Tanglewood

CONTINUES FROM PAGE E4 conductor David Afkham — will perform two works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried” Idyll.

Not to be confused with Wagner’s six-hour-long opera, “Siegfried,” the 20-minute-long “Idyll” was written by Wagner to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Parts of the “Idyll” were eventually incorporated into Wagner’s monumental opera. But you don’t need to know all about Siegfried’s heroic struggles to appreciate this melodic piece of music.

The two Mozart works on Saturday’s BSO program are the Piano Concerto No. 25 featuring pianist Martin Helmchen, followed by Mozart’s Symphony No. 41.

Mozart composed the delightful piano concerto on the program in 1786 “late” in his career at the age of 30. (He only lived until he was 35 years old.)

Like many of Mozart’s best pieces, the Piano Concerto No. 25 features dazzling passages, catchy melodies The Beatles wish they wrote and tender flourishes (especially in the second movement) that tap into our deepest emptions.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 41′s even more popular and adored by fans. Written in 1788 and known as the “Jupiter” symphony (a music promotor gave the symphony its nickname after the Roman god Jupiter), this composition soars to stratospheric heights. The opening melody’s magical. The second movement’s haunting, followed by the spellbinding third movement and the thrilling final movement. No wonder this symphony is widely considered one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.

Sunday afternoon’s BSO concert at Tanglewood features an all-American program with three different works by three different American composers under the direction of conductor Thomas Wilkins.

The first piece on Sunday’s program is Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Ballade in A Minor.” Composed in 1898 by commission from a music festival in England on the advice of Edward Elgar (who described Coleridge-Taylor, who was 22 years old at the time, as “far and away the cleverest fellow going amongst the young men”), Coleridge-Taylor’s wonderful work still sounds as fresh and inventive more than a century later.

Next, the BSO and Jeff Midkiff will perform Midkiff’s Mandolin Concerto, “From The Blue Ridge.” It’s rare to see a soloist perform their own composition. Even more rare is a mandolin concerto. But I can’t think of a more perfect place for Midkiff and the BSO to perform his relatively-new work (first composed in 2011) than amid the beautiful rolling hills of Tanglewood.

The final piece on the program is Duke Ellington’s Suite from “The River,” a larger work Ellington created in 1970 as a ballet score for American Ballet Theatre, who commissioned choreographer Alvin Alley as well for “The River.”

Ellington’s piece was inspired by the movement of water and you can hear that sense of forward momentum throughout Ellington’s mesmerizing piece.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Nimbus Dance and conductor Xian Zhang, will perform “Appalachian Spring” and other works on Friday at 8 p.m.

The BSO, with conductor David Afkham and pianist Martin Helmchen, will perform works by Wagner and Mozart on Saturday at 8 p.m.

The BSO, with conductor Thomas Wilkins and mandolin player Jeff Midkiff, will perform works by Coleridge-Taylor, Midkiff and Ellington on July 23 at 2:30 p.m.

The complete Tanglewood summer schedule, along with links to purchase tickets, can be found online at https://www.bso.org/ tanglewood.