When former NY Times’ classical music critic Tony Tommasini visited Tanglewood 30 years ago, he argued that there are really two Tanglewoods. One is the Tanglewood Music Center, which since 1940 has offered an immersive training program for young musicians who study with established performers and composers and present a full schedule of chamber, vocal and orchestral concerts. The other is the Tanglewood Music Festival, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which performs orchestral works from the subscription season and beyond, as well as chamber music and opera.
Well, if this past whirlwind weekend is any indication, I’d say there are at least five Tanglewoods. In addition to those mentioned above, there’s the BSO’s more famous cousin, The Boston Pops, which focuses on Broadway, film and popular music. There’s the Boston University Tanglewood Institute – or BUTI – which offers advance training and performances for high school students ages 14-19. And, there’s the Tanglewood Learning Institute – or TLI – which presents recitals, lectures, and workshops in the year-round Linde Center for Music and Learning, completed in 2019. Not to mention a full menu of contemporary music, jazz, world music, rock and pop.
Honestly, it can all be a bit much. Until you arrive under a canopy of Berkshire blue skies, framing miles of rolling hills and impossibly-green lawns where you can spread yourself and your picnic blanket out, finding fewer reasons to leave with every sip of spritz or summer ale. And, with the Andris Nelsons brouhaha now all but faded into the distance, the focus at Tanglewood was back to where it should be: on the music. (That likely won’t be the case once the BSO musicians’ contract expires at the end of next week; negotiations between the board and union are reportedly ongoing.)
Friday, August 14
I didn’t make it up until after Friday night’s BSO concert in the Shed had already started – getting out of the city on a summer Friday is always a battle – but still managed to catch most of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, in its original chamber music version for 13 instruments (here with an expanded string section.) Copland is a Tanglewood pillar: he founded the composition program of the Tanglewood Music Center, his music is performed here regularly – the Lincoln Portrait was performed at the unofficial opening concert on July 5 – and he was so deeply connected to the place that his ashes are buried there, to date the only person so honored.
What made this particular performance of Appalachian Spring unique was the Martha Graham Dance Company, the company for whom Copland wrote the music, making their belated Tanglewood debut in this, their centennial season. In her introduction, which I heard on WCRB’s broadcast, MGDC artistic director Janet Eilber revealed that Copland received the commission for this work at his Stockbridge post office box in 1942; the work premiered at the Library of Congress two years later.
Performing Graham’s choreography while wearing costumes based on her original designs, the company danced in front of the orchestra on a specially-built thrust stage, necessitating the removal of several rows of seats. The intimate, penetrating music, led by Anna Handler in her final appearance as BSO assistant conductor, was alternately energetic and idyllic, especially the climactic sequence based on the folk tune “Simple Gifts.”
Watching from the lawn just outside the Shed, with the trees slowly swaying overhead, it was hard to believe this iconic American ballet had never been performed here with dancers. With the BSO’s new emphasis on alternate modes of presentation and Jacob’s Pillow less than half-an-hour’s drive down Rt. 20, I expect we’ll be seeing more and more dance in Tanglewood’s future. (At Tanglewood’s opening night gala in July, the Boston Ballet performed a selection of classical works with the BSO.)
Following intermission, the MMDC returned with a new piece created for the company’s centenary: For Martha by composer/conductor Christopher Rountree, based on a recently discovered fragment of music Leonard Bernstein wrote for Graham in the late 1980’s. It had been discarded after their failed attempt to collaborate on a full-evening work – hardly surprising when you consider that Bernstein was 70 at the time and Graham was 94. The seven-minute piece, with contemporary choreography by Hope Boykin, was recognizably Bernstein: full of jazzy syncopations and big, brassy crescendos.
Before closing out the night with Beethoven’s 7th, Handler spoke briefly from the stage, thanking the BSO for the opportunity to learn and grow over the past two years. Handler, 30, already has a bright future ahead of her: this fall, she becomes the Chief Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra and Conductor-in-Residence with the LA Phil while continuing as Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Handler also pointed out that the 7th was the last piece Bernstein ever conducted at Tanglewood – on what turned out to be the final concert of his life – nearly 36 years ago to the day. “This is my second time conducting it,” she said, “but I will take my whole life to continue learning it.”
Handler impressed me with her energy and charisma when I saw her BSO debut last summer at Tanglewood, and did not disappoint this time around. A native German (with half-Colombian roots) who will be artist-in-residence this season at the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Handler has an obvious affinity for Beethoven’s music, conducting with fierce intensity and vivid focus. The musicians responded in kind, with sharp, crisp delivery and impressive extended solos by principal flute Lorna McGhee and principal oboe John Ferillo, among others. (The brass section was a bit more wobbly.)
My most indelible memory of this performance was seeing – and hearing – Handler snap the page of her score just before launching into the final Allegro, which she took full-tilt, fast and furious. At one point, I caught a glimpse of Handler’s face, and she had a look of total rapture, almost as if she were being guided by some unseen force. Standing on that Shed podium in front of those BSO players – several of whom played that fateful Beethoven 7 under Bernstein – I can imagine what she was feeling.
Saturday, August 15
If there’s ever been a more picture-perfect day in the Berkshires, I’ve never seen it. Arriving in the afternoon, I sat on the grass outside Ozawa Hall to hear the always-impressive BUTI Young Artists Orchestra in their season-ending concert. Led again this year by Lina Gonzáles-Granados, I had time to hear Copland’s grand, majestic Billy the Kid suite (is there such a thing as too much Copland?) which the kids played with power and precision well beyond their years.
Sadly, I had to skip out on the rest of the BUTI program, which included Jessie Montgomery’s Hymn for Everyone, Dvořák’s “New World” symphony, and Valerie Coleman’s choral work Ashé, which she wrote for BUTI in 2022 and has since become a staple of this closing concert.
But I had a good excuse, or at least so I thought: a rare one-on-one conversation between musician/artist Laurie Anderson and director Peter Sellars over at the Linde Center. Anderson, who was visiting Tanglewood for the first time, was ostensibly there to talk with Sellars about her two performances in Ozawa Hall on Thursday and Sunday nights, neither of which I was able to see. (There’s video here of her June Summerstage performance of The Republic of Love, which she performed on Sunday.)
Instead, it was mostly a free-wheeling conversation between two longtime friends, sharing platitudes on art, politics, and the often-fraught relationship between the two.
“When we become adults, we’re trained not to dream anymore,” Sellars said at one point. “This is the time to dream, right now.“
“There are only three rules,” Anderson responded. “One: Don’t be afraid of anybody. Two: Get a good BS detector. Three: Be tender.”
It was amusing and occasionally thought-provoking, but for me, fell short of what it could have been, given the outsized impact these two iconoclasts have had across the worlds of music, opera, theater and performance art over the past half-century. Honestly, I got more out of rewatching Laurie’s 2022 60 minutes interview with Anderson Cooper:
“I’m not the artist to make the world a better place,” Anderson said. “This is not my goal, at all…. I just really love beautiful things. It’s thrilling to put your mind somewhere else and be somewhere that you can never have imagined, and then suddenly, you’re there.”
Saturday evening belonged to the Boston Pops and the annual John Williams Film Night, always one of Tanglewood’s most popular events. After navigating the excessively long lines to get in – this summer, Tanglewood has finally succumbed to the sad reality of bag checks and metal detectors – the lawn was filled all the way to the back hedges, though not quite as packed as when John himself would conduct these concerts. (His last appearance was in 2023.)
Saturday’s concert, a new for-hire production billed as “Maestro of the Movies: A Tribute to John Williams,” was conducted by Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra music director Ken-David Masur (son of former NY Phil music director Kurt Masur), returning for his third JW Film Night. This year, the Pops also invited Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz who, after some initial nervousness, brought a fresh, knowledgeable, and lighthearted perspective to this cherished Tanglewood tradition.
“Without question, John is the greatest film composer of the past 60 years,” Mankiewicz offered in his introduction. Although I heard more than a few grumbles around me – what, not all time?! – I’m sure John himself would concur, thinking of Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Erich Korngold and other masters of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The production was modeled on past JW Film Nights, with the Pops playing along to projected scenes from John’s films, along with occasional works such as the Olympic Fanfare and Theme. It worked well enough when they played the scenes straight through, such as the Barrel Chase from Jaws or the Cave Scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Or when they performed without any film, such as the Theme from Schindler’s List, with Pops concertmaster Alexander Velinzon affectingly performing the solo originally played by Itzhak Perlman. But, I found the pastiches they showed to accompany John’s music to Harry Potter, Jurassic Park and Star Wars jarring, dissociating Williams’ music from their intended scenes.
The concert ended thrillingly, with the Pops performing the final 15 minutes of E.T. straight through, surely one of the most emotional and transporting film sequences of all time. (I still tear up, every time.) Fun fact: according to Mankiewicz, when Williams was struggling to come up with the music for this scene, Spielberg told him to “just let it flow.” Williams wrote the music independently, and Spielberg ended up re-cutting the scene to fit John’s score.
For an encore, the Pops played the Raiders March and the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back, just like John used to do for his own encores. I was holding out hope til the end that the 94 year old Williams might make a cameo appearance, the way he did last year when Manny Ax premiered his Piano Concerto. Alas, it was not to be. Hopefully, they’ll get him over to the Hollywood Bowl when the LA Phil performs this same concert in a couple of weeks.
Sunday, August 16
The best performance I heard all weekend wasn’t some bombastic orchestral score or earth-shaking choral work. It was the TMC chamber concert, a free recital which takes place every Sunday morning during the Tanglewood season at 10:00 a.m. in Ozawa. A bit early after a late night in the Shed, so I arrived during intermission with coffee in hand, sitting on the lawn under some shade.
The second half started with Sheila Silver‘s “Free Speech” from her Songs of Resilience, written last year in response to ICE raids and other acts of “tyranny, chaos and cruelty.” The riveting text by Lucille Lichtblau depicts an urgent phone call between a retired woman (Sydelle) and her daughter (Jennifer) after Sydelle fears being targeted for calling “you know who/ a fascist and a meany/ Who resembles Mussolini” on Facebook. Jennifer tries to calm her mother down, exclaiming, “This doesn’t happen in America!” But, sure enough, unnamed agents with guns surround the house, forcing Sydelle to escape through the basement, to an uncertain fate. Soprano Diana Agasian (Jennifer) and mezzo-soprano Danielle Casós (Sydelle) sang and shrieked Silver’s music with desperate immediacy.
That was followed by an all-out performance of Brahms’ first Piano Quartet, one of my all-time favorites. Written when Brahms was in his 20’s, it’s easily one of the most exuberant pieces of music ever written. After meandering for the first three movements, it explodes into a lightening-quick gypsy tune, “Rondo alla Zingarese” played with fire by fellows Miles Huang, violin, Seth Goodman, viola, Max Healy, cello, and August Baik, piano. Among those I saw watching – and air-conducting – from the trees was Manny Ax, who recorded this quartet with Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern and Jaime Laredo way back in 1990. Only at Tanglewood.
Then, for something completely different, I wandered over to the Linde Center where Laurie Anderson had brought six of her late husband Lou Reed’s guitars. With the help of Reed’s former guitar tech Stewart Hurwood, they were positioned facing a stack of amps, creating overlapping waves of feedback ranging from meditative to deafening. (Visitors were handed earplugs at the door.) Lasting some six hours, listeners were encouraged to sit, stand, walk around, or even lie down in order to maximize their experience. A changing roster of musicians accompanied the noise, including violist Nadia Sirota and Lou’s former guitarist Aram Bajakian, who played Lou’s own “pedal of imminent amp death.”
Finally, it was back to the Shed for the final TMC Orchestra concert of the season: the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert. (Typically, the TMCO plays on Monday nights in Ozawa, but they always get to play this final Sunday matinee in the Shed.)
Given all of conductor Marin Alsop’s work with youth orchestras – including her own National Orchestral Institute + Festival – I was surprised when she told the audience that the last time she conducted the TMC orchestra in the Shed was as a conducting fellow in 1988, with her “hero and mentor” Bernstein watching from the wings.
Marin was joined onstage by composer Anna Clyne, who introduced her cinematic opener “Masquerade,” which Marin has championed since debuting it at the BBC Proms in 2013. Inspired by the London pleasure gardens of the 18th century, Anna said the music is based in part on a 17th century English drinking song, “Juice of Barley”, marked by a disorienting falling sequence that evokes the feeling of being tipsy. Appropriate enough, given all of the beer and wine bottles perched across the lawn.
That was followed by Bruch’s warhorse Violin Concerto No. 1, with violinist and “online personality” Ray Chen playing with a Whole lot of expression. Chen has impressive chops, but was too forced and showy for my taste – not that his 800,000 YouTube subscribers or 1.1 million Instagram followers care one whit what I think. Despite his unsubtle approach, I did enjoy Chen’s thoughtful, cheeky arrangement of the old Australian song “Waltzing Matilda” that he played as an encore.
After intermission, Marin and the fellows closed out with an ambitious, dramatic Mahler 5 that literally shook the heavens, with rain sweeping in just as the final brass and percussion rang out. As I raced to my car, all I could think was: Lenny must be smiling down from somewhere.
If you’re thinking of making the trip to Lenox, there are just a couple of weeks left to this summer’s Tanglewood season. This weekend has the Pops performing with Wicked star Cynthia Erivo (8/21), Randall Goosby playing Florence Price’s 2nd violin concerto and the Saint-Saëns Rondo capriccioso along with Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms (8/22), and the traditional closing concert with Beethoven’s 9th (8/23) featuring an all-star roster of singers including Ben Bliss, Mané Galoyan, Zoie Reams and Soloman Howard.
The following week, Tanglewood goes roots and rock with appearances from Judy Collins with Mary Chapin Carpenter and Roseanne Cash, Tedeschi Trucks Band with Lukas Nelson, Jason Isbell with Patty Griffin and Alabama Shakes with Mavis Staples, among others. Tickets and info on the Tanglewood website.
For a limited time, you can listen to WCRB’s livestreams of Friday’s BSO concert with the Martha Graham Dance Company here and Sunday’s TMC Orchestra concert here.
More photos on Instagram below: