REVIEW: Tanglewood, "Milos/Wang/Les Arts Florissants"

Tanglewood, Ozawa Hall, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 10, 17, & 18, 2024

by Michael J. Moran

Every summer Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall hosts world-class artists in many genres from across the globe. Three recent concerts showcased the wide range of attractions in this intimate venue.

Milos Karadaglic

The primary focus of Montenegrin guitarist Milos Karadaglic’s program was music from the Baroque era. Known professionally by only his first name, Milos brought tenderness and virtuosity to sensitive transcriptions by himself and others of pieces by Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Francois Couperin, and Domenico Scarlatti. But the standout performance was his moving interpretation of the towering 15-minute “Chaconne” from Johann Sebastian Bach’s second partita for solo violin in his own transcription for guitar. An elegant encore of Harold Arlen’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” arranged by himself and Toru Takemitsu, revealed a more delicate side of his charismatic artistry.

A week later, superstar Beijing-born pianist Yuja Wang astounded an overflow audience (some seated on the stage) with her mastery of typically challenging repertoire. A set of preludes and fugues by Dmitri Shostakovich was alternately brilliant and austere. Her powerful reading of Samuel Barber’s piano sonata mixed spiky harmonies with hushed serenity. Wang’s thrilling renditions of Frederic Chopin’s four ballades were emotionally intense and beautifully shaped. Famous for playing multiple encores, she obliged her enthusiastic fans with no fewer than five of them, from a flowing Philip Glass Etude No. 6 to a knuckle-busting Feinberg-Wang transcription of the Scherzo movement from Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” symphony.       

The next evening, French-based early music ensemble Les Arts Florissants (“The Flowering Arts”), founded and led by Brooklyn native William Christie, presented an eclectically entertaining version of English composer Henry Purcell’s 1692 opera “The Fairy Queen,” based loosely on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” A period orchestra of 24 players was accompanied by eight singers and six dancers from around the world. Mourad Merzouki’s dazzling choreography mixed classical with modern breakdancing styles. The dramatic and comic acting skills of both singers and dancers, and their continuous interaction on stage, produced often breathtaking results in this timelessly enchanting production.  

Future Ozawa Hall programs include: pianist Paul Lewis, with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players; pianist Kirill Gerstein, with violinist Joshua Bell and cellist Steven Isserlis; and violinist Leonidas Kavakos, with pianist Daniil Trifonov.