Sat. Oct. 18

Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director James Levine is back in the saddle, as you must have heard by now, and he leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a world premiere Saturday Oct. 18. The work is by Leon Kirchner called The Forbidden, based on the eminent composer's rhapsodic and romantic recent piano piece of the same name (a.k.a. Sonata No. 3). The title of this twelve-minute, single-movement work for orchestra refers to a passage in Thomas Mann's "Dr. Faustus." Kirchner, a professor at Harvard for nearly twenty years, was one of the composers on Levine's short list for commissions when he became the BSO's music director in 2004.
In a night of firsts, Levine will also lead the BSO in a Tchaikovsky symphony in Symphony Hall for the first time, conducting Tchaikovsky's lush and searing Symphony No. 6, Pathétique. The performances of Schumann's Piano Concerto, featuring Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini as soloist, will also mark the first time Levine and Pollini have worked together. Performance: 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 18 at Symphony Hall. Tickets: $115 - $30.

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