REVIEW: BSO Chamber Players/Cho

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 10 & 16, 2025

by Michael J. Moran

Each summer Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall hosts world-class artists in many genres from across the globe. Two recent concerts showcased the variety of attractions in this intimate venue.

BSO Chamber Players

The July 10 all-American program by the BSO Chamber Players (mostly members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) opened with four short pieces by living composers Jessie Montgomery and BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon. Lorna McGhee was agile in Simon’s “move it,” for solo flute, and Blaise Dejardin, vibrant in Simon’s “between worlds,” for solo cello. Three Shaker Songs, gorgeously sung by Tanglewood Music Center vocal fellows Eden Bartholomew, soprano; and Danielle Romano, mezzo-soprano; preceded the Suite from Aaron Copland’s ballet “Appalachian Spring,” which famously quotes another Shaker song, “Simple Gifts,” in its original 13-instrument version. BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Handler led.     

Seeing-Jin Cho

Six days later, rising Korean-born pianist Seong-Jin Cho accomplished the rare feat of performing the complete solo piano music by Maurice Ravel, whose 150th birth anniversary Tanglewood is celebrating this summer. The evening was a marathon not only for Cho but for the audience, as the program ran for three hours, with two intermissions. Three days earlier, Cho played both of Ravel’s piano concertos in the same concert with the BSO, a similar rare tre
at.

Hearing the solo pieces in chronological sequence gave listeners a clear sense both of Ravel’s development as a composer over a quarter century and of the startlingly different sounds he could draw from the piano. The ideal player of this music needs a delicate touch, infinite flexibility, and almost superhuman stamina, all qualities which Cho demonstrated in abundance. Numerous highlights included: a graceful “Pavane for a Dead Princess”; a sparkling “Water Games”; a kaleidoscopic five-part “Mirrors”; a haunting three-movement “Treasurer of the Night”; an exuberant set of “Noble and Sentimental Waltzes”; and a poignant tribute to World War I victims, “Couperin’s Tomb”.      

When the appreciative audience, most of whom stayed until the end, appeared to want an encore, Cho, whose energy never seemed to flag, politely closed the piano lid after several bows, as if to give Ravel the last word. “Recital Series” continues through August 14.