2009

Brahms’ A German Requiem at Tanglewood

July 25, 2009 performance reviewed by Dave Conlin Read.

We stepped away from the careening carousel that life in the Berkshires can become by late July to attend Brahms’ A German Requiem, on words from Holy Scripture, performed in the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with James Levine conducting, Hei-Kyung Hong, soprano, Matthias Goerne, baritone, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor.

Our need for a little inner quiet was met fully by this performance of the piece that served dual purposes for Brahms, addressing the deaths of his mother, Christiane, and of his mentor and spiritual father, Robert Schumann.

We arrived early enough to read Jan Swafford’s program notes, as well as the scriptural passages to be sung, drawn from 11 Biblical sources, including Matthew, Peter, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Corinthians, and Revelations. This is not a liturgical work, not a Mass; Brahms assembled the text from the Protestant Bible but omitted Christian dogma in favor of espousing a humanist view.

The opening and closing movements are similarly quiet and sombre, “Selig(Blessed)” the first and last word to be sung; at first, it is the living being blessed, or comforted, and then, finally, the dead, “…that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.”

Brahms’ triumph, and tonight’s beautiful performance meant that the listener didn’t need the text in order to experience a full range of emotion, nor to be swept into a meditative state from time to time. For our part, we came away feeling that, as insignificant we may indeed be in the scheme of life, nonetheless there is magnificence to be experienced (or, to the experience) along the way, if we will.

The Truth that life is best lived in community was reenforced by the brilliance of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, which was first among equals in this performance; for all the artistry of tonight’s soloists, it seems that the solo parts could have been sung by ordinary choristers, as stand-ins for every man and every woman.

Their finest moment came with the verse from 1 Corinthians, where they loosed a tremendous, defiant sound, repeating (in German, of course) “O Death, where is they sting? O Death, where is thy victory?” Although the sound couldn’t be more different, we recognized the passage as being the likely source for the classic Bluegrass song “O, Death,” an a capella version of which earned a Grammy award in 2002 for Dr. Ralph Stanley.

2009 A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood review

June 29, 2009 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

How ’bout that Garrison Keillor, ladies and gentlemen, ain’t he something – signs you up for two hours of entertainment, then goes and delivers three! To the two hour live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, in the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood, he appended a twenty minute pre-show and a forty minute after-show that included audience sing-alongs, duets with Heather Masse, and thrilling encore performances by guests Steve Martin with The Steep Canyon Rangers and hometown favorite Arlo Guthrie. (re: Arlo)

This was the tenth time he’s brought the 35 year old show to Tanglewood, and it keeps getting better. Arlo Guthrie, whose Thanksgiving garbage caper took place just down the road 42 years ago, was an unannounced guest; Keillor said he’ll be back next year so they can talk “Berkshire history.” Early afternoon showers had cleared by the time we arrived around 5PM and mother nature delivered a splendid tableau for the festivities. Maybe jealous at being upstaged by the lanky Minnesotan, midway through the show she delivered a steady drizzle that sparkled through bright sunshine to about one-third of the Lawnsters outside the Shed. Keillor asked Guthrie if that was typical Berkshires weather? “Oh yeah, it’s been like that for weeks.”

Actor Martin Sheen was the show’s non-musical guest, delighting the audience in the role of a prickly wi-fi hog at Arlo’s Dew Drop Inn. Sheen and family were seen around Stockbridge throughout the weekend, at Mass on Sunday and then greeting fans on the porch at the Red Lion Inn.

Keillor, Martin, and Guthrie are pretty good talkers

Even though all the music and comedy performed today was as good as it gets, this show is especially memorable because it displayed the powerful beauty of the spoken word; for the satisfying feeling of community that can arise from the plain speaking of artists whose medium is language.

Besides all their other talents, Keillor, Martin, and Guthrie are talking adepts, which raises all the connecting patter of show to the level of the performance. We’re envious, wishing we could summarize more smartly than by declaring that the tenth Tanglewood rendition of A Prairie Home Companion was a titillating picnic of linguistic penache, verbal verve, and jocular jello.

re: Arlo: You may be interested in : Arlo Guthrie concert reviews, photos, and an interview.

Tanglewood lawn Diana Krall concert

Here is video shot with our trusty Flip camera made while strolling the lawn outside the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood before Diana Krall’s concert on July 4, 2009 (during guitarist, songwriter Federico Aubele’s opening set). Despite all the chilly wet weather of the preceding hours and days, you’ll see that there was a pretty big audience. We guarantee that the final 20 seconds will be worth your time, showing the audience reflected in the Steinway grand piano while Ms. Krall’s tuner works on it.

Tanglewood 2009 season opens with Tchaikovsky

July 3, 2009 performance reviewed by Dave Conlin Read

Music Director James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra opened their 2009 Tanglewood season with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Opus 74, “Pathétique,” which the composer conducted the first performance of in St. Petersburg nine days before his death, in 1893.

Writing that “The ultimate essence of the plan of the symphony is LIFE,” Tchaikovsky also said that it “…will be a riddle for everyone. Let them try and solve it.”

Its performance proved no puzzle for Maestro Levine and the BSO, who enthralled the Gala Opening Night audience, giving them a sensory substance that would allow them to contemplate the vagaries of life or to slip into a thought-free space and thrill to the variety of beautifully played music.

James Levine conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Yefim Bronfman; photo: Hilary Scott.

The opening passage, slow and quiet and vague, conjured an image of the months that have passed since the last Tanglewood season, but just as that idea forms, the symphony has gotten louder and melodic and the smart thing seems to be to quit thinking and find escape in the excellence of the B.S.O..

Every section of the orchestra gets to shine in the Pathetique, the brass and woodwinds have brief, colorful, expressive moments that frame the piece, there are a few cymbal crashes that startle, and long pulsing sections where the timpani evokes a sense of menace or foreboding.

The violins were the first among equals, though, and we were seated close enough to see the expressiveness with which Maestro Levine communicated with concertmaster Malcolm Lowe. He looked to be ravishing attention on the strings, showing unbridled emotion, fervently bowing the air and pantomiming the melody with his mouth.

Levine conducts seated in a high chair that swivels – in fact, it is in constant motion until the last dying moment of the symphony. Unseen to most is the frenetic footwork that sort of mirrors all the movement of his arms and hands. The emotion displayed and energy spent in just this little fraction of Levine’s Tanglewood workload is remarkable. Besides evincing the requisite ethereal artistry of his position, this season-opener showed also that the rotund maestro is fit as a fiddle.

The opening night program continued after intermission with the Tchaikovski Piano Concerto No. 1, with pianist Yefim Bronfman. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff will join Maestro Levine on July 5 for the Brahms Violin Concerto on a program that includes Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

Tetzlaff next will give back-to-back performances of Beethoven’s complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano in Ozawa Hall, with Program 1, Sonatas 1-4, on July 5; Program 2, Sonatas 5-7, on July 7; and Program 3, Sonatas 8-10, on July 9.

The Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood will feature Canadian singer and pianist Diana Krall, the two-time Grammy winner who last was seen here when she made a surprise appearance during husband Elvis Costello’s stint on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz broadcast during the 2007 Tanglewood Jazz Festival. Ms. Krall also headlined the 2004 Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood.

Tanglewood schedule 2009 season