By Dave Read, July 11, 2026 performance – Maestro Andris Nelson led the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a pair of acclaimed soloists in a program of Mozart and Mahler to the delight of a large audience at Tanglewood.
Tonight’s program opened with Berkshires resident and global music citizen Emanuel Ax playing Mozart’s Piano concerto no. 25 in C, K.503. As program annotator Michael Sternberg notes, “This is one of Mozart’s big trumpets-and-drums concertos…,” which means it was easier than usual for me to pay attention and keep from wandering off the musical path. Once big orchestral sounds set us afoot, there’s no better guide through vast symphonia than the piano, which Mr. Ax has long since mastered.
After intermission, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G, with soprano Erin Morley as soloist, was a perfect compliment to the piano concerto. The composer’s intentions for the symphony were out of sync with the audience’s response. Over time, audiences have caught up to Mahler’s vision. We mortals are well-represented by Ms. Morley’s sublime soprano, which this symphony finally locates in heaven!
Throughout the long national nightmare since Ford’s pardon of Nixon, Tanglewood has been a place of refuge, because music offers an escape from the gravity of populism. We, the people are served by music when musicians are free to serve their muse. Composers such as Mozart and Mahler were served by aristocratic patrons of the arts who left artistic alignment in the hands of artists. If the organization created to serve the orchestra thinks the orchestra is meant to serve the myriad cohorts collectively known as Boston, then it has lost its way.
Clearly, Maestro Nelsons and the myriad of musicians tuned tonight to his baton, are in perfect alignment.