Boston Symphony Beethoven

[richardfinegold]

Nelsons/Boston/Beethoven

6th and Seventh last night. We were in Boston for a family event. Good Sixth except the brook babbled geriatrically. Some stiffness rhythmically in 7/I. Brass a bit weak at the end but I’m from Chicago. Otherwise a fine evening

[richardfinegold]

The Hall in Boston appeared to be redecorated. We were there sometime prior to the pandemic. It is much lighter in color now, somewhat like the difference in Notre Dame in Paris pre and post fire

[pastoralguy]

Nelsons/Boston/Beethoven

6th and Seventh last night. We were in Boston for a family event. Good Sixth except the brook babbled geriatrically. Some stiffness rhythmically in 7/I. Brass a bit weak at the end but I’m from Chicago. Otherwise a fine evening

Sounds like a terrific concert! One day, we’ll get to Boston…

[richardfinegold]

Sounds like a terrific concert! One day, we’ll get to Boston…

Lots to do there. We also went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and walked the Freedom Trail

[bluestateprommer]

WCRB has archival audio of the LvB 6 & 7 concert (presumably the one that RF attended) available for a spell:

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2024-10-30/nelsons-the-bso-and-beethovens-symphonies-nos-6-and-7

Bonus Beethoven radio relays from WCRB who'd like more:

(a) LvB 1, 2 & 3 (this one will expire first, so I'd advise listening to this one first if anyone is inclined to go for the whole set):

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2024-10-30/beethovens-revolutionary-early-symphonies-nos-1-2-3

(b) LvB 4 & 5:

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2024-10-30/the-bso-and-two-sides-of-beethoven

[richardfinegold]

Thank you for that BSP! Listening to the 4/5 link now which was 2 days prior to the concert that we attended. My sister in law and her husband had arived for the family wedding a day before us and attended it.
The same day as this concert the Berkilee School of Music, which is 1 block from Boston Symphony Center was having a combined recital and lecture featuring Beethoven Op. 111 and a lecture by Jan Swafford. WHen I saw that I had missed that I wished that we had come in earlier as I greatly enjoyed Swafford's biographies of Beethoven and Brahms.

[bluestateprommer]

Hopefully RF doesn't mind me diverting this thread a tad (as is bsp's wont), for a Boston SO concert with Brahms rather than Beethoven, as I was in Boston last week for a business trip. The first half might have explained the quotient of empty seats, besides it being a Thursday night, with two contemporary works by Tania Leon and Roberto Sierra. This is the Boston SO link for that concert last week:

https://www.bso.org/events/nov-13-15-leon-sierra?performance=2025-11-13-19:30

If anyone wants to listen to the Saturday night performance from the WCRB radio broadcast:

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2025-09-10/slobodeniouk-conducts-brahms-sierra-and-a-world-premiere

TL was present at Symphony Hall for the world premiere of her new work Time to Time, and gave gracious, if slightly nebulous, comments at the start of the concert. (Disclosure: I haven't yet listened to this audio of the Saturday night concert, as I'd been at the Thursday night performance.) I had mixed feelings about the work, although I found it of more interest than her work Stride from an earlier Boston SO broadcast (didn't get to hear that one live). I'll wait on detailed comments so as not to prejudice anyone who will give this concert a listen. (Of course, this didn't stop me from asking her to autograph my program, which she did, very kindly.)

The Sierra concerto for saxophones (tenor and soprano) is an older, more 'established' (insofar as any contemporary American concert hall music is 'established') work, with James Carter as guest soloist. It's an entertaining listen, with Carter not afraid to indulge his more 'acid jazz' side in his unaccompanied moments. He didn't announce his encore, which I'm guessing was either a spiritual or a riff on a spiritual. Whatever it was, it worked, and was as well done as the concerto. Carter isn't your average stoic classical performer, but does use a lot of body language, being an energetic jazz guy.

I moved from my less-than-visually optimal side balcony seat to the back of the hall [don't tell the hall management that ;) ] for Brahms 2 in the 2nd half. It made me appreciate, or re-appreciate, the acoustics of Symphony Hall, Boston. The wood of the balcony is certainly showing its age, not to mention the hardwood seats, which look old, even if the wood isn't necessary the original from when the hall was built (or maybe it is). But the blend is so very excellent, in the shoebox-shaped layout of the space, even when the orchestra seems to look a tad distant. Dima Slobodeniouk gave a good, solid reading, baton-less in the slow movement, and generally without any weird twists or turns. Some very minor flubs that night, but that's par for the course. A pretty good way to spend a weeknight in Beantown.

[smittims]

I hadn't heard 'Beantown ' before. Any other US cities have interesting nicknames? We've heard of 'The Big Apple' amd 'The Windy City'.

[vinteuil]

I hadn't heard 'Beantown ' before...

And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowells talk only to the Cabots,
And the Cabots talk only to God




.

[cloughie]

And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowells talk only to the Cabots,
And the Cabots talk only to God




.

Or from one of the choruses from Java Jive:

Oh, Boston beans, soy beans (Yeah!)
Green beans, cabbage and greens (Home cooking!)
I'm not keen for a bean
Unless that is a cheery, cheery bean, boy

[richardfinegold]

I am unfamiliar with all of the musicians and composers mentioned.
It’s a pretty wonderful hall acoustically. We will be there XMass week but nothing appealed. I do have tickets however for the NY Phil at the end of January

[bluestateprommer]

I hadn't heard 'Beantown ' before. Any other US cities have interesting nicknames? We've heard of 'The Big Apple' amd 'The Windy City'.

A few that come to mind (without resorting to a web search):

Baltimore = "Charm City"
Nashville = "Music City"
Las Vegas = "Sin City"
New Orleans = "Crescent City"
Santa Fe = "The City Different"

On RF's comment about Boston offerings around Christmas time, it's definitely understandable that the pickings are extremely thin, as Holiday Pops definitely takes over at Symphony Hall, for one, and most artists are going to be with family and friends at holiday time. The only remotely interesting offering was something the week before Christmas, this concert by Handel & Haydn at Jordan Hall.

PS: Will take RF's comment about his NY Phil future plans to another thread, as I think that I know which concert he means :) .

[oliver sudden]

‘City of Brotherly Love’ also springs to mind, although that one’s really just a helpful translation of the name.

[richardfinegold]

I hadn't heard 'Beantown ' before. Any other US cities have interesting nicknames? We've heard of 'The Big Apple' amd 'The Windy City'.

Motown

[Sir Velo]

The steel city