Valatie hopes lot is worth more the 2nd time around

By Marlene McTigue

Capital Region Independent Media

If you haven’t had the experience yet, you really should know, just over the river and through the woods a bit, there is magic happening at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. 

As it has each summer since the 1930s, thousands and now hundreds of thousands converge on the idyllic 500-acre campus to learn, explore and experience music.

There is something in the air there and it’s not just the sound of the 80 world-class musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra tuning up in a setting so forested and chill that it might just beckon you to return again and again.

The story of Tanglewood begins, as so many stories do, with a determined woman.  In the spring of 1934, American composer and conductor Henry K. Hadley was traveling through the Berkshires looking for a site for a summer concert series. There he met Gertrude Robinson Smith, a Berkshire summer resident from New York. Smith then mustered her friends and neighbors and led the charge to produce a local summer festival.

By the time the third Berkshire Symphonic Festival took place, crowds overflowed the capacity of the 3,600-seat tent, and organizers knew a more permanent home was in order.

An architect was hired, Eliel Saarinen. Saarinen proposed not one, but two designs that proved both too elaborate and too costly. When his second, simplified plan was again rejected based on cost, he famously quipped that “if the trustees insisted on remaining within their budget, they would end up with ‘just a shed.’”

And a shed, “The Shed” (as the Tanglewood’s amphitheater-known for its world-famous acoustics is now known), is what they got.

The rest, as they say, is history. And what a glorious history it is. Since the summer of 1938, The Shed at Tanglewood has resounded with the music of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops, a smaller version of the orchestra without many of the first-chair musicians.

This combination of transcendent music and beautiful setting has charmed generations. With Pops directors like Arthur Fiedler and John Williams, who were household names for many growing up in the latter half of the 20th century, many have heard of the Boston Pops but not its summer home of Tanglewood.

But for many who have experienced Tanglewood, an indelible mark is left.

Following his death in 1990, composer Aaron Copland’s ashes were scattered over the grounds and there is a memorial garden with a bust of Copland adjacent to the lawn. The garden is one of many—there are nearly 10,000 flowers planted each year—and is nestled close a forest glade encircled by thick trees known as the “Frolicking Fields.”

For Capital Region residents attending a show at Tanglewood for the first time, the experience can seem surreal. Indeed, the experience is far different from what you’ll get at other regional amphitheaters.

As attendees enter the grounds they are greeted by multiple entry points around the venue, keeping lines short. 

Once you are in and venturing out onto the lawn you see patrons with their tables set up. Some bear floral arrangements, others wine buckets and charcuterie spreads. Kids spread out on blankets with all manner of toys and games to keep them occupied during the show. There are places inside and around the venue to buy food and drink, but the point is, you don’t have to.  You are not relegated to $14 cans of beer or $16 chicken sandwiches.

And then there are the trees. According to the Tanglewood website, 1,100 trees from over 80 different species populate the campus, even the lawn. Intermittently spaced throughout the lawn there are great old oaks and others you can set up under to shelter from the sun or the rain and still hear the music and see the screens just fine.

Inside the spacious Shed, with more than 5,000 seats, the sound is as good as advertised, as attested to by many who attended the Trey Anastasio (lead singer and guitarist of Vermont jam band Phish) with the Boston Pops show on June 28th.

Yvonne Shackelton of Ravena was there for the show for one of her first Tanglewood experiences.

“Both times I’ve visited, it was in the evening and in the rain, but I could still tell it was a beautiful setting,” said Shackelton. “It’s nice that you can bring in your own snacks and beverages. I was on the lawn both times and our space was adequate and the sound quality was great. I look forward to future visits—maybe under dry, sunny skies next time!”

Shackelton also appreciated the atmosphere.

“There was such a wide range of people at this show. It made me think that there were probably folks who came for the BSO and got a little extra flavor from Trey, and also that there were Trey fans who came and got treated to an amazing accompaniment by the Boston Pops,” she said. “Everyone around us was chill and the energy was great, despite the rain. Based on my experiences, I would highly recommend catching a show at Tanglewood. The vibe is laid-back (probably due, in part, to the music genres that perform there), making it a choice destination for a night of good music with friends or family.”

For long-time Trey/Phish aficionados the experience was a special treat.

Mike Kadlec of Albany, who has been seeing Phish since his college years, first saw the band in 1988 at The Haunt in Ithaca and then at an ATO pledge party at St. Lawrence University.

“I found it really nice to hear a lot of the Phish old standards to be reimagined in a way that was totally appropriate for the symphony,” said Kadlec. “It seemed to me there was a lot of give and take, back and forth, between Trey and the conductor, and that was really cool.”

“The crowd in The Shed was really into the groove and even farther back on the lawn, people were dancing and having a great time,” said Kadlec. 

Kadlec is an avid live music fan and attends many concerts at different area venues throughout the year.

He agrees there is something special at work at Tanglewood.

“The people who work there are so friendly and reasonable,” Kadlec said. “There is really a sense of great hospitality there. You feel like you are welcomed, not like you’re being scrutinized.”

“Another thing I really like about Tanglewood is that you can bring your coolers in and have your own food and drinks. You can go and have a $30 or $40 night at Tanglewood and you can still pay cash. That’s not something you can experience at SPAC anymore. The prices for everything are ridiculous and you can only pay for things with a credit card now,” said Kadlec, referring to Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s cashless venue status.  

“At Tanglewood even all the parking is free, it’s just a whole different vibe,” he said.

There is still a lot of the summer season left if you would like to try Tanglewood for yourself. Upcoming shows include weekly performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Beck, Judy Collins, Rufus Wainwright and The Indigo Girls, and Dispatch.

If large crowd aren’t your thing, there are free public guided tours of the grounds through Aug. 25. For more information, visit www.BSO.org.