Five-Spot: What caught my eye on January 26, 2012

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

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

______________________

 

Each Thursday morning, I list five events that pique my
interest, including (ideally) at least one with free admission (or, at a minimum,
inexpensive tickets). Here’s today’s grouping:

______________________

 

Tonight at 8 p.m. at
Walt Disney Concert Hall

Simn Bolivr
Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Mahler: Symphony No.
5

This was one of the works with which Gustavo Dudamel
introduced Los Angeles to this dynamic orchestra in 2007. Thus, part of the
intrigue will be to see what changes have occurred in Dudamel’s interpretation
and in the orchestra’s playing. The Bolivrs conclude their individual portion
of the cycle on Tuesday with Symphony No. 7 Information: www.laphil.com

 

Tonight at 8 p.m.
at Zipper Hall (The Colburn School)

Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra’s Baroque Conversations

LACO begins its season of baroque chamber-music programs
when Principal Oboist Alan Vogel leads five of his colleagues and soprano
Elissa Johnston in a program of music by J.S. Bach and Heinrich Ignaz Franz
Bieber. Information: www.laco.org

 

Friday and Saturday
at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.

Los Angeles
Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Mahler: Symphony No.
6

The Phil swings back into action with what is perhaps the
darkest of Mahler’s symphonies. Information:
www.laphil.com

 

Saturday at 8 p.m.
at AT&T Center Theatre, Los Angeles

Sunday at 3 p.m.,
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica

Musica Angelica:
Pergolesi/Bach: Stabat Mater

Although Giovanni Pergolesi set a version of Stabat Mater, the work is at least as
well known through its German edition when J.S. Bach put different German text
atop Pergolesi’s music (composers during that time were freer about “borrowing”
music both from themselves and others). Martin Hasselbck will lead his
top-notch period-instrument ensemble along with soloists Dame Emma Kirkby,
soprano, and countertenor Daniel Taylor. Sacred arias by Bach and Handel will
fill out the program.

 

The Saturday performance will be the group’s first time in
the AT&T Center Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Old-timers will recognize
this as the old Transamerica Life headquarters. Radio station KUSC 95.1 FM
recently moved to the AT&T Center. Originally used as a conference hall,
the performing space reportedly has been acoustically retrofitted by KUSC to
accommodate small- and medium-size musical groups.

 

Information: www.musicaangelica.org

 

Sunday at 4 p.m. at
Neighborhood Church, Pasadena

Pacific Serenades

For more than a quarter-century, Pacific Serenades has been
known for (a) beginning its season after the New Year holiday and (b)
commissioning new works. The inaugural concert of its 2012 season will feature
its 103rd commissioned work: the world premiere of Different Lanes for string quartet and
iPad by Los Angeles native and Emmy-award winning composer Laura Karpman (the
title refers to five L.A. freeways) The program will also include Beethoven’s
String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3, and Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and
Cello (2001).

 

Information:
www.pacser.org

 

And the weekend’s
“free admission” program …

 

Friday at 8 p.m. at
First Church of the Nazarene, Pasadena

Pasadena Community
Orchestra; Alan Reinecke, conductor

PCO opens its 28th season with a program of
Smetna’s Sarka (from Ma Vlast), Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, and
Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Joyce Pan as soloist. Pan is a member
of the orchestra’s violin section; in her “other” life, she’s a technical
director for Dreamworks Animation. Information:
www.pcomusic.org

  

OPERA NOTES

Both Long Beach Opera and San Diego Opera open their seasons
this weekend. Long Beach presents Maria
de Buenos Aires
by Astor Pizzola and Horacio Ferrer on Sunday at 2 p.m. and
Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. at The Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro. Information: www.longbeachopera.org

 

San Diego Opera begins with Richard Strauss’ Salome, which opens Saturday at 7 p.m.
and also plays Tuesday at 7 p.m., Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. Lise
Lindstrom sings the title role. Information:
www.sdopera.com

_______________________

 

(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.

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OVERNIGHT REVIEW: 3rd and short: Dudamel and the Bolivars at Walt Disney Concert Hall

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

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

______________________

 

Simn Bolivr
Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Mahler: Symphony No. 3

Tuesday, January 24 13, 2012 Walt Disney Concert Hall

Next performance:

Mahler: Symphony No. 5; Dudamel and SBSOV

Tomorrow at 8 p.m.

Information: www.laphil.com

______________________

 

When I’m wearing my music critic hat, I try hard not to
compare performances. Some critics do — it’s just not my style. Inevitably, of
course, what I’ve heard in the past will influence my feelings about how a
piece should sound but when I’m reviewing a concert, I try not to think, “Gosh,
that doesn’t sound like how Giulini, Salonen, Bernstein, etc. conducted it.” Instead, I try to let each performance stand on its own.

 

However, there are a couple of works for which it’s very
hard to block out memory and one of those is Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. One of my
most indelible musical experiences in nearly 60 years of attending concerts was
the first time I heard Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic play
Mahler’s third in the late 1970s. For many years, I’ve said that if I had one
piece to listen to while I am dying, it would be Mehta and the Phil playing the
finale of this monumental work.

 

Last night at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Simn Bolivr
Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela came very, very close to matching that standard.
Gustavo Dudamel equaled it.

 

Symphony No. 3 is Mahler’s longest work: 104 minutes last
night — it seemed shorter — in six movements. Mahler originally planned seven
movements but later decided that enough was enough (even for him), and the
seventh section became the finale of Symphony No. 4, instead.

 

Nonetheless, No. 3 is an incredibly complex work. In his
program note, John Mangum quoted Mahler writing, “It’s not really appropriate
to call it a symphony, for it doesn’t stick to the traditional form at all. But
‘symphony’ means to me building a world with all the resources of the available
techniques.” Later he said to Jean Sibelius, “The symphony must be like the
world. It must embrace everything.” Mahler’s early descriptive titles (which he
later discarded) displayed the breadth of his thinking: Summer marches in, What the flowers in the meadow tell me, etc.

 

Mahler scored the symphony for an oversized orchestra and
the Bolivars surely exceeded those expectations. Mark Swed, in his Los Angeles Times review, said the
ensemble numbered about 175 on Sunday and it didn’t look any smaller last
night. There were also 39 women of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, 40 members
of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotjn … and
the camera operator focusing on Dudamel for the off-stage flgelhorn player in
the third movement ((that must be quite a seat from a sound point of view).

 

As he has done throughout “The Mahler Project,” Dudamel
conducted without a score — as noted in my review of Sunday’s performance of
Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony,
that’s not unprecedented but that doesn’t make it any less amazing. He continues
to be a joy to watch, his exuberant face and expressive gestures communicating
volumes to his musicians. In nearly every concert, Dudamel always appears to be
throughly enjoying himself and last night was no exception, even though he
seemed to be suffering from a head cold. Any performance of Symphony No. 3 is
an endurance contest for all concerned: instrumentalists, singers, conductor
and audience. Last night was no different but was, nonetheless, spellbinding.

 

In conducting Symphonies 4, 1, 2 and the Adagio from No. 10, Dudamel has taken
quite broad tempos most of the time, but last night was different, at least in
the first two movements. The 96 string players (that number would equal the
entire L.A. Phil for most of its concerts) were remarkably precise in the
opening movement (which lasted 33 minutes last night) and the entire brass
section was at its burnished best. The second movement was a model of melding
propulsion and lyricism, while the third movement was the only time when tempos
seemed to flag a bit. However, the flugelhorn solo, paired with the first
trumpeter, was exemplary, a couple of bobbles notwithstanding (the Bolivars
don’t provide principal lists so I can’t tell you who each was).

 

Stotijn sang the fourth-movement text, O Mensch! Gib Acht! (O Man, Take Heed), poignantly, and her fifth
movement, Armer Kinder Bettlerlied (Poor
Children’s Begging Song),
with rich ardor. The Master Chorale women added
lustrous accompaniment and the L.A. Children’s Chorus bimm-bammed angelically.

 

All of that is prologue — in this case, 64 minutes worth —
for the final movement, which Mahler originally called What love tells me and eventually marked Langsam: Ruhevoli; Empfunden (Slow: Peaceful; With feeling). Among
the problems facing the conductor in this 40-minute finale are investing the
movement with the proper gravitas without letting it sink beneath its own
weight. Moreover, there are three climaxes to the movement, so the conductor
has to manage all of that and leave the most glorious measures to the end.

 

Dudamel let it all unfold unhurriedly. If the orchestra
seemed midway through the movement to be wearying a tad, it rallied beautifully
to finish on a majestically glorious fortissimo, those final timpani shots
ringing out like rifle shots, and Dudamel concluded the work not with a furious
cutoff but with a graceful Mehta-like upsweep.

 

Now all they have to do in less than 48 hours is come back
and play Symphony No. 5, which — at about 75 minutes or so — will seem like an
overture. I don’t know how you celebrate your birthdays but Dudamel will mark
his (No. 31) by conducting Mahler’s fifth.

_______________________

 

Hemidemisemiquavers:

An overflow crowd showed up for Norman Lebrecht’s
preconcert lecture; if you’re planning on coming to Thursday’s lecture (which,
at this point, is scheduled for BP Hall, not the main auditorium), arrive
early. Lebrecht’s concept of Mahler in this symphony as a pleader for social
justice was provocative, if a bit unwieldy in its presentation.

Mahler called for a long pause after the first movement;
Dudamel took the opportunity to duck offstage for a few seconds.

The weekend’s concerts bring back the L.A. Phil playing
Symphony No. 6.

_______________________

 

(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.

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OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony at Walt Disney Concert Hall

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

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

______________________

 

Simn Bolivr
Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)

Sunday, January 22, 2012 Walt Disney Concert Hall

Next performance: Tomorrow at 8 p.m.

Mahler: Symphony No. 3; Dudamel and SBSOV

Information: www.laphil.com

______________________

 

I doubt that words (at least my words) can adequately
describe what happened last night at Walt Disney Concert Hall … which won’t
prevent me from trying!

 

Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)
has a way of rendering listeners speechless. Part of it is the sheer
audacity that one man could actually write such a monumental piece of music: 90
minutes (almost to the second last night), five movements dealing with death,
resurrection and plenty in between. Six years transpired between the time Mahler
began the piece and completed it. He struggled to find inspiration for every
movement beyond the first. He didn’t find his way in the final movement until
he attended the funeral of conductor Hans von Bulow.

 

Assembling the forces that Mahler called for is a huge
undertaking for any organization. Among other things, the score calls for 10
(!) horns, 6 trumpets, 2 harps, organ, a large percussion section that includes
three timpanists playing two sets of tympani, two soloists and a large chorus
(last night 92 members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale).

 

For this performance — part of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic’s “Mahler Project” — the Simn Bolivr Symphony Orchestra of
Venezuela bulged the stage with more than 150 musicians, which included 12
basses (stretched to the back of the stage), 17 cellos and more violins and
violas than I could count. The percussionists were so crammed together that the
cymbals player had to be careful not to KO the bass drummer. In the midst of
all of them was a cameraman focusing on Gustavo Dudamel transmitting to an
offstage band that includes brass and timpani.

 

The SBSOV is the flagship ensemble of Venezuela’s “El
Sistema” music education program (it used to be called the SB “Youth” SOV but
many of the “youth” have stayed on to play as the orchestra has gained
international renown during the past decade). Nonetheless, most of the
musicians appeared to still be very young (the group’s bio says the ages are
between 18 and 28).

 

Dudamel has been the group’s music director for 13 years
(since age 18) and he clearly has a special relationship with the musicians.
For one thing, his conducting style seems different with the SBSOV than with
the LA Phil; the responses of the “kids” to his downbeats seemed almost delayed
although in nearly all cases they were razor-sharp. The strings had a lean
sound, the brass gleamed throughout the performance and the winds were
striking. When playing all out, they could storm heaven (there’s lots of that
in this symphony) but in the tender moments they could achieve breathtaking
pianissimos. Although not quite as polished as the Phil, this is an exemplary
orchestra, especially considering the age of its members.

 

Conducting without a score (an amazing feat in itself,
although he’s not the only conductor to do so), Dudamel began with stately
tempos that began to broaden out as the second pass at the opening statement
unfolded. At the end of the first movement, Dudamel ignored what program
annotator John Henken says are Mahler’s “firm instructions to pause for at
least five minutes before launching the Andante.”
Dudamel waited two minutes, just long enough for latecomers to climb into
their seats, the orchestra to retune, and the two soloists to come onstage.

 

Dudamel took the Andante,
which is cast in the form of an Austrian Lndler (folk dance), deliberately
in contrast to the third movement, which he led with a brisk, almost jaunty
air. Mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn sang the fourth movement, Urlicht (Primal Light), with rich tones
and great sensitivity, and her duet with the principal oboe was exquisite. The
marvelously soft ending made the transition to the final movement all the more
shattering.

 

Dudamel was at his most compelling leading the
40-minute-long final movement with its Gross
Appell (Great Call)
from offstage brass that eventually leads to the
chorus, which sang their hushed opening lines, Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n (Rise again, yet rise again), while
seated. Dudamel had all the men of the Master Chorale in the middle surrounded
by the female sections and the resultant tone had a deeply rich ring to it.
Soprano Miah Persson joined her radiant voice with Stotijn and, with the chorus
now on its feet and the Disney Hall organ adding impressive heft, the finale
was a majestic, glorious celebration of resurrection and eternal life.

 

In his erudite preconcert lecture, Gilbert Kaplan described
Mahler as a conductor who demanded that his orchestras treat every performance
as an unparalleled event, that everything be so compelling that the audience would
leave walking on air. Dudamel and the musicians did their parts and the
audience responded with an instant — and well deserved — standing ovation that
lasted 10 minutes and would have gone on longer if Dudamel had not led the
musicians off the stage. After all, in less than 48 hours, they will back for
Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, which is even longer than the second!

_______________________

 

Hemidemisemiquavers:

Although it’s cold and flu season (and there was
occasional hacking to be heard) there were also many moments when the hall was
so silent that even breathing was muted,; it’s part of what makes the Disney
Hall acoustics so special.

Kaplan’s hour-long preconcert lecture was well attended;
there were many more people in the hall than for Friday night’s concert talk.
It was obvious many had not attended the Symphony No. 1+10 concert lecture
because Kaplan’s opening “Peanuts” cartoon and punch line that Peppermint Patty
had been “Mahlered” got a big laugh (again). Although some of the material was “resurrected”
from the earlier talk, this was another informative and well-delivered lecture,
with good graphics and musical selections.

Both Kaplan lectures had been open to those not attending
the concerts but the Phil’s management could not say how many people took
advantage of the offer.

_______________________

 

(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.

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Around Town/Music: Chamber music admidst Mahler

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

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

This article was first
published today in the above papers.

 

In the midst of a busy month for orchestral concerts, a
couple of chamber music presentations are worth noting.

 

For more than a quarter-century, Pacific Serenades has
been known for (a) beginning its season after the New Year holiday and (b)
commissioning new works. The inaugural concert of its 2012 season — locally on
Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. in Pasadena’s Neighborhood Church — will feature its 103rd
commissioned work: the world premiere of Different
Lanes
for string quartet and iPad by Los Angeles native and Emmy-award
winning composer Laura Karpman (the title refers to five L.A. freeways) The
program will also include Beethoven’s String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3,
and Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello (2001).

 

Information:
www.pacser.org

 

Musica Angelica’s concerts next weekend will feature a
performance of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater,
a work at least as well known through its German version when J.S. Bach put
different German text atop Pergolesi’s music (composers during that time were
freer about “borrowing” music both from themselves and others). Martin Hasselbck
will lead his top-notch period-instrument ensemble along with soloists Dame
Emma Kirkby, soprano, and countertenor Daniel Taylor. Sacred arias by Bach and
Handel will fill out the program.

 

The Jan. 28 performance, at 8 p.m., will be the group’s first
time in the AT&T Center Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Old-timers will
recognize this as the old Transamerica Life headquarters. Radio station KUSC
95.1 FM recently moved to the AT&T Center. Originally used as a conference
hall, the performing space reportedly will be acoustically retrofitted by KUSC
to accommodate small- and medium-size musical groups.

The January 29 (3 p.m.) performance will be at First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica.

 

Information:
www.musicaangelica.org

 

The Simn Bolivr Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela moves
into Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Mahler
Project” gets much busier during the next couple of weeks. Gustavo Dudamel,
music director of both the LAPO and SBSOV, will conduct all performances:

* Today at 7:30 p.m. Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) with the SBSOV, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and
soloists Miah Persson, soprano, and Christianne
Stotijn
, mezzo-soprano.

* Tuesday at 8 p.m., Symphony No. 3 with the SBSOV, women of
the L.A. Master Chorale, L.A. Children’s Chorus, and Stotijn.

* Thursday at 8 p.m., Symphony No. 5 with the SBSOV.

* Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. with
the LAPO playing Symphony No. 6.

* Jan. 31 at 8 p.m., Symphony No. 7 with the SBSOV.

* Feb. 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. and 5 at 2 p.m. Symphony No. 9 with
the LAPO.

* Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. at the Shrine Auditorium (near USC).
Dudamel will lead members of both orchestras, eight soloists, and more than 800
singers from 16 choruses in a performance of Symphony No. 8 that will live up
to its billing (appended not by Mahler but by a promoter) as”Symphony of a
Thousand.” Note, however, that at Friday night’s L.A. Phil performance of
Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, LAPO President announced that tickets for the
performance has sold out. Check the Phil’s box office (323/850-2000) for
returns and cancellations.

 

Information on the
“Mahler Project” concerts:
www.laphil.com

_______________________

 

My reviews of the LA Phil’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony
No. 4 and Songs of a Wayfarer on Jan.
13 is HERE. My review of the Phil’s performance of Symphony No. 1 is HERE. My
reviews of the upcoming performances will be posted the day after each concert.

_______________________

 

(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.

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