Benjamin-Zander
“There’s nothing better to do on Friday night than hear this orchestra play. What else would people do that would be better? Of course, people get very excited about the sports teams – and most of them lose. But this orchestra never loses. It wins every game!”
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Ultimately, on some level, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Bruckner Ninth functioned as a study in approaching the unknown (and unknowable) with humility.
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Conductor Benjamin Zander put the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra to challenging work at Symphony Hall, while, on record, Isabelle Faust delivers a vital, urgent, and engrossing traversal of the Britten Violin Concerto.
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The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra was violinist Liza Ferschtman’s equal partner for much of the performance, imbuing Alban Berg’s dense orchestral writing with warmth and shapeliness
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An admiring review of the latest disc from Hermitage Trio and praise for Boston Philharmonic and Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra concerts earlier this month at Symphony Hall.
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The concert, which along with the Elgar Violin Concerto also includes Rossini’s William Tell Overture and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, promises to be a momentous occasion for the ensemble.
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In both performances tempos are fleet but not rushed. The big moments – from the hellish apex of the first movement’s development to the screaming climax of the Scherzo and the cathartic resolution of the finale – pack heavy punches.
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Few conductors in Boston have a feel for late Mahler the way Benjamin Zander does.
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The season-long celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Benjamin Zander’s debut as a conductor, which gets underway later this month when the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) returns to the stage, doesn’t stint on festive spirit.
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Classical Critic’s Notebook: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2
Whatever Rachmaninoff’s conflicted feelings about writing symphonies were, there’s nothing ambiguous about the content of his Second Symphony. From start to finish, it’s a marvel of melodic freshness and brilliant instrumentation.
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