This year’s multicolored Tanglewood season embraces a panoply of jazz, pop, pops, mixed-media and theater pieces, and various alfresco events, centered on a satisfying background of familiar classics, and even a gratification of the unfamiliar as well. The schedule that I’ve seen doesn’t list the programs for every announced date yet, but there’s a good bit to chew on already, and I offer here a quick glance. Click HERE for a complete calendar and HERE for a classical-only distillation.
Beethoven, as durable on summer lawns as in radiant concert halls, will be represented symphonies (2, 5, 6, 7, and of course 9 as a season wrap-up), a couple of concertos, and Egmont and Leonore 3. With Mozart we get concertos, and a complete Figaro in the Shed headlined by Ying Fang as Susannah and Michael Sumuel in the title role. There’s a good bit of Brahms as well (Symphony 2, Double Concerto, Haydn Variations) and rather more Tchaikovsky (one concerto, Swan Lake excerpts, 1812, and Symphonies 3, 4, and 5 — how I wish that Tchaikovsky’s Fifth could be given a long rest, at least a few years, with the Second “Little Russian” substituting instead, remembering that “Little Russia” is the Ukraine). Whenever I think of Brahms and Tchaikovsky in parallel programming, I remember that they drank beer together in Leipzig and heartily enjoyed each other’s company, without mentioning that each detested the other’s music — and whose music did they talk about, I wonder? I’d guess Mozart’s.
There are some nice surprises waiting. On July 19th you can hear Haydn’s Symphony no. 22, “Philosopher,” an early work (1764) but one of his best ever, with a ponderous chorale and relentlessly plodding eighth-note bass for 64 Adagio measures of high drama, scored for two fortismo e-flat horns, two English horns, and muted (!) strings. The same program includes Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto no. 1, a wild ride, and Beethoven’s irresistibly witty Symphony no. 2 — now that’s imaginative planning. Another program, on July 11th, offers ideally relaxed thoughtful concentration: Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 25, K. 503, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Later on, Mahler’s Fifth will be heard too.
Except for some visiting firemen, including Esa-Pekka Salonen as resident composer and conductor (he will be managing much of the Festival of Contemporary Music, July 23-27), there isn’t a lot of 20th-century on the orchestral side of things, but it is packed into many of the abundant chamber-music concerts. (It’s an oddity to see Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time as a warmup to the Figaro performance.) The TMC Orchestra will step up to the plate on August 3rd with Le tombeau de Couperin, La mer, and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, which is after all a Boston Symphony monument; Salonen will quarterback that event; they also will give us (Nelsons presiding) Richard Strauss on July 20th, along with an important but less-often-heard item, Hindemith’s Konzertmusik for strings and brass. I was curious about one chamber-music item on July 11th: something by Ives advertised as “Four Transcriptions from Emerson.” Would that be somehow related to the first movement of the “Concord” Sonata for piano? (A very weird, gritty piece.) One special multicultural orchestral event features three composers and three different cellists, with Yo-Yo Ma playing a concerto (with chorus) by Tavener, Christine Lee in Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul, and Karen Ouzounian soloing in Kayhan Kalhor’s Venus in the Mirror, in which the composer will also be playing the kamancheh, which seems to be a four-string form of rebab.
Boston Camerata’s “Free America! Early Songs of Resistance and Rebellion” and Les Arts florissant’s presentation of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux enfers with dancers and singers under William Christie should appeal to early music votaries.
Not much of which to complain in this colorful summer lineup. But when are they going to perform Goldmark’s lovely, summery Rustic Wedding Symphony, for what might be the first time in more than a century? And how about, in view of the composer’s having withdrawn it from the Kennedy Center, making a statement by grabbing the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Lincoln Symphony as an installment in the BSO’s E Pluribus Unum: From Many One ?
Beethoven was a working musician who had frequent financial struggles. I think he would have been thrilled if any of his music had become a “cash cow” as long as the cash was flowing to him.
Comment by jim47895 — February 3, 2026 at 11:55 am
You have to wonder how Beethoven might respond to his 9th being such an obvious cash cow. The most revolutionary thing the BSO could do at Twood these days is NOT conclude with it. And every single summer, Manny, Yo-Yo, John Williams? For an open air festival, it could surely use a lot of fresh air. Salonen’s programming is a good start, as an example. But how about bringing back some of the most successful newer music? Golijov’s San Marco Passion as one such. Or programs dedicated to BSO commissions that have stood the test of time. Works that deserve a revisit like Harbison’s Requiem or second symphony. And do the Goldbergs need yet another airing, even in different garb? Come on, BSO. Get creative. You can afford it with that fat endowment.
Comment by Meckbesser — January 31, 2026 at 9:08 am
No Bruckner 8 at Tanglewood since 1975 (Tennstedt).
Comment by William Keller — January 29, 2026 at 5:27 pm
No blockbusters this season either – Seiji was so great for that!
Comment by Tom Hawn — January 29, 2026 at 12:50 pm