Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra
I attended opening night of the 2026–2027 season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra featuring Yo-Yo Ma playing Elgar's Cello Concerto.
Cello students are encouraged to watch and listen to other cellists play. With this justification, I spent nearly $300 to attend opening night of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to hear Yo-Yo Ma play Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Opus 85. (This was not an economic hardship.)
I was seated on the main floor towards the front and left, in seat J29. This was fairly close to the stage, a deliberate choice on my part for an excellent view of Yo-Yo Ma during his performance.
Speeches and Roses
The sold out performance began with short speeches by Boston’s Mayor Michelle Wu (who has played piano as a solist with the BSO) and by BSO President and CEO Chad Smith (who read his speech, pretty disappointing for someone with his power and influence).
Many of the orchestra’s musicians wore a red rose, as did Conductor Andris Nelsons, and there were five red roses on the harp. The red roses signify support for Nelsons, whose contract was not extended after this season by Chad Smith and the board of the BSO, eliciting dismay from most of the orchestra’s musicians and many patrons.
Nelsons also gave a short speech, which was somewhat clumsy because English is not his first language, in which he talked about the red rose as a symbol of love and respect.
For background on the turmoil at the BSO, read “The Bitter Fight for Boston’s Symphony Hall” by Tom McGrath. I have my own opinions, which I may write about in a future post.
A side-effect of this dispute is that ticket sales are down, making it easy to buy a good seat at the last minute, and I plan to take advantage of that this season.
Tango
The first piece was Tango (2002) by Latvian composer Arturs Maskats, featuring Julien Labro on bandoneon. According to the program notes, Arturs Maskats and Andris Nelsons are longtime friends, colleagues, and collaborators. I enjoyed that piece, which is only twelve minutes long, and I would like to hear it again. Unfortunately for me, Labro was seated in the middle of the orchestra, and I couldn’t see him from my seat.
Maskats, the composer, came out on stage for a bow. The program notes list many of Maskats’s other compositions; he is 69 years old and has had a long career. Why haven’t I heard more of him? This was a good programming choice. I searched Idagio and found the following recordings:
Arturs Maskats, Tango (2002)
Andris Poga, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Artūrs Noviks (Accordion)
2022, Riga, Great Guild Concert Hall
Sommernachtskonzert 2022 / Summer Night Concert 2022
Andris Nelsons, conductor, Wiener Philharmoniker
Maskats: Chamber Music (2003)
Riga Chamber Players
Elgar’s Cello Concerto
The second piece, the one I bought my ticket for, was Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Opus 85, in four movements, with Yo-Yo Ma on cello. What I know about this concerto is that Jacqueline du Pré made this concerto popular in the late 1960s when she was at her brief professional height. Sixty years later, Yo-Yo Ma is playing it. I have listened to recordings once or twice, and I am somewhat indifferent to the music as too emotional for my taste. However, I enjoyed the Elgar as a live performance.
Yo-Yo was clearly enjoying himself on stage, looking at the audience, other members of the orchestra, and even waggling his eyebrows at Nathan Cole, the concertmaster. Yo-Yo, deservedly, is loved by the audience.
The program notes by Hugh Macdonald called this cello concerto “one of the handful of supreme concertos for the instrument.” After reading the program notes, I want to explore more of Elgar’s music:
- Enigma Variations (1899)
- The Dream of Gerontius
- Sea Pictures
- Pomp and Circumstance
- In the South
- Introduction and Allegro for strings
- First Symphony
- Violin Concerto
- Second Symphony
- Falstaff
- Violin Sonata
- String Quartet
- Piano Quintet
After the conclusion of the Elgar concerto and a well-deserved standing ovation, Yo-Yo Ma came back on stage to join the cello section as the last chair. The section played a short piece that I learned from reviews was the traditional Catalan Christmas song El cant dels ocells (The Song of the Birds), made famous by the cellist Pablo Casals.
Brahms Fourth Symphony
The Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms was the only piece on the second half of the bill. I am not a sophisticated listener of symphonic music, so I don’t consider my opinion of much value here, but I found this symphony uninteresting. My feeling when listening was that Brahms chose an étude, added some variations to it, then said to himself, “Okay, I’m out of ideas for this section. Let’s choose another étude.” To me, it felt like he strung these together to make four movements. If he wanted some dynamics, he added some kettledrums, which are too bombastic for my taste. I felt like the symphony had three endings, with “dum dum dum dum” on the kettledrums as the orchestra finished a movement with a loud tonic chord.
Perhaps my opinion is correct: The program notes quote Brahms as saying modestly and self-deprecatingly, “Once again I’ve just thrown together a bunch of polkas and waltzes.” But two listeners behind me thought the symphony was excellent and the performance top rate.
The BSO had played the Brahms Fourth in the spring of 2026. If I had attended that concert, I would have been disappointed to hear this piece again so soon. I wonder if Nelsons chose this piece as being familiar and not requiring much rehearsal time for the opening concert.
Reviews
I have read three reviews of the concert, all of which provide more perspective and context than I provide in this post.