Boston shows its new chief to Japan
mainAndris Nelsons will lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in November on his first tour of Japan, its eighth.
Andris says: ‘It is an extraordinary honor for me to bring the Boston Symphony Orchestra to Japan for our first tour together in this amazing country where the BSO has such an important history of concerts under BSO Conductor Laureate Seiji Ozawa.’
Seiji says: ‘My dear BSO friends and Andris Nelsons, welcome back to Japan! I’m so happy to hear that you are coming to Japan to share the joy of BSO music with the Japanese audience. How exciting to hear that this will be Andris’s first visit to Japan with BSO. I’m sure that Japanese audience will enjoy it as much as I look forward to hearing it again and seeing my dear BSO family. I can’t wait to see you all here!’
(These guys are heading on to Turkey)
Not Andris’s debut in Japan, of course. His last major tour there was voted by Japanese critics as the best concert in Japan that year. Let’s see if he makes a comparable impression with the Boston orchestra.
https://slippedisc.com/2014/02/japans-24-best-concerts-of-2013/
Absolutely correct – but it should also be noted on that occasion
Andris Nelsons was conducting the CBSO and in terms of Orchestral concerts
they stood up rather well against some other bands!
In terms of scores from the Japanese Critics collective it went as follows:-
16 Points CBSO Andris Nelsons
14 Points Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra Mariss Jansons
12 Points Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Simon Rattle
11 Points Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Christian Thielemann
9 Points Orchestra of the 18th Century Frans Bruggen
9 Points Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra Mung-Whun Chung
7 Points LSO Bernard Haitink
In fact, somewhat mysteriously, the London press did not report much of this at all,
perhaps it was something to do with the fact that the CBSO is an orchestra not actually based in the Capital.
Also I should point out that the CBSO made another very successful visit to Japan in 2016 this time under Kazuki Yamada – that didn’t make the national press either.