, can compose the softness and sadness of “Shindler’s List”.

In his own words, “Writing a tune is like sculpting. You get four or five notes, you take one out and move one around, and you do a bit more and eventually, in that rock there is a statue, we have to go find it”.

I have never met Mr. Williams. Although he once sat six rows in front of me, I doubt that that counts. His stance onstage, his appreciation of the audience implies to me that he is a humble man, just doing his job – the job of a genius.

REVIEW: Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra: "Festival of Contemporary Music & More"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 23 & 31, 2023 

by Michael J. Moran 

TMC conducting fellows Armand Birk, from Canada, and Agata Zajac, from Poland, shared conducting duties at these concerts with BSO guest conductor Xian Zhang (July 23) and TMC Head of Conducting Stefan Asbury (July 31). The latter was also the closing event in the TMC’s 2023 Festival of Contemporary Music and featured music by all four co-curators of this year’s Festival: Reena Esmail; Gabriela Lena Frank; Tebogo Monnakgotla; and Anna Thorvaldsdottir. 

To open the first concert, Zajac directed a fiery account of Richard Strauss’s 1889 tone poem “Don Juan,” from an exhilarating start to a more measured and somber conclusion. She brought visionary clarity to the Festival performance she led of Thorvaldsdottir’s 2018 “Metacosmos,” an alternately mystical and rhythmic exploration of “falling into a black hole – the unknown,” in the composer’s words, which also evoked the timeless landscape of her native Iceland. 

Photo by Hilary Scott

Birks conducted similarly challenging works for voices and orchestra in both concerts with flair
and sensitivity. On July 23, Frank’s Latin-flavored 2010 cycle “La centinela y la paloma” (“The Keeper and the Dove”) about the death of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, with Spanish texts by Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz, showcased TCM sopranos Bridget Esler and Yvonne Trobe, both fearlessly dramatic in the two songs each sang. On July 31, Monnakgotla’s evocative 2018 cycle “Un Clin d’oeil” (A Wink of an Eye”) presented TCM baritones Rolfe Dauz and Kevin Douglas Jasaitis, each vibrantly expressive in French texts by Madagascar poet Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo. 

Zhang, music director of the New Jersey Symphony, closed the first concert with an electrifying rendition of Sergei Prokofiev’s rarely heard but richly rewarding 1948 sixth symphony. Asbury opened the later concert with a lush reading of Esmail’s 2021 “RE/member,” which began with a short video of TMC oboist Elias Medina playing alone, later replayed over his live performance with the TMCO in post-pandemic reunion after separation. Asbury ended the concert with a rollicking account of Frank’s 2017 “Walkabout: Concerto for Orchestra,” whose four widely varied movements reflect the Peruvian part of her multiethnic heritage and which the TMCO played with contagious joy.

 

Remaining TMCO concerts in Ozawa Hall at 8pm will pair TMC conducting fellows with BSO guest conductors Dima Slobodeniouk (August 7) and Dame Jane Glover (August 14).

 

Tanglewood Rehearsals: Almost as Good as the Real Thing

by Shera Cohen

www.bso.org

reprinted from "In the Spotlight," 2009

Photo Credit: www.bso.org

The sounds of symphonic music compete with the squawking of crows. It's the Boston
Symphony Orchestra vs. the feathered creatures. Fierce battle ensues. While the birds hold their own periodically, the BSO always wins out. Such are Saturdays each summer at Tanglewood.

Nearly every Saturday in July and August, the musicians of the BSO enter the huge Koussevitzky Music Shed, and music lovers either sit in the shed or on the pristinely mowed lawn for open rehearsals. Starting at 10:30am and ending at various times - whenever the conductor feels that the orchestra is rehearsed to his/her satisfaction (approximately between 12pm-1:30pm) - hundreds of patrons enjoy these quasi-concerts. Usually, the music is that of the upcoming Sunday afternoon program. Tanglewood's program book lists the composers, pieces, conductors, and guest artists. Audiences know in advance what and who they will hear.

Many visitors arrive at 7am to get the "best" seat. But "best" is in the mind of the listener, and for many their folding chairs on the manicured lawn is the best seat in the house. Most of the time, a half-hour talk about the music or composer starts off the morning's program. Rehearsals do start exactly at 10:30am. The dress is casual with the musicians in shorts and t-shirts. The same applies for the crowd. It's not unusual to see rows of people donned in Tanglewood shirts, caps, and sweatshirts.

Symphony rehearsals are extremely popular. Some may think that by attending a rehearsal there is no need to go to the finished product. In fact, the experience is the opposite. Listening to a rehearsal, with its frequent or not-so-frequent stops and starts for the conductor's corrections and comments, makes the ultimate performance clearer in appreciation and understanding of the work.

It is wonderful to see kids, all ages and by the hundreds, usually on the lawn, enjoying the music of Bach, Mozart, Ravel, et al. Sometimes the sounds that they hear are only background to their chatting with siblings or playing video games. That doesn't matter. They are there, soaking it all in, even subliminally. It is likely that these kids will be our future generation of symphony goers and patrons, remembering their wonderful trips to Tanglewood.

REVIEW: Boston Symphony Orchestra: "Reid/Paganini/Prokofiev"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 30, 2023 

by Michael J. Moran 

For the final concert of her tenure as BSO Assistant Conductor, Anna Rakitina led an appealingly eclectic program of music across three centuries by composers from three different cultures, including her own Ukrainian-Russian heritage, in the Koussevitzky Music Shed on a glorious summer afternoon. 

She opened with Tennessee native Ellen Reid’s 2019 piece “When the World as You’ve
Known It Doesn’t Exist.” While commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Reid says it’s “about unabashedly presenting my artistic voice.” The colorful score moves from “disembodied questioning…through waves of blazing anger…toward something close to acceptance.” Rakitina directed a hauntingly forceful account of the ten-minute showpiece, with sopranos Eliza Bagg, Martha Cluver, and Sonja Dutoit Tengblad adding eerie wordless vocal tones. 

Photo by Hilary Scott

Internationally acclaimed violinist and frequent Tanglewood guest Joshua Bell next soloed in a brilliant reading of Italian superstar violinist-composer Nicolo Paganini’s 1816 first violin concerto, one of the most technically challenging in the repertoire. Its three grandly orchestrated movements are full of virtuoso tricks, all of which Bell dispatched with aplomb. The astoundingly difficult cadenza, or solo passage, near the end of the first movement, which Bell wrote himself and Paganini usually improvised, stopped the performance with a standing ovation. Rakitina and the orchestra supported Bell’s dazzling showmanship in the opening “Allegro maestoso” and the “Rondo: Allegro spiritoso” finale and his serene lyricism in the central “Adagio” with equal flair. 

The concert ended with a thrilling 40-minute suite of ten excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev’s 1935 ballet “Romeo and Juliet,” among the most inspired and heartfelt music the Ukrainian-born Russian composer ever wrote. Drawn from all three orchestral suites prepared by Prokofiev, the order of Rakitina’s selections followed the action of Shakespeare’s play. Sumptuous playing of deep conviction by all sections of the large ensemble revealed the music’s many contrasting moods, like: dark, violent foreboding in “Montagues and Capulets;” ecstatic fervor in the “Balcony Scene;” and boundless compassion in the closing “Death of Juliet.”  

 

The strong rapport Rakitina has clearly built over the past few years with BSO musicians and audiences, her imaginative programming skills, and her engaging stage presence would make this rising international star a welcome guest conductor in future BSO/Tanglewood seasons.

Preview: BSO, "2023 Festival of Contemporary Music"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

July 29, 30, 31

www.bso.org

Photo by Hilary Scott

The Festival of Contemporary Music (FCM) is one of the world's premier showcases for works
from the current musical landscape and landmark pieces from the new music vanguard of the 21st century. FCM affords Tanglewood Music Center Fellows the opportunity to explore unfamiliar repertoire and experience the value of direct collaboration with living composers. The Festival takes place annually. 

Competitions and workshops take place in the Linde Center for Music & Learning. Musical genres are broad. In addition to concerts at Linde, both the Koussevitzky Shed and Ozawa Hall will host the music of composers who are young, and on their way up the proverbial scale in the field of classical music. FCM is jam-packed with music. Concert times are in the morning, afternoon and evening with Tanglewood Music Center's musicians and chamber orchestra performing. 

REVIEW: BSO: "Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 10 & 17, 2023 

by Michael J. Moran 

Every summer over a hundred young musicians at the start of their careers, from across the country and beyond, converge for eight weeks at Tanglewood, where, tutored by Boston Symphony Orchestra members and visiting artists, they quickly sound like they’ve been playing together for years. The first two concerts by the 2023 TMCO richly confirmed the success of this training model.     

Conducting duties were shared at both concerts by BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons and TMC conducting fellows Armand Birk, from Canada, and Agata Zajac, from Poland. Nelsons opened the first program with a perky account of Maurice Ravel’s 1918 orchestration of his 1905 piano piece “Alborada del Gracioso” (“Morning Song of the Jester”). He closed it with a dramatic reading of Claude Debussy’s 1905 three symphonic sketches “La Mer” (“The Sea”). 

Photo by Hilary Scott

Completing the program’s first half, Zajac led a taut, incisive performance of Igor Stravinsky’s rarely heard 1936 ballet “in three deals” “Jeu de Cartes” (“Game of Cards”) with graceful precision. To open its second half, Birks brought a softer, more sensuous touch to the colorful five-movement suite from Ravel’s 1911 ballet “Mother Goose.” The student musicians fully earned Nelsons’ opening words of high praise for their professional skill.     

Zajac began the second concert with a fiery account of her countrywoman Grazyna
Bacewicz’s defiant 1943 “Overture, for orchestra,” whose quotation of the four notes that open Beethoven’s fifth symphony seemed to cry out for an end to the war then ravaging her homeland. Birks next led an alternately tender and boisterous rendition of the kaleidoscopic orchestral suite from Zoltan Kodaly’s folk-based 1926 opera “Hary Janos.” Boston-based former TMC fellow Nicholas Tolle played an evocative cimbalom, a Hungarian version of a hammered dulcimer. 

Nelsons closed the program with a magical reading of Gustav Mahler’s 1901 fourth, and gentlest, symphony. The first movement, marked “unhurried,” with jaunty opening sleigh bells, was fluid and flexible; the second, marked “easygoing,” showcased virtuosic “country” fiddle playing by concertmaster Dominik Kossakowski; the third, marked “serene,” was ravishingly long-breathed, with a thunderous climax; and the finale, marked “comfortable,” featured the angelic soprano of TMC vocal fellow Eva Rae Martinez, exuding youthful ardor in the childlike German folk poem “Life in Heaven.” 

Upcoming TMCO concerts in Ozawa Hall at 8pm will pair TMC conducting fellows with BSO guest conductor Xian Zhang (July 23) and TMC Conducting Program Head Stefan Asbury (July 31).   

REVIEW: Boston Pops Orchestra, " Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 8, 2023 

by Michael J. Moran 

Commissioned by the Boston Pops and created by its three authors – librettist Terrence McNally, lyricist Lynn Ahrens, and composer Stephen Flaherty – shortly before McNally’s death in 2020, this concert version of "Ragtime" marks the 25th anniversary of the musical’s Broadway opening and presents it on the epic scale that its timeless story deserves. 

Dedicated to McNally, the production was directed by Broadway actor/singer Jason Danieley, who explained in a program note that McNally rewrote scenes into brief narrations by characters, while Ahrens and Flaherty “smartly reduced” their score, “allowing us to jump seamlessly from song to song.” 

The sumptuous, sung-through rendition by a 36-member cast (skillfully deployed across the front of the Koussevitsky Music Shed stage) and an 81-piece orchestra underlined the musical distinction of this tuneful show, including a strong choral dimension, and dramatically amplified its visceral impact. 

"Ragtime" chronicled the overlapping lives of a well-to-do family in 1902 New Rochelle (Mother, Father, their young son, and her Younger Brother), an Eastern European Jewish immigrant (Tateh and his young daughter), and a ragtime pianist from Harlem and his fiancée (Coalhouse Walker, Jr. and Sarah), with cameos from real-life figures like Henry Ford, Harry Houdini, and Booker T. Washington. 

No higher praise can go to the three protean standouts – Elizabeth Stanley’s Mother, Alton Fitzgerald White’s Coalhouse, and Nikki Renee Daniels’ Sarah – than to say that all evoked the definitive role accounts by their Broadway originators – the late Marin Mazzie’s Mother, Brian Stokes Mitchell’s Coalhouse, and Audra McDonald’s Tony Award-winning Sarah.

 

Other notable performances were John Cariani’s touching Tateh, Klea Blackhurst’s fiery Emma Goldman, and A.J.Shively’s mercurial Mother’s Younger Brother. Julia Little as Tateh’s daughter and Quinn Murphy as Mother’s son were charmingly precocious children.

 

Musical highlights included: Sarah’s poignant “Your Daddy’s Son;” her exhilarating duet with Coalhouse, “Wheels of a Dream;” a hilarious baseball satire “What a Game;” Mother’s thrilling “Back to Before;” and Coalhouse’s stirring “Make Them Hear You.” 

With vivid projections of period historical scenes above the stage by designer Wendall Harrington, the production was also a personal triumph for Danieley, as Mazzie’s husband of 21 years, who called it “one of the most important and meaningful projects I’ve undertaken.” 

The large, enthusiastic audience rewarded him, Ahrens, and Flaherty with a well-earned standing ovation.

 

On the Road: Thoughts from the Tanglewood Lawn

Celebration of Stephen Sondheim Music

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 18, 2022

by Erica Schutz

Photo courtesy BSO.ORG/TANGLEWOOD

Upon arrival to Tanglewood's grounds, the parking attendants were warm and kind with big smiles. Getting out of my car, we observed many people serving a kind of tailgate picnic. Others were walking in quite early, as I was. It's rare to experience an all-Stephen Sondheim concert.

Walking straight to the tix booth for directions I observed the press porch. The young attendants pointed the way and made me, what I would call a “hall pass” to bring until I got the real thing. The porch was actually an old grey house surrounded by lovely little hills of grass. Also, the Pepperidge Farm cookies were welcome goodies.

I noticed a father and small son playing frisbee in a large section of the lawns that was unoccupied. They were in matching shirts and having a great time. This is not unusual, as generations mix in joyful activities, pre-concert.

Many parties had set up their lawn seating areas further away from the larger group at the front. Some had basic picnic blanket arrangements, others dined elegantly, defining their areas as if the lawn created small living rooms complete with coffee table, throw pillows, flowers, and candelabra. Everyone appeared well prepared to be comfortable in their own ways.

I chose a central spot on the green closer to the shed and set up my own space. The people around welcomed me and offered to share snacks and wine. I declined but was glad to feel part of the group. I've heard that Tanglewood audience members are a pleasant and generous group. It's true.

I settled in to enjoy my picnic that I had brought and review the lengthy playbill. I was about an hour early, but it seemed as if little time had passed before the bell rang to announce the concert was about to begin. The weather cooperated, and the camaraderie of concert goers was evident. The lights dimmed and the digital screens stopped looping the commercial ads. The live feed of the stage filled the screen, and the applause began for the entering musicians. Even though we couldn’t see the actual stage, the lawn audience, which included me, behaves as if we were in the shed.

Photo courtesy of BSO.ORG/TANGLEWOOD

The music began. It became clear that most people around me were huge fans of Sondheim. Many heads bobbed along to the rhythm and a few danced in their seats. Partway through the first section of the program, an older gent next to me commented to his group that he didn’t know any of the music that he just heard. However, when intermission came, he began humming and singing "A Weekend in the Country" over and over. Apparently, he had been caught by a Sondheim earworm for sure! This lasted through intermission. 

Children of all ages were snuggled on laps, had seats of their own, and I noticed a few had little camp beds set up in wagons, or strollers. There were a few small playpens, too. To my surprise, I never heard crying or fussing the entire night.

The concert was amazing, as to be expected. The audience on the lawn stayed to applaud until the last moment. I was right there with them. We made for the gates together, but there was room for all and only a short wait to cross the street to reach the parking lots.   The environs had a different feeling that night. It could be I was just paying more attention. It was a joyous energy. I found myself singing as I drove, thinking about all the friendly people I had met and the experience we shared together listening to Sondheim. 

REVIEW: Boston Symphony Orchestra, "Shostakovich/Dvorak/Borodin"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 26, 2022 

by Michael J. Moran 

On the calm evening of an adventurous weather day in the Berkshires, BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina brought an equally adventurous program to the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood that reflected both her Ukrainian-Russian roots and her canny programming skills. 

After getting listeners in the palm of her hand with one of Dmitri Shostakovich’s catchiest, most ingratiating creations, the “Waltz No. 2 from Suite for Variety Orchestra,” played with jazzy flair by a swinging BSO, Rakitina welcomed to the stage charismatic (and frequent Tanglewood guest) violinist Gil Shaham for Antonin Dvorak’s 1879 violin concerto. While overshadowed by the contemporaneous Brahms and Tchaikovsky violin concertos, all three movements of Dvorak’s concerto display his endless melodic invention, the spirit of Czech folk music, and fierce technical challenges, which Shaham rendered with elegance, warmth, and exhilarating proficiency, backed luxuriously by conductor and orchestra.   

Gil Shaham & Anna Rakitina

But the heart of this program was, astonishingly, the BSO’s first-ever performance of Shostakovich’s1929 third symphony, “The First of May.” Written at age 23 as an experiment in which “not a single theme would be repeated,” this kaleidoscopic single-movement half-hour score in four continuous sections echoed the turmoil and excitement of early Soviet culture. Careening between lush post-romanticism and hyperactive, often satirical dissonance, the symphony’s brash energy was absorbingly captured by Rakitina and the BSO, especially the taxing demands on the brass and percussion sections, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, who sang-shouted Semyon Kirsanov’s closing hymn to the Soviet May Day holiday with gusto. 

Keeping the Chorus, prepared by their conductor, James Burton, on stage, Rakitina ended the concert in as crowd-pleasing a way as she began it, with an electrifying account of the “Polovtsian Dances” from Alexander Borodin’s 1890-premiered opera “Prince Igor.” Often presented in concert without chorus, these colorfully orchestrated mini-masterpieces gain ravishing colors from human voices, which kept participants and spectators alike on the edge of their seats. Projected English translations (also helpful in the Shostakovich) even showed a resemblance between some Borodin lyrics and their adaptation in the 1953 Broadway musical “Kismet” as “Stranger in Paradise,” which a few concertgoers of a certain age could be heard singing. 

Her modest yet exuberant stage presence, ability to inspire musicians, and talent for pleasing while educating audiences all promise a bright musical future for Maestra Anna Rakitina.    

REVIEW: Boston Symphony Orchestra, "Brahms/Garrick Ohlsson"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 16, 18, 23 & 25, 2022 

by Michael J. Moran 

Garrick Ohlsson

Towering elder statesman of the piano Garrick Ohlsson is not one to shrink from a challenge.
So it was no surprise that in four two-hour concerts over nine days he performed the complete works for solo piano by Johannes Brahms in Tanglewood’s acoustically ideal Ozawa Hall. 

Although Brahms wrote solo piano music throughout his 40-year career, his works in that genre tended to get shorter over time, from his three early sonatas (1852-53) through five sets of variations on a theme (1854-63) to four late sets of miniatures (1892-93). But as Ohlsson, who was first drawn to Brahms at age nine, told the Berkshire Edge, he finds a “richness of texture” throughout these works, often achieved with “not that many notes.”   

By mixing these forms from all periods of Brahms’ life in each concert, Ohlsson highlighted their wide variety of tone, mood, and impact. The first program opened with eight short pieces, Opus 76, dating from his middle period (1871-78) and each called either “Capriccio” (livelier) or “Intermezzo” (quieter) but distinctly individual in character. This program was completed by two early sets of variations, Opus 21 (1856-57), all unfailingly inventive and often surprising, and the even earlier “Four Ballades,” Opus 10 (1854), each somewhat longer and more dramatic than those in Opus 76.   

All “Seven Fantasies,” Op. 116 (1892) in the third concert were also called Capriccio or Intermezzo, but they revealed paradoxically greater simplicity and emotional depth than those in the Opus 76 set. The sprawling five movements of the third piano sonata on this program had by now been distilled into the bare essence of Brahms’s great ear for melody and classical balance. These two concerts also included some of his most passionate music in the “Two Rhapsodies,” Opus 79 (1879) and his most technically demanding in the Paganini variations (1862-63), whose two “books” of twelve variations each were split between the programs. 

Ohlsson’s energy and concentration never flagged, and he played every piece with the same effortless virtuosity and interpretive insight, exuding a contagious sense of joy. Each program featured as an encore one of the first ten of his twenty-one Hungarian Dances for piano four-hands that Brahms arranged for solo piano, allowing Ohlsson to close each leg of his marathon on a high-spirited, crowd-pleasing note.    

ON THE ROAD: Boston Symphony Orchestra, "A Week at Tanglewood"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org

August 19-23, 2022

by Shera Cohen

The numbers told the story of a single week enjoying the music of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at Tanglewood. In the Spotlight sent seven of its reviewers to cover five concerts led by four conductors playing the works of eight composers bringing 28 pieces to life. This list omits the dozen+ pieces for "Remembering Stephen Sondheim" and 14+ selections by John Williams in Tanglewood's prestigious honor for the maestro's 90th Birthday Celebration.

Our head Classical Music Reviewer, Michael Moran, has covered each of the concerts in the Recital Series. Over the years, these music events have displayed the talents of world-renowned soloist or ensembles. Pianist Garrick Ohlsson took the Ozawa Hall stage most of the evenings; each concentrating heavily on Brahms. 

The passing of composer Stephen Sondheim this year has left so many memories, particularly his instantly identified style on Broadway. Sondheim's cadre of groundbreaking, distinct contributions of "Follies" and "Company" and organic perfection of shows like "A Little Night Music" and "Sweeney Todd" celebrated the legacy of a true musical luminary. Boston Pops leader Keith Lockhart, along with four vocalists, took his baton as one Sondheim classic flowed into another. (See full review HERE)

It was my turn at the computer, reviewing Tanglewood's John Williams 90th Birthday Celebration. I have attended many of the John Williams concerts, whether Mr. Williams is conducting his own music and/or music of other composers. This was the first time for me to see this master composure/conductor not lift a finger, that is until the finale of the concert. A beautiful evening for an extraordinary show, was complete with guest video salutes from Steven Spielberg, and others, and a chronological documentary of John Williams life. Every season Tanglewood schedules at least one "must see". This was it. [See full review HERE) 

Over the decades, I have encouraged several friends and acquaintances who think that they don't like Classical music to have a taste; return if they appreciate the program, decide to occasionally take another bite, or never return. For those in the latter category, so be it. I tried. The best way to sample the experience of Tanglewood, the sounds of dozens of professional musicians at their instruments, and the grandeur of the landscape is to attend a Saturday rehearsal at 10:30am (9:30am to hear the pre-rehearsal talk). Rehearsals are less expensive than the "real concert," whether you sit on the lawn or in the Shed. The musicians are dressed just as casually as the audience members. Oftentimes, the music piece is rehearsed straight through, and only afterward does the conductor point out corrections to perfect. Other times, the conductor starts and stops several times. Remember, this is a rehearsal for the musicians to "get it right". I find the start and stop method extremely educational. Although, I admit that I never hear errors.

Saturday rehearsals prepare the musicians for Sunday afternoon performances. The grounds are also open on Thursday and Friday mornings for rehearsals. Just walk in and sit on the lawn. On these mornings, usually rehearsals of Friday night's 8pm concert takes place. Recommend calling ahead.

Photo Courtesy of Itzhak Perlman Images

Nearly every Saturday evening and/or Sunday afternoon performance features a special guest(s) either at the podium or seated with instrument in hand or both. The glorious sounds from violinist Itzhak Perlman were on the bill. I can't believe that I just now typed that sentence. Perlman's name is synonymous with violin, of course. However, I was not familiar with German conductor Max Bruch. Perlman's interpretation of Bruch's Violin Concerto in G minor was tender and loving. I would have been happy listening for hours.

REVIEW: Boston Pops Orchestra, "Remembering Stephen Sondheim"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 19, 2022 

by Michael J. Moran 

BSO Cast

As Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart notes in a touching written tribute to Sondheim, the Broadway composer/lyricist had a long relationship with the Pops, including frequent excerpts from his shows on their programs, a semi-staged production of “A Little Night Music,” and a premiere orchestral version of the autobiographical “Sondheim on Sondheim,” which Lockhart ranks among “my favorite musical memories.” In opening comments, he explained that tonight’s concert would focus on Sondheim’s “most productive years,” 1970-1987.

He co-created the program with “stage director and special guest” Jason Danieley, starring in nearby Barrington Stage’s production of “A Little Night Music.” Danieley was joined by “Night Music” castmates in two songs from that show – a charming “You Must Meet My Wife,” with Emily Skinner, and an exuberant “A Weekend in the Country,” with Skinner, Sophie Mings, and Noah Wolfe, along with Broadway stars Nikki Renee Daniels (“Hamilton”) and Conrad Ricamora (“Here Lies Love”). Skinner also offered a devastating solo “Send in the Clowns.” 

  

These were preceded by selections from “Company,” notably, a vibrant “Another Hundred People” from Daniels, and a climactic “Being Alive” from Ricamora, and “Follies,” especially a rueful but clear-eyed “The Road You Didn’t Take” from “The Lion King” icon Alton Fitzgerald White, a shimmering “In Buddy’s Eyes” from Daniels, and a moving “Too Many Mornings,” beautifully acted by both of them.   

In excerpts from “Sweeney Todd,” Skinner was a hoot as Mrs. Lovett (whom Lockhart had called “a pie shop owner with a supply chain problem”), bringing bravura comic flair and a spot-on Cockney accent to “The Worst Pies in London” and (with a conniving White) “A Little Priest.” Next came “Sunday in the Park with George,” where Daniels was an animated Dot in the title song, Ricamora a dynamic George in “Finishing the Hat,” and both cogent partners in “Move On.” Selections from “Into the Woods” included: “Giants in the Sky,” with Ricamora as a memorably boyish Jack; “Agony,” with Ricamora and White hilarious as Rapunzel’s and Cinderella’s princes; and a poignant “Children Will Listen” from the entire company. 

While “Pacific Overtures” was sadly unrepresented, the company’s “Old Friends” from “Merrily We Roll Along” was a fittingly upbeat finale for this heartwarming celebration of Broadway’s greatest master.

John Williams 90th Birthday Celebration & Personal Thoughts about a Genius in our Time

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org 

August 20, 2022

by Shera Cohen

It was no surprise that the caravan of cars from the highway through Lee, MA and onto Lenox, MA to attend the John Williams 90th Birthday Celebration at Tanglewood would be long. My Plus 1 friend and I set out at 6pm. It was my fault for changing our journey's departure from 5:30pm. No problem, plenty of time for the chimes of the 8pm bells marking the start of the concert, I thought. Wrong!

"Young John Williams"
www.thebeardedtrio.com

Literally inching our way, what I will call, the third leg of the trip, Plus 1 said, "By the time we get there it will be John Williams' 91st birthday." The fourth and last leg of the trip took place on the Tanglewood property itself. As joyful as it was to finally see the driveway with the hanging sign "Tanglewood Main Gate," that was a tease that we still weren't at the end of the trip. I will admit, that being a member of the press, yet by no means anything even remotely important as the New York Times, or the like, I had the benefit of a yellow piece of paper.

It was like magic when the numerous teens and twenty-something ushers each wearing a day-glow colored jacket so that they can been seen in the dark, looked at the yellow placard in the car window. The Tanglewood driveways were gravel and stone with some pavement; definitely not a yellow brick road, however more exciting to me. It was now 7:55pm. We took the tickets, responding with huge THANK YOUS, realizing we weren't quite at our destination yet. The next step was the walk to one of the entrances to the huge, acoustically perfect green shed. A stroke of luck or serendipity befell us; a large white golf cart awaited as if this rendezvous had been planned. I had seen small carts in the past, strictly for use by audience members in need of mobile help. New and improved policies by Tanglewood management, I would guess, added far more small vans for use by anyone in a lot far from the concert tent. We hopped on, again with huge THANK YOUS to the driver.

Having been to Tanglewood since I was a young adult, I knew that the property was fields and slopes of gorgeous green grass, pristinely mowed with twisted tree trunks, trimmed shrubs, and grapevines strewn about. I don't know the number of patrons, but my guess is that 15,000 parked themselves, folding chairs, blankets, table clothes, and coolers on the lawn. It was almost impossible to envision the grassy hills underneath. By adding the numbers seated in the tent to those on the lawn, I find it amazing and wonderful that a composer, in this case, John Williams, likely has a larger draw than a Harrison Ford + a Steven Spielberg + a tent full of Wookies together.

Wiliams and ET, 1983
www.thebeardedtrio.com

I hadn't realized until I returned home and read the evening's program that all of the music had been composed by Williams, except for a piece from Rodgers & Hammerstein and one by James Taylor. Speaking of Taylor, who is one of Tanglewood's biggest fans and benefactors, his on-stage tribute to Williams was personal and endearing. One might think that a music piece coupling Taylor's voice and guitar with Yo Yo Ma cello strings would be atypical, that would be correct; atypical and exquisite. Another unexpected duo was Williams' "Highwood's Ghost," again featuring the incomparable and always-smiling Ma with harpist Jessica Zhou. Seated by the most aesthetically constructed instrument in any orchestra, Zhou dipped her harp toward her body, arms stretched across the strings. Wearing a deep red ballroom dress, Zhou came to Williams' party to honor him. 

Guest conductor Ken-David Masur and the BSO performance also included Branford Marsalis (saxophone), J. William Hudgins (vibraphone), and Eric Revis (bass). My bet is that most in the audience, especially myself, were unfamiliar with the music: "Just Down West Street," "Pickin'," "To Lenny! To Lenny!" None had the distinguishable refrains and epic finales of Williams' cadre of movie music. Yet each of these selections were all works of the maestro, from the first note to the last.

Williams and Spielberg
www.thebeardedtrio.com

The concert, audience, weather, and the fact that John Williams sat only six rows in front of me, made the night perfect. But there was a tad missing. At a point later in the evening, when Masur pointed his baton, leading the BSO to strike the first six notes of "Star Wars," the audience cheered so that all of Lenox could probably hear. The two pieces were from "Star Wars: A New Hope," but identifying the correct episode didn't matter.

How many more standing ovations was the audience up to? I certainly lost count. Of course, Williams had to be coaxed out of his seat to the stage to receive the audience's "Happy Birthday". I do not know Mr. Williams personally and have only seen him on TV and in a shed with thousands of others, but he seems to be a shy, self-effacing genius. Masur handed the baton to Williams to conduct the trademark music from "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It is safe to say that not even fireworks could have topped off John Williams -- The Tanglewood 90th Birthday Celebration with more splendor.