SAME-DAY REVIEW: L.A. Philharmonic — notes from a movie theater

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily
News

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Los Angeles
Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor; Janine Jansen, violin

Mendelssohn: Hebrides
Overture; Violin Concerto; Symphony
No. 3 (Scottish)

Sunday, October 9, 2011 Alhambra Renaissance 14 Movie
Theater

Next telecast:
Feb. 18, 2 p.m. (PST) from Caracas, Venezuela: Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) with Dudamel
conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Simn Bolivr Symphony Orchestra of
Venezuela, plus soloists and choruses

Information: www.laphil.com

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Today was the first installment in the Los Angeles
Philharmonic’s “LA Phil LIVE” second year of telecasts to 450+ movie theaters
in the U.S. and Canada (and possibly overseas; one of the intermission
questions came from Madrid). Here are my thoughts on the telecast:

The crowd in my
theater was considerably smaller than last year’s final two telecasts (I
didn’t see the first one), which might be the result of (a) the lack of pizzazz
for an all-Mendelssohn program; (b) the fact that the telecast was bucking the
NFL and baseball playoffs, which — as professional golf can attest — is a
losing proposition; (c) and it was a beautifully day outside with temperatures
in the mid-80s. Or, it may say something about Philharmonic ticket sales; this
week brought in my snail mail box a fancy four-color brochure on the “Mahler
Project” next January, which would seem to indicate that ticket sales for that
major endeavor are somewhat lackluster.

No, Gustavo (who
was serving both as host and conductor) didn’t interview himself (LINK). He introduced the first half of the program with the sort of
brief comments that he gave last year without someone asking him useless
questions. There was also some nice rehearsal footage with Dudamel and
violinist Janine Jansen preparing the Violin Concerto. In between the overture
and concerto, there was no commentary, only a Dudamel quip prior to going back
onstage.

At intermission, LAPO President Deborah President handled
the interview questions quite well and, presumably, at far less cost than
importing a “name” host. Jansen also got a chance to tell the telecast viewers
the name of her encore (Bach’s Sarabande
from the Partita No. 2) and explain why she chose it (she liked the piece’s
calm feeling after the concerto’s intensity).

After intermission, Dudamel gave a nice summary of how he
views the Scottish Symphony and there
was some excellent rehearsal footage with much laughter and good interaction
between orchestra members and the maestro. These sorts of snippets are the
major benefit to seeing the concert in the movie theaters as opposed to the
concert hall, particularly for anyone who has played in an orchestra or sung in
a choir. Dudamel’s asking for a horizontal line from his musicians, as opposed
to just a series of notes (he used the example of a giant funeral processing
moving forward slowly carrying a coffin) was priceless.

On the other hand,
the telecast also spotlighted some of the issues of theaters vs. being in the
concert hall. There were two technical glitches, neither of which,
fortunately, was catastrophic. In fact, the one in the concerto was somewhat
humorous. Jansen had made the point in the preconcert clip about how important
silences are in the concerto and that’s when the video feed froze. Just when we
thought it was an extra-long pause, the sound kicked back in and the video feed
switched to a different camera a second later. The glitch in the symphony also
wasn’t major — probably the satellite hiccupped — but that doesn’t happen when
you’re in the concert hall.

* The issue of sound
was clearly delineated — perhaps too clearly. Unlike hearing the
performances in the concert hall when sounds can blend together gloriously, the
sound in the movie theater continues to be in your face. It’s the difference
between seeing an oil painting in a museum from several feet away as opposed to
close-up: different looks, different feels about a masterpiece. From my
perspective, the difference was more noticeable in the concerto as opposed the
other two pieces.

The camera work
seemed much smoother than in last year’s telecasts, although there are
undoubtedly some who don’t like the frequent switching between instruments. I
thought the shots of Dudamel were more carefully thought out (several from
farther back than extreme close-up range). The one really bad shot was the
opening beat of the symphony’s fourth movement, which was way too close to
Dudamel to get the full effect of his flamboyant gesture.

I got to the
theater about 30 minutes ahead of the concert. There was a series of
questions/answers on the screen that people found interesting; several said, “I
didn’t know that” to several of the answers. One question was, “Why is Disney
Hall’s seating considered a ‘vineyard’ shape?” The answer was that European
vineyards are built on hills and terraces, similar to the seating configuration
in the hall. One of the questions related to the violin that Jansen played
(it’s a 1727 Strad nicknamed “Barrere”). Someone in the theater wondered why it
was named “Barrere.” The answer wasn’t on the screen and it isn’t clear except
that two people of that name have owned it.

There were also about five minutes of ads from Fathom
Events, which is a Phil partner in the telecasts, and a three-minute
infomercial from the League of American Orchestras urging people to attend
their local orchestras’ concerts (Borda made a similar plea during the
telecast). Unfortunately the timing of the next concert (Feb. 18) isn’t
particularly conducive to our local orchestras. The Pasadena Symphony and La
Mirada Symphony both have concerts scheduled that evening (the PSO actually has
an afternoon concert scheduled at the same time) and the Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra’s next concert beyond that date isn’t until March 24-25.

NOTE: My review from Friday’s concert heard in Walt Disney
Concert Hall is HERE.

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