Tanglewood 2011 offers rich palette of musical choices

Tanglewood is refined and rustic, all at once. Sprawled over 500 acres in Lenox, it is far from the smoggy confines of Boston and New York City, it has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the past 71 years. Today it welcomes concertgoers the opportunity to choose from a rich palette of music in four distinct venues in a bucolic setting overlooking Stockbridge Bowl.

The estate got its name from a series of children's stories written there in the early 1850s by Nathanial Hawthorne. The author had rented a summer cottage there from Tappen family, the owners of the property who named their nearby estate Tanglewood in honor of Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales."

The Boston Symphony came to the Berkshires in 1936 when they gave three concerts under a tent in Holmwood to some 15,000 under the direction of the orchestra's famed music director Serge Koussevitzky. Later that year the estate was given to the orchestra by Mary Aspinwall Tappan. Over the next few years, the hall - called The Shed - was built and a music summer school, today called the Tanglewood Music Center, was formed by Koussevizky. Over the years acoustic modifications were done to the Shed, the orchestra expanded the grounds and a new concert hall (seating 1,000) called Seiji Ozawa Hall was built. Today Tanglewood attracts some 350,000 visitors each summer.

A Herculean task

Idyllic setting aside, putting a season together here is a Herculean task.

"Working on the Tanglewood program is like figuring out a big jig-saw puzzle, you have to make sure all the key pieces fall into place," said Tony Fogg, BSO's artistic administrator.

Fogg has been involved with Tanglewood since 1994. A pianist by training, he usually collaborates with BSO music director James Levine, who brings the pulse of the orchestra to the drawing table. But several months ago, Levine, in poor health and on the advice from his doctors, resigned. Levine's departure left a big hole; Fogg and Mark Volpe, BSO managing director, were tasked with finishing all that had been left undone.

It's a tall order. Tanglewood owes its programming success to alchemy. Fogg and his colleagues must be attuned to the orchestra members' physical and artistic readiness to learn and perform music selected from a complicated repertoire, while also showcasing national and international talent that must attract audiences to its different venues.

"We can fit 5,000 people inside the Koussevitsky Music Shed," Fogg explained, "and upwards to 13,000 people who can purchase general admission tickets and listen to music on the lawn. We also have Seiji Ozawa Hall, which seats another 1,000 people. Then there's the Theatre, which seats 800 people. These four distinct venues each come with their own tensions."

8-week season

Tanglewood's season spreads over eight weeks. The Gala opening night concert on July 8 features soprano Angela Meade, mezzo-soprano Kristine Jepson, bass James Morris and tenors Robert De Biasio and Matthew DiBattista in a program that features highlights from Bellini's "Norma" and Respighi's symphonic poem "Pines of Rome." The last concert is set for August 28, when the Tanglewood Festival Chorus joins the BSO to perform Beethoven's "Symphony Number 9," a rousing and triumphant work. Between them will be concerts featuring such world-renowned artists as conductor Charles Dutoit (conducting Berlioz's epic "Requiem" on July 9); violinist Joshua Bell (performing Bruch's "Scottish Fantasy" on July 10); conductor Christoph Eschenbach and pianist Peter Serkin (in a Brahms program on July 30); and the annual Tanglewood on Parade concert that features four conductors (Stefan Asbury, Christoph Eschenbach, Rafael Fr�hbeck de Burgos and John Williams) and three orchestras (the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra) in an eclectic program that concludes with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture."

In addition to programming the orchestra's repertoire, there are also concerts devoted to popular music. Coming up is Broadway diva Kelli O'Hara singing Cole Porter songs with the Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart conducting, on July 17; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Steely Dan bring their "Shuffle Diplomacy Twenty Eleven" tour to the grounds on July 26; the Grammy-award winning Train sing songs from their latest CD on August 8; and the husband/wife team of guitarist John Pizzarelli and vocalist Jessica Molaskey in a program they call Radio Deluxe on August 21.

"In past years, we've started with key building blocks and themes, and we worked the programming around that," Fogg said. "We had a 70th anniversary celebration of Tanglewood last year, for example, and that was the keystone. We've also worked a program around the music of American composer Aaron Copland, who had deep roots with the BSO, and that brought the season together."

Old and new

There is no unifying theme this year. Instead, Fogg and Volpe labored to arrive at "a good mixture of a beloved artists like cellist Yo-Yo Ma [scheduled for August 14, with pianist Emmauel Ax], as well as new conductors and new soloists. The goal is to arrive at a special chemistry, a blend of old and new, known and not so well-known. We set out to match artists with conductors and music that showcases their talents," he said.

These musical pairings, Fogg explained, "provide an anchor to our overall programming, and gradually, a pattern emerges that forms the rest of the season."

Another example of musical pairings is set for the July 23 concert, when Dutch-born conductor Jaan van Zweden, now music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, appears with the orchestra and violinist Arabella Steinbacherin a program of that pairs two warhorses, Brahms' "Violin Concerto" and Beethoven's "Seventh Symphony," with "Rhapsodies," a recent work by Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Steven Stucky that was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 2008.

"Working with them was new to us," Fogg said. "So we explored how we would show him musically and artistically in the strongest light and the idea of inviting Steinbacher as a soloist seemed perfect. When we discussed this, van Zweden immediately liked the idea. He told us this is exactly the right thing to do. The result is a chance to create warm, glowing and shimmering music. That's how it came together."

Broadway & Hollywood come to Tanglewood

Over the years, Fogg noted, the BSO Tanglewood concerts scheduled for Friday nights, "were not well attended. They'd be wonderful music abounding, and yet there was a noticeable dropping off of concert goers," he said.

In an experiment to woo back audiences to Friday night concerts this season, the BSO will present musical selections that are "shorter in length and varied," Fogg said. "For instance, we've scheduled a performance of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" with Bramwell Tovey conducting, on August 26th." [The concert cast features Alfred Walker (Porgy), Laquita Mitchell (Bess), Gregg Baker (Crown) and Jermaine Smith (Sportin' Life).]

Returning to Tanglewood this season will be John Williams, prolific Hollywood composer and Boston Pops maestro laureate, who will reprise his popular "Film Night" on August 20. The Berkshire hills will come alive with Williams' scores from "Star Wars" and "Superman." Joining him will be actor Morgan Freeman reading snippets from "The Reivers," a film based on a William Faulkner novella.

There's also an opportunity to hear the complete piano works of Maurice Ravel when pianist Jean-Yves Thibaduet presents a two-night program on July 20 and July 21.
While additional programming decisions may yet appear before him, Fogg is breathing easier now that the summer program is complete. The musicians are getting ready to pack up and leave Symphony Hall. He can step back and assess it all.

"Looking at what went into this year's Tanglewood program," he said, "I know we have achieved what we set out to, namely to provide the highest level of musical excellence in all that we do," Fogg said. "I am certain all the venues at Tanglewood will reflect the commitments of the conductors, guest artists and orchestra members, who bare their souls musically to several thousand people each and every time they perform. That's what audiences can expect to find at Tanglewood."
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Tanglewood season runs from July 8 through August 28, 2011 in Lenox, Massachusetts. For a complete schedule and ticket information, visit Boston Symphony Orchestra website: http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/complete_season.jsp?id=bcat13360030.