The problem with making a list of Tanglewood summer highlights is that almost nothing on the schedule qualifies as a lowlight, not even soloists or composers we've never heard of.
Had composer and conductor Oliver Knussen not died in Suffolk last year at the age of 66, he would have presided over this year’s Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. It seemed fitting as well that the first sounds to put the new hall to test were Knussen’s stunning 'Prequel to Opening Signal.'
The entire score of "The Firebird" is a revelation, and hearing it performed in concert is an exhilarating experience that Stravinsky aficionados always crave.
Great music may not save the world, but it may make the world worth saving. “We know that music cannot stop a bullet or feed the hungry, but it can bring empathy and joy to places where they are in short supply.”
-- Yo-Yo Ma
Under Ken-David Masur’s direction on Saturday, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 crackled with such vitality and force that past performances of the work now seem pale and tentative by comparison.
