Lenox — On the weekend of July 26 through 28, at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Serge Koussevitzky’s birth and the 100th anniversary of his appointment as the BSO’s first music director. The Russian conductor and bassist will be feted by Shed performances throughout the weekend, with appearances by Tanglewood favorites Yefim Bronfman and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, both of whom have appeared at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home more than two dozen times; baritone Will Liverman; the BSO’s own Edwin Barker; and British pianist Paul Lewis.
A high point of Friday’s program will be Mr. Barker’s performance (on the composer’s own instrument) of Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto in a program with Mr. Bronfman performing Scriabin’s “Prometheus: The Poem of Fire,” Op. 60, which Koussevitzky premiered in 1925. Will Liverman and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus join the BSO in that work, as well as Sibelius’ “The Origin of Fire.”
On Saturday, the 27th, Mr. Thibaudet will perform Aram Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto, with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique,” following intermission. This was the last symphony Tchaikovsky composed before (intentionally?) dying of cholera nine days after leading the premiere. You might find this music a bit on the melancholic side.
On Sunday, the 28th, Paul Lewis will play Copland’s Piano Concerto, following “Freedom’s Genuine Dawn,” by James LEE III.
But any tribute to Koussevitzky must recognize his contributions as a commissioner of new works. So the celebration includes pieces composed by the co-curators of this year’s Festival of Contemporary Music: Princeton Music Department Chair Steven Mackey and Cuban-American composer Tania León. Mackey’s “Urban Ocean” opens Friday’s program, and Tania León’s “Stride” Saturday’s. Sunday’s program includes one of Koussevitzky’s best-known commissions, Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms.”
Mackey’s “Urban Ocean” was commissioned by the Aquarium of the Pacific to highlight the population of people and marine life along the southern California coast. The composer describes it as “eleven minutes that cast the sea as mysterious, deep, vast, powerful, and teaming with life … and the land as bright and bustling with bittersweet humanity. The end strikes a delicate balance between both.”
Tania León’s “Stride” won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2021. It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and the Oregon Symphony as part of “Project 19,” a commissioning initiative commemorating ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The New York Philharmonic gave the premiere performance in David Geffen Hall, New York City, on February 13, 2020, with Jaap van Zweden conducting.
Hear Andris Nelsons lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in works celebrating Serge Koussevitzky’s 150th birth anniversary on July 26 through 28 with soloists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yefim Bronfman, Paul Lewis, Edwin Barker, and Will Liverman. Tickets are available here.
