Musikfest 3: Trumpets and Drums

For the past several years Andris Nelsons has been a regular guest at Musikfest, and two of his recent appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra – for whom he has served as chief conductor since 2014 – showcased a great Mahler interpreter at work. Other concerts with different orchestras have demonstrated Mr Nelsons’ command of the nineteenth-century Austro-German repertoire, but have revealed him to be an equally persuasive ambassador for new works by living composers. His concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at this year’s Musikfest was therefore something of a departure: although it did open with a newly composed work by Julia Adolphe, the two remaining pieces – Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Gershwin’s Concerto in F for piano and orchestra – seemed unexpected. But if the programme was held together by few common threads – save…