Celebrity Series of Boston Blog

Boston Globe's Eichler reviews Berlin Phil

Jeremy Eichler reviewed last night's Berlin Philharmonic concert for today's Boston Globe. Here is his neat summary of Gyorgy Kurtag's Stele:

"'Stele' is a trio of connected musical tombstones. Enormous orchestral forces are required; the writing is fiercely expressive. Picture a Mahler symphony placed to simmer all day long on a low flame, producing an Austro-German concentrate of great potency. This is the world of Kurtag, and this orchestra knows it well."

Read all of Berliners return to Symphony Hall.

NPR/WNYC audio links on Berlin Philharmonic in New York

Once the smoke from the A-Rod coverage cleared, I discovered that The Berlin Philharmonic is in New York this week (ok, so I knew that, and so did you). NPR, in cahoots with WNYC (or vice versa), has cooked up a series of audio excerpts of the Berlin in Lights Festival. A Feast for those with reasonably fast connection speeds and decent speakers:

Landing page for NPR's November 13 webcast of the Berlin Philharmonic

New Yorker critic, author, and blognosticator (The Rest Is Noise) Alex Ross discusses the Berlin Philharmonic with Performance Today host Fred Child

Tenor Ben Heppner describes the songs he sings in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde

Bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff talks with WNYC's music director, George Preston

Simon Rattle talks with WNYC's John Schaefer

From November 13 Carnegie Hall concert, 'Tevot' by Thomas Ades

And then there is the running commentary on the Festival - with a little bit of Gustavo Dudamel thrown in - from The New York Times blog, ArtsBeat.

Sir Simon Rattle on Charlie Rose in 2003

Hope you enjoy this clip of Sir Simon Rattle on Charlie Rose in 2003 (Renee Fleming is also on this clip, which is why her image is staring back at you now). Included is a rather dramatic clip of Sir Simon conducting in addition to the usual thoughtful Rose dialogue.

You know (ahem), you won't get to hear Sir Simon engage in thoughtful conversation like this on say, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19 AT SYMPHONY HALL...

Then there is this clip of Sir Simon playing a bit of piccolo (excuse me, I'm having too much fun):

Berlin Philharmonic is NOT SOLD OUT...yet.

Boston Globe readers will no doubt enjoy Jeremy Eichler's in-depth profile of composer Gyorgy Kurtag - The Purist - in today's Arts & Entertainment section (or, for Boston.com readers, at this link). The Berlin Philharmonic will play Kurtag's Stele as part of its November 19 program at Symphony Hall.

There is, however, one inaccuracy in the article's print version: the Berlin Philharmonic's Boston performance is NOT SOLD OUT as the article states. Tickets may be purchased in the following ways:

1. Online here (Symphony Hall web site) or

2. Here (Celebrity Series web site) or

3. By calling Celebrity Charge (617) 482-6661 (M-F 10-4) or

4. By calling SymphonyCharge (888) 266-1200 (M-Fri, 10am-7pm; Sat, 10am-6pm)

So, we do have Berlin Philharmonic seats available - very good seats, as a matter of fact.

UPDATE: Okay, so it's getting close to sold out, now. Don't delay!

FURTHER UPDATE: It did sell out, so no need to inquire about this one any longer. Anyone for Academy of St. Martin in the Fields?

A Gustavo Dudamel video bonanza

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel interviewed at the 2007 Proms

Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar National Youth Orchestra play Bernstein's Mambo at the 2007 Proms

Dudamel and the SBNYO play second movement from Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10

Conductor/rock star Gustavo Dudamel and the SBNYO play tomorrow night, Wednesday, November 7 at Symphony Hall.

Hello-o! Boston is getting The Berlin Philharmonic, too!

Back in July, conductor Simon Rattle talked with the Associated Press about his tenure with the Berlin Philharmonic. The interview was in large part to advance Rattle and the Philharmonic's impending tour of New York (November 13-18) and Boston (November 19). At least in theory. The article, inexplicably, mentions only the New York portion of the tour. Sigh.

This has nothing to do with any inferiority complex Boston may have in regard to Gotham City, and it has nothing to do with the New York Yankees (ok, so it may have something to do with the Yankees...) but we have the Berlin Philharmonic, too, with Ben Heppner and Thomas Quasthoff, to boot.

So there is something I have to do:

THE CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON BRINGS THE BERLIN PHILHARMONIC, CONDUCTED BY SIR SIMON RATTLE WITH TENOR BEN HEPPNER and BASS-BARITONE THOMAS QUASTHOFF WITH A PROGRAM OF GYORGY KURTAG'S "STELE" AND GUSTAV MAHLER'S "DAS LIED VON DER ERDE" TO BOSTON'S SYMPHONY HALL ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19 AT 8PM. SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE NOW. INDIVIDUAL TICKETS GO ON SALE SEPTEMBER 10! BERLIN! RATTLE! HEPPNER! QUASTHOFF! MAHLER!!

There, I feel better now.

Oh, yeah, here is a snippet of Sir Simon's AP interview from The Deseret Morning News:

"AP: How has the orchestra changed during five years under Simon Rattle?

Rattle: I think you should ask other people than me. ... I would say that the first five years, at least, are always a transition. You can hear that, and — if you are listening to recordings — you can hear the orchestra gradually change, around year eight, nine, 10 of Karajan. And in the first years he's still dealing with (predecessor Wilhelm) Furtwaengler and the Furtwaengler style. These things move very very slowly. It's not like tectonic plates, but it's up there."

Read the entire interview with Sir Simon Rattle.

Camerata Ireland, on the road again

Conductor/pianist Barry Douglas and Camerata Ireland are trotting the globe of late, having played concerts in Kilkenny, Dublin, the Naantali Festival in Finland, and the Library of Congress's Rediscover Northern Ireland program in Washington, D.C. all in the last month (sounds like a Red Sox road trip!). The Clandeboye Festival is on tap for August. The Belfast Telegraph has the skinny on this young (they were founded in 1999) and energetic orchestra: Irish musicians take international festivals by storm.

The Camerata Ireland and Barry Douglas play NEC's Jordan Hall on March 7, 2008. The Celebrity Series is offering tickets for the performance to its 2007-2008 subscribers as a free bonus event.

BMOP Composer in Residence blogs on CS concert, with photos

Lisa Bielawa, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project's Composer in Residence, has posted some reflections and photos of BMOP's May 19 performance at Sanders Theatre on her Myspace blog. The concert was the final performance of both BMOP's season and ours.

Peter Bates reviews BMOP concert for Stylus Magazine

Peter Bates has posted his Stylus review of the BMOP concert.

The Globe's Eichler on BMOP

Gil Scott-Heron

Jeremy Eichler's review of Saturday evening's Boston Modern Orchestra Project concert begins with a reference to Gil Scott-Heron's famous screed from 1970, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. After reading the entry I first congratulated myself ridiculously for getting the reference, and then thought what a good decision The Globe made in hiring this remarkable critic (and soon to be Dad). I'm not sure just whom I should be congratulating for pulling the trigger on his hire, so I'll throw my thoughts up here and hope that someone is vain enough to Google their professional decisions in search of my validation.

Exhibit A

Gil Scott-Heron, excerpt from The Revolution Will Not Be Televised:

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers; The revolution will be live."

Exhibit B

Jeremy Eichler, from Maestro, is that a DJ with your orchestra? (Note: Neither Mr. Eichler, nor any of the Globe writers, write their own headlines. Just thought you should know, since I'm truly interested in having you visit these links...):

"The revolution in the idea of what an orchestra can be -- from a collective instrument designed for the traditional symphonic repertoire, into an omnivorous agent of the new -- has been underway for well over a decade now, even if it has not been widely televised."

There is also this from the same review:

"Under the poised direction of conductor Gil Rose, BMOP sounded full and fearless throughout the evening. This protean ensemble made sharing the stage with drum kits and electric guitars seem perfectly natural. For these fine players, it probably is."

Read all of Maestro, is that a DJ with your orchestra?

Last, but by no means least, Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky has posted some photos from the evening on his web site.