Things are heating up at the BSO: Harbison Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 and more under Morlot and Bělohlávek, by Charles Warren
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall
Thursday, November 17, 2011, 8:00 pm
Berlioz, Mozart, Carter and Bartók
Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Richard Goode, piano
Elizabeth Rowe, flute
Berlioz ‑ Roman Carnival Overture
Mozart ‑ Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, K.503
Carter ‑ Flute Concerto
Bartók ‑ Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin
Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 8:00 pm
Harbison, Ravel and Mahler
Symphony Hall
Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Harbison ‑ Symphony No. 4
Ravel ‑ Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2
Mahler ‑ Symphony No. 1
Thursday, December 1, 2011, 8:00 pm
Beethoven and Harbison
Symphony Hall
Jiří Bělohlávek, conductor
Jonathan Biss, piano
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
Gerald Finley, baritone
Harbison ‑ Symphony No. 5
Beethoven ‑ Piano Concerto No. 4
Beethoven ‑ Leonore Overture No. 3
Things are heating up at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The spate of recent exciting performances began with the great Tchaikovsky “Pathéthique” under Myung-Whun Chung, and has continued with two concert series under Ludovic Morlot, and a series under Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek. Both Morlot and Bělohlávek led symphonies by John Harbison, part of the series of his six symphonies the BSO began to last season, and will conclude in January. This is material of major importance and interest. It was a great thing for the orchestra to undertake, and the recent performances have been very effective, as were those of the earlier symphonies under James Levine last season. The orchestra musicians seem really to want to play this work, and go about it with a sense of great commitment. Audience response has been very warm.

