Tanglewood

The texture and tones of the orchestra have been honed over decades and by various music directors. Rattle respects composers and his instrumentalists who interpret them. He works in broad strokes and lets performers do their detail work. An harmonious approach.

On October 12 at 3 PM there will be a performance by the Dover String Quartet of new works by Berkshire based composer Stephen Dankner. It was originally scheduled for the Clark but because of construction issues has been moved to Williams College and the Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall, 54 Chapin Hall Drive, Williamstown. We met for lunch to dicuss this and other premieres scheduled through March.

Talk about an odd couple. At 88 and 28 there's a sixty year spread between jazz singer Tony Bennett and his neophyte partner the totally gonzo Lady Gaga. There are winners and loosers on this much anticipated CD. For both artists this was an interesting and risky artistic and career move.

The Tanglewood season closed with a near to capacity audience for national treasure Tony Bennett. Closing in on 90 yet again he uniquely rattled the renowned rusty pipes. He proved why Frank Sintra hailed him as the greatest jazz singer of his generation. Keeping forever young he is about to release an album of duets with Lady Gaga.

Humor, wit, charm and good looks equal Josh Groban. Like local favorite, Arlo Guthrie, Groban is a master storyteller.

TRAIN brought down the house at Tanglewood. In a return to the Berkshires classic TRAIN songs were mixed with songs from the upcoming new album, titled ‘Bulletproof Picasso.’ Yet again the middle aged rockers thrilled an audience of teenieboppers.

The Chicago Symphony was red hot when it embarked on the overture to Figaro. They relished the challenge and it paid off for listeners. One of the reasons that you can’t put a B cast to perform familiar music is that the audience knows the music so well. The performance has to be perfect. With Assistant concert master Stephanie Jeong leading, this Mozart was sublime.

The Beach Boys will take over Tanglewood on Monday, August 18th. There will be a dance area on the lawn outside of the shed, volleyball nets near the rear of the lawn, beach balls will be dispersed for play throughout the concert and sand and beach motif will dress up Tanglewood.

On August 15 conductor Stephane Deneve will lead a Beethoven and Prokofiev program featuring pianist and soloist Emanual Ax, followed by mezzo-soprano Elena Manistina. Starting at 5:30, prior to the concert, there will be a tasting of regional microbreweries and snacks.

Sitting through Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 can be a long slog on Elizabethan inspired cruel on the bottom benches at Shakespeare & Company. In a brisk, rich and often hilarious reduction and conflation by Jonathan Epstein to two long acts with intermission, clocking at three hours, through this delicious production mind prevails over matter. One's sore bottom in this case. During his 450th year S&Co. has been presenting Shakespeare up the wazoo.

Hubbard Hall Opera Theater presents Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with orchestra August 13 through 24. “We are so excited to be able to offer this kind of cultural opportunity to the people who live in this area,” says artistic director, Alix Jones. “The talent is really something you would come across in a metropolitan city, and you get it here, at a most unassuming location, at a fraction of the price!”

Fireworks, a day of entertainment with magicians, music and tours awaits guests on August 4th, 2014, Tanglewood on Parade day.

On Wednesday, August 6, at 8:00 p.m. in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, the visiting orchestra Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (German Chamber Symphony of Bremen), conducted by Paavo Järvi, will present an all-Brahms concert, consisting of the “Academic Festival Overture”, the Piano Concerto No. 1, with Lars Vogt the soloist and the Second Symphony.

Amazingly Joshua Bell has performed at Tanglewood for 26 consecutive seasons. The charisma for Lenox audiences compares to the annual appearances of James Taylor. There are many reasons for his immense popularity all based on the fluid music evoked from his violin. On this occasion he collaborated with new BSO music director the young and equally exciting Andris Nelsons. It made for a thrilling combination.

This is not a program note, but my “take” on Mahler’s music in toto and what I feel it represents extramusically – the backstory behind the composer’s aesthetic, if you will. The Symphony No. 2 is, to my way of thinking, the most iconic of all Mahler’s works, since everything he subsequently composed stems from this landmark hybrid of symphony, solo song and choral work.

Jason Alexander mesmerized the packed house at Tanglewood. His performance consisted of humor, dance and song. He had the crowd on their feet, watching his every move.

James Levine’s travails because of persistent illnesses several years ago, became a liability for the Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony, despite his great musical gifts. By contrast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic had good fortune in nabbing the talented young superstar Gustavo Dudamel in 2008. Levine, now confined to a wheelchair, has begun the long road back to conducting at the Met, but it’s unlikely, at 72, that he’ll regain his former energy and commanding presence in opera and symphony concerts.

Fireworks started at Tanglewood immediately after the intermission of the gala performance welcoming music director designate Andris Nelsons. In the second half of the program, the Boston Symphony performed with the conductor and the match seemed perfect, in part because the Rachmaninoff and Ravel suited the Maestro and his instrumentalists. On stage fireworks exploded. The Maestro left nothing on the podium as he exited to fireworks falling out of the night Berkshire sky.

Speaking with Nelsons after the Saturday morning rehearsal, he seemed eager to dig in to making music live in Lenox and Boston as he takes on the task of making classic symphonic music relevant to today’s audience. This is particularly difficult in the US where children are not as exposed to the classical form as they are in Europe.

Tanglewood isn't just Music. The annual "Wine and Food Classic" takes place from August 7th-10th, 2014. Hundreds of wines from around the world and locally sourced food, cooked by local chefs will be available to sample on the beautiful Tanglewood grounds.

Over the Fourth of July weekend Renée Fleming was the featured soloist for the opening night performance of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer season in Tanglewood. On July 16, for the first time in her career, Fleming will appear in a play Living on Love at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Depending upon its success at WTF the production may be bound for Broadway.

It’s been an inclement week in the Berkshires but last night was just glorious for the launch of the BSO’s Tanglewood season featuring the ever magnificent soprano “The People’s Diva” Renée Fleming. From July 16 through 26 she will make her dramatic debut at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Living On Love. As she told us last night she is enjoying her extended time in the Berkshires. But it's a working holiday.

If you closed your eyes for the drive up to the Green Music Center in Rohnert Park, California, and then opened them when you arrived at Weill Hall, you might think you were at Tanglewood. This hall is modeled after Ozawa Hall in Lenox. Judy Collins, regal and still going strong at 75, packed the Sonoma Music Center.

On a sultry summer evening Beck charmed some 5,000 fans crammed into Joe Thompson Field on the campus of Mass MoCA. While Wilco's Solid Sound weekend festival is taking a break this season, on a Tuesday night in June, Beck put up Wilco numbers. It strongly indicates that MoCA is in the rock concert business as a viable alternative to Tanglewood with far more imaginative programming.

Between 1968 and its demise in 2009 Boston's rock station WBCN was the epicenter of an alternative lifestyle. Its DJ's interviewed and broadcast live concerts and studio sessions with virtually every major band of the era. It was a strong advocate of local band breaking many including J Geils, The Cars, Aerosmith, Boston and British stars from Bowie and The Who to Ireland's U2. Carter Alan's superbly researched book covers it all from A to Z.