The Boston Globe - 06.08.2019

B6 The Boston Globe TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2019

Names

ByZoë Madonna

GLOBESTAFF

LENOX — Andris Nelsonshas left

the building, and the Koussevitzky

Music Shedpodiumwill be a merry-

go-round of maestros for most week-

endsfrom here on out this Tangle-

woodseason. Though the conductors

may be constantly changing, the rep-

ertoire the Boston Symphony Orches-

tra is playing isn’t changing much.

There are a few exceptions,but it’s

mostly chestnuts and warhorses all

the way down. Saturday evening’s

Americanpremiere of Avner Dorman’s

Double Concerto for violin, cello, and

orchestra representedthe last sched-

uled BSO performance of any music

by a living composer this summer. It’s

a bit funny, then, that Dorman de-

scribes the narrative of the piece as a

conflict between nostalgia and moder-

nity, with a happymedium ultimately

being reached. It’s clear that at Tangle-

wood,nostalgia winsthe day.

Guest conductor Asher Fisch, who

led the BSO on Saturday evening, has

long beena champion of Dorman’s

work. This busy and ultimately con-

servative Double Concerto was a star

vehiclefor its soloists: the married

duo of violinist Pinchas Zukerman

and cellist AmandaForsyth, longtime

partners in both performanceand life.

Withher robust timbre and earthy ac-

centsset against his silvery sound,

which was ethereal without being

silky, they played with obvious relish,

and sounded more at ease with the

piece than the orchestra did. After in-

termission, Zukerman againjoined

the BSO for Beethoven’s stately Ro-

manceNo. 1 in G, dispatching tart

and tightphrases with a few sour

notes.

To begin the concert, Fisch led the

BSO through an excitable account of

the overture to “Genoveva” — the full

Schumann opera historically flopped

on stage, but its compelling overture,

which just begins to dip into chromat-

icism, is a concert favorite.The eve-

ning concluded with a lithe account-

ing of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3,

“Scottish,” which offereda lovelynar-

rative passage for violinsin the first

movementand a quick, flashing clari-

net solo fromWilliam Hudgins in the

scherzo. The finale rang with the sin-

cere gravity of a patriotic tune or an

old drinking song.

On Sunday, the lawn was graced

with one of thoseperfect Tanglewood-

picnic afternoonsfor a program of a

much-loved piano concerto and a

moreobscure symphony. Rachmani-

noff’s PianoConcerto No. 3 is one of

thosepieces where, if the soloist

doesn’t get a standingovation within

five seconds, something has gone ter-

ribly wrong; in the hands of somepia-

nists, it’s 40 minutes of fireworks.

Yefim Bronfman wasn’t one of these.

He treated the concerto like the mara-

thonit was, and he knowsthe course

by heart; he conserved his energy judi-

ciously, applying measured amounts

of force in his cadenzas. On the podi-

um, Dima Slobodeniouk matched the

pianist’s balancedapproach.

Overall, the concerto sounded

slightly distant, though softer sections

had the heft to shine through the

Shed’s acoustic dark spots. His touch

on the keys soundedauthoritative and

vehement, and sometimesseemed

close to getting bogged down in the

first movement, but by the third, he

gave everyonethe fireworksthey wait-

ed for. The standing ovation took all of

two seconds to arrive, and the audi-

ence calledhim back out threetimes

before he delivered an encore:

Chopin’s Étudein E Major.

After intermission, the Russian-

Finnish conductor pulled on the other

side of his roots with Sibelius’s sprawl-

ing, lowercase-r romanticSymphony

No. 1, which the BSO hasn’t per-

formed since1995. Its introduction

was gorgeous, with a clarinet solo

fromHudgins twisting and floating

abovequiet timpani thunder. Not Si-

belius’s tightest work,the symphony

itself tends to meander — it felt longer

than its roughly 40 minutes — but it

has strong points that the orchestra

and Slobodeniouk deftly emphasized:

dark colors,craggy rhythms, spacious

sonorities in the trombones, a frantic

round-dance for the winds,a sweet

and openunison melody for the

strings in the second movement. I’d

hear it againbefore another 24 years

pass.

Zoë Madonna canbe reached at

[email protected]. Follow her

on Twitter @knitandlisten.

Madonna’s work is supported by the

RubinInstitutefor Music Criticism,

SanFrancisco Conservatory of Music,

andAnnand Gordon Getty

Foundation.

BSO keeps it nostalgic

with Tanglewood premiere

MUSICREVIEW

BOSTONSYMPHONYORCHESTRA
AtTa nglewood,Lenox, Saturday and
Sunday
ByBill Beuttler
GLOBECORRESPONDENT
NEWPORT, R.I. — The vibe at the
65th anniversary Newport Jazz Festi-
val (sponsored for the eighth straight
year by Natixis Investment Manag-
ers) can be nicely encapsulated by the
first and last sets at the main Fort
Stage on Sunday.
It openedwith a tribute to Erroll
Garner, whoselive album “Concert
By the Sea” was recorded on another
coast, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., in

1955. Honoring him from a stage
      overlooking this coast at Narragan-
      sett Bay were three pianists — Chris-
      tian Sands, Helen Sung, and Tadata-
      ka Unno — backed by Luques Curtis
      on bass and Savanah Davis on drums.
      There was much impressive piano
      from the three Steinway grands on
      both “Erroll’s Bounce” and “Erroll’s
      Theme,” the latter introduced by
      Sands as “originally a blues, but we’re
      gonna plant some twists and turns
      and have some fun.”
      The Garner tribute concluded
      with what Sands said was also an
      homage to Geri Allen, who had intro-
      duced Sands to the archival Erroll
      Garner Jazz Project. They played
      “Gemini,” a favorite Garner tune of
      Allen’s, the three pianists at one point
      sharing the same piano.
      The festival wrapped up with the
      ubiquitous rapper, actor, and author
      Common, whose upbeat set demon-
      strated hip-hop’s spiritual affinity
      with jazz — and not just because jazz-
      associated musicians Burniss Travis,
      Mark Colenberg, and Samora Pinder-
      hughes were among those backing
      him. Common rapped of his amaze-
      ment at hip-hop leading him to the
      Newport Jazz Festival and to the
      White House, then invited a woman
      from the audience onstage to watch
      him improvise rhymes connecting
      her to himself that somehow also
      seamlessly invoked Herbie Hancock,
      Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane,
      and Miles Davis.
      In between those two Fort Stage
      highlights camea kaleidoscope of
      others. The progressive groups Mar-
      cus Strickland Twi-Life and In Com-
      mon were opposite each other early
      on the Harbor and Quad stages. In
      Common’s name may have invited
      confusion with the rapper, but Twi-
      Life was the group with more obvious

ties to hip-hop.

Marika Hughes and The New

String Quartet comprised her cello,

violin, guitar, and bass, with Hughes

and violinist Charlie Burnham each

contributing vocals. The Dafnis Prie-

to Big Bandset included Roberto

Quintero introducing Prieto’s “The

Triumphant Journey” with a percus-

sion evocation of a rain forest and

proceeded into a Joel Frahm tenor

sax solo that briefly quoted Wayne

Shorter’s “Nefertiti.”

ELEW mugged his way through a

crowd-pleasing, virtuosic solo piano

set that included his piece “Thanks-

giving,” which he’d also performed

with Jon Batiste on Friday night, this

time dedicating it to his mother.

Meanwhile, Cécile McLorin Salvant

demonstrated why she was this year’s

DownBeat Critics Poll’s top artist in a

set dedicated to the late drummer

Lawrence Leathers. Earlier, Camila

Meza & the Nectar Orchestra had

played an elegant set while Sons of

Kemet was simultaneously attempt-

ing to blowthe roof off the Quad

Stage tent.

The sour notes Sunday concerned

not music but the weekend’s tragic

events in El Paso and Dayton. At Ma-

tana Roberts’s soul-baring and partic-

ipatory Storyville solo set, she noted

that sometimes she avoids questions

while traveling abroad by claiming

another nationality: “It’s a lot more

comfortable to say that I’m Canadian

than I’m American these days, and

that is shameful.” And at Meza’s set,

people had fresh ugliness to ponder

when she announced her song “This

Is Not America.”

But the 2019Newport Jazz Festi-

val, in its positivity and diversity,

showed what America could be — a

place where a new generation never

stops building on the creativity em-

bodied by greats like Hancock, Col-

trane, Erroll Garner, and Geri Allen.

Bill Beuttler canbe reached at

[email protected].

Newport Jazz

Fest wraps

with hip-hop

andhomages

MUSICREVIEW

NEWPORT JAZZFESTIVAL

AtFort AdamsStatePark,

Newport,R.I.,Sunday

PHOTOS BY NIC ANTAYA FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Common(above)andCécileMcLorinSalvant(below)wereamongthe

performersSunday at theNewport Jazz Festival.

Boston’s had a few surprise shows lately — and fans who’ve
missed out were left rather glum.(We’re looking at you,Hozier.)
Now here’s another. ComedianHannibal Buressannounced
Sunday on Twitter that he’ll be doing a small show in Boston on
Tuesday at WBUR’s CitySpace.
Tickets are free — all fans have to do is
sign up online for a chance to win. Winners
will be contacted on the morning of the show.
Buress (inset) isn’t only known for his
stand-up. The Chicago native voiced a char-
acter in “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” released
this spring, and co-starred alongsideEric An-
dreon “The Eric Andre Show” andIlana
GlazerandAbbi Jacobsonin the Comedy
Central series “Broad City.”
And let’s not forget, it was a Buress stand-
up routine — filmed and uploaded online in
2014 — that drew renewed scrutiny to the multiple sexual assault
allegations made againstBill Cosby. The Buress bit wentviral, and
the media began digging into the allegations.
CitySpace is a newish addition to WBUR’s campus. Since Janu-
ary,DavidMcCullough,Pete Holmes,Alonzo Bodden,and many
others have made their way through the venue. Buress is also host-
ing a pop-up show in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 7.
CHRIS TRIUNFO

In the middle of answering an inter-

view question,Rob Delaneygets dis-

tracted.

“Ooh! Hey,guesswhat! Afoxjust ran

by me as we were talking! That shocked

me,” the comedianand Marblehead na-

tive said in a phone interview while walk-

ing his London neighborhood.

“Every time I see a fox in London —

which is a lot — I get excited. There’s fox-

es everywhere. You can hear them having

sex at night because they’re very loud

and — Oooh!It’s a standoff!” he all but

squeals in delight. “There’s a standoff be-

tween a fox and a cat! This is exciting,

this is exciting. The cat’s not scared. The

fox is.”

He watches. Takes stock.

“You know, raccoons are a bummer.

They rip apart your trash and they’re

weird. Foxes are more elegant and love-

ly,” the actor-writer muses.

This is, actually, just the type of mus-

ing that Delaney’s 1.6 million Twitter fol-

lowers have come to know and love.

While recent tweets tend to veer political

— he’s a bigBernie Sanderssupporter

— he first madea namefor himself via

his unique brand of inane, off-color, and

often hilarioustweets.

He’s alsobeenopenwithhis struggles

— including alcoholism, clinical depres-

sion, and the death of his 2-year-old son

Henry in 2018.

We caught up with the cowriter and

costar of the British series “Catastrophe”

(streaming on Amazon) before his return

to Boston for two shows at the Wilbur

Theatre on Aug. 8.

Q.What do you miss aboutBoston now

that you’re in London?

A.Food. I miss certain food. Like Durgin-

Park. Regina’s Pizza. Kelly’s Roast Beef.

They have a Kelly’s Roast Beef at Logan

Airport now, though,so that’s good.Plus

you get to hang out at Logan.

Q.Were you funny as a kid?

A.I didn’t really find the high-octane

world of comedy until my early 20s. I

started doing improv, and then I started

to do standup [because] I knew I could

trust myself to work hard and get funny,

but I didn’t know if I could trust a bunch

of improv weirdos.

Q.How did you get started on Twitter?

A.I’d heard aboutit back 10 years ago,

and everyone else thought it soundedin-

credibly stupid,butpre ttyquick ly,myself

and others found you could put jokes on

there. And yeah, it was great, and really

democratic — I mean who’s to say that a

physician’s assistant in rural Kansas isn’t

funny?

Q.You’re political on Twitter. You support

Berniein 2020.

A.I do. I likeElizabethWarrenas well,

but Bernieseems to have a laser focus on

Medicare for all. Having lived in the UK

now for five years, and having seen what

health care could be like in America — it’s

just amazing. You’re sick, you go to a doc-

tor, and there you go! You don’t have to

take out a mortgage. So I want that for

Americans because I love ’em.

Q.Have you had any culture shock, living

in the UK?

A.To be honest, Boston could be surgical-

ly attached to Great Britain and it

wouldn’tbe that weird. Like if they took

sections of coastal Massachusetts and

just gluedit on to Wales, I don’t think

anybody would really freak out. So no,

there hasn’t been massive culture shock.

The NHS is amazing.Goingto the hospital

here, or even a little doctor’s appoint-

ment is amazing. You don’t get a second-

arily ulcer worryinghow you’re going to

pay for it. There’s, like, 25 guns in the

wholeof the UK; so you’re not going to

get shot. That’s amazing.

But what I desperately miss aboutthe

US is crazy wild nature. In Boston, if you

want, you can go up to New Hampshire

and fall off of Mount Washington. Here, it

would be harder to get killed by a falling

boulder.

I like insane nature. You should be in

danger if you go out to nature. There

should be a 10 percent chance you’ll get

killed by a crazy storm or an avalanche.

But it doesn’t happen here. The nature is

calm and lovely and gentle. So I do miss

that. Eating Regina’s Pizza in a blizzard, I

miss that a lot.

Rob Delaney at the Wilbur Theatre,

Aug. 8, 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets

$27-$37 at thewilbur.com.

LAURENDALEY

A Minnesota prosecutor
charged singerR. Kellyon Mon-
day with prostitution and solic-
itation related to an allegation
that he invited a 17-year-old
girl to his hotel room in 2001
and paid her $200to dance
naked with him.
Hennepin County
AttorneyMikeFree-
mansaid Kelly, whose
full nameis Robert Syl-
vester Kelly, is accused of
soliciting the girl after meet-
ing her before a concert in Min-
neapolis.Freeman said the girl
was trying to get an autograph
from Kelly, and that the R&B
performer gave her his signa-
ture and a phone number.

When the girl called the num-

ber, she was invitedto Kelly’s

hotel. There she was offered

$200 to take off her clothes and

dance,Freemansaid.Hesaid

Kelly took his clothes off and

they dancedtogether.

The charges are felo-

nies, each punishable

by up to five years in

prison. The charges are

the latest legal problem

for Kelly, 52, who remains

jailed in New York after

pleadingnot guilty last week in

federalcourt to charges that he

sexually abused women and

girls who attended his concerts

there.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hannibal Buress announces

surprise comedy set at CitySpace

R. Kelly accused of soliciting

17-year-old girl in Minnesota

LEON BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES/FILE

Rob Delaney talks Kelly’s

Roast Beef, Logan Airport,

Twitter, and coming home