Robert D. Thomas/Class Act

Class Act: The gift of choral music

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News/
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/San Bernardino Sun

"Have you ever thought ... what the world would be like without music? ... We would all be humans and life would go on, but it would be much more difficult to mourn our losses and celebrate our loves. God gave us music, I think, so that we would have some hint of what She is like. God sings to our hearts with music, telling us of love about which we would know much less if it were not for music."
-- Andrew Greeley, "Star Bright"
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One of the great gifts of the holiday season is choral music. Who among us can hear O Come, All Ye Faithful or Silent Night and not resonate with joy or nostalgia? This is the time of year when choral groups -- large and small, young and old -- offer a veritable cornucopia of concerts (to mix holiday metaphors) with admission prices ranging from free on up. Following is just a sample (in chronological order):

• Los Angles Children's Chorus, Dec. 2 and 9, 7 p.n., Pasadena Presbyterian Church
This acclaimed Pasadena-based Chorus showcases its 260 singers in six choirs over two concerts. The Chamber Choir, Intermediate Choir and Preparatory Choir will sing Sunday; the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers and Apprentice Choir will perform Dec. 9. The featured work will be the Los Angeles premiere of Chen Yi's The Cataract of Mount Lu. www.lachildrenschorus.org

• Claremont Chorale, Dec. 2, 4 and 7:30 p.m., Claremont United Church of Christ - Congregational
Gregory Norton leads his community chorus and an instrumental ensemble in music of the Renaissance period, featuring Charpentier's Messe de Minuit pour Noel. www.claremontchorale.org

• Candlelight and Carols concert, Dec. 8, Pasadena Presbyterian Church
The 62nd annual concert features the church's five choirs, string orchestra and percussion in music that includes Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Ralph Vaughan Williams, three selections from Handel's Messiah, several audience-sing carols and more. Free admission. www.ppc.net

• Los Angeles Master Chorale, Dec. 9, 7 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall
In one of three different holiday concerts, Grant Gershon leads his Chorale in a program that includes Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols and Conrad Susa's Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest. www.lamc.org

• Sing-Along Messiah, Dec. 10 and Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall
Gershon conducts these two evenings when the audience becomes the chorus and the soloists come from the L.A. Master Chorale ranks. Even if you can't (or don't want to) sing, the experience of hearing Handel's most famous oratorio in "live surround sound" at Disney Hall is something to be experienced at least once in your lifetime. www.lamc.org

• Chorale Bel Canto, Dec. 15 and 16, 4 p.m., St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Hacienda Heights
Stephen Gothold leads this program that includes Frances Poulenc's Gloria, along with traditional Christmas song and carols. www.choralebelcanto.org

• Pasadena Pro Musica, Dec. 16, 4 p.m., Pasadena Neighborhood Church
Stephen Grimm leads a concert of Christmas cantatas of the German Baroque, featuring music by J.S. Bach, Buxtehude and Telemann. www.pasadenapromusica.org

• The Blind Boys of Alabama, Dec. 17, 8 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall
Now in its 60th year, the four-time Grammy-winning gospel group sold out last year's rousing show of carols, hymns and pops standards. Web link

• Chanticleer, Dec. 18, 8 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall
The San Francisco-based, all-male a cappella ensemble of 12 voices returns to Disney Hall for its unique holiday program. Web link

• Pacific Chorale, Dec. 22, 8 p.m., Dec. 23, 4 p.m., Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa
John Alexander leads this eclectic concert with music spanning four centuries and styles ranging classical to pops, all ending with the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah (which really isn't a Christmas piece but nobody cares). www.pacificchorale.org
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(c) Copyright 2007, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this special day, give thanks for the many blessings God gives us including the gift of the mystical medium of music and, especially, for all those who make music in our lives, from the most famous of soloists and conductors to the stage hands and administrative assistants. Most importantly, give thanks for the volunteers and boards who raise the funds to make this region one of the world's musical meccas. What a glorious time to be living in Southern California!

Story and link: new L.A. Philharmonic Web site

Check out the new Los Angeles Philharmonic Web site HERE. It's a great graphical look and interface, a terrific improvement over the old site (which wasn't all that bad). Click on the Behind the Scenes tab and, among other things, you'll see a list of what L.A. Phil players and administrators have on their iPods CLICK HERE.

Take a bow, LAPO; well done!

OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Pasadena Symphony at Pasadena Civic Auditorium

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News/
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/San Bernardino Sun
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Pasadena Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Mester, conductor; Rueibin Chen, pianist
Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1; Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major; Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor
Sat., Nov. 17; Pasadena Civic Auditorium;
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Last night's Pasadena Symphony concert was one of those perplexing evenings that occasionally pop up seemingly out of nowhere. There were many notable moments along with some that were less memorable: overall, a mostly satisfying but not overwhelming evening at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Part of that dichotomy can be traced to the orchestra, which at times played at the exalted level it often reaches but in other stretches seemed somewhat off the mark. Along the way, there was some occasional splatty work from the horns and a few sonic imbalances, as well. An overly hot hall didn't help matters any, and the program itself also offered little assistance, ending as it did with Brahms' dour fourth symphony. Yet even in that dark work, there were moments of sublime beauty -- just not enough of them.

Music Director Jorge Mester opened this second concert of the orchestra's 80th season with Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, which began with splendid solo work from Clarinetist Donald Foster and Oboeist David Weiss (and, later on, from Flutists Louise DiTulio and Sarah Weisz). Leisurely tempos at the start gave way to Enescu's breakneck finale and the orchestra's playing was at its best during this piece.

Chinese-Austrian pianist Reuibin Chen was the soloist for Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major. The 40-year-old Chen has garnered noteworthy reviews playing Rachmaninoff's five pieces for piano and orchestra, but in a pre-concert interview, he said, "Ravel is not Rachmaninoff." Maybe not, but to these ears, Chen's way with Ravel sounded like how the Russian pianist-composer would have played it: big-boned and muscular.

Apart from a few miscues early on, Chen reveled in the virtuosic moments in the outer two movements and had some distinctive things to say about this jazz-permeated work; you might not have agreed with all of his concepts, but he put them across with authority.

Although there were moments when he and Chen didn't seem to be on the same page, Mester clearly enjoyed matching the pianist with forthright accompaniment. Yet the highlight was right where it should be: the mystical second movement, which unfolded with lyrical loveliness despite a salvo of coughs from the audience that nearly destroyed the mood.

To my mind, Brahms' Symphony No. 4 in E minor is the hardest of the composer's four symphonies to appreciate and Saturday night's performance did nothing to win me over (I'm not alone; J.F. Runciman, in an 1897 London Saturday Review, wrote, "There is no more intolerably dull symphony in the world than the E minor").

Last night, the first movement seemed to meander and the fourth movement never took flight, but the orchestra's lush, dark string tone in the second movement nearly compensated. The audience responded with dutiful but not exuberant applause, which just about equated to my feelings about the whole affair.
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(c) Copyright 2007, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

PREVIEW: Pasadena Symphony — "Ravel is not Rachmaninoff"

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News/
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/San Bernardino Sun
This article was first published today in the above newspapers.
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Pasadena Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Mester, conductor; Rueibin Chen, pianist
Sat., Nov. 17; 8 p.m. Preconcert lecture at 7:00 p.m. by Jeffrey Bernstein
Pasadena Civic Auditorium; 300 E. Green St., Pasadena
Tickets: $20-$75. Children ages 5-17: $10. Rush tickets are $10 for students and seniors (65+) on Saturday at the Civic box office.
Information: 626/584-8833; www.pasadenasymphony.org
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Rueibin Chen's Web site describes tomorrow night's concert at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium as Rueibin Chen vs. the Pasadena Symphony. Chalk it up to a translation error says the Chinese-Austrian pianist, who will make his West Coast orchestra debut as soloist in Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major. "Ravel," he says with a disarming smile, "is not Rachmaninoff."

Music Director Jorge Mester will be on the podium for the second program in the Pasadena Symphony's 80th season, an evening that also includes George Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 and Brahms' Symphony No. 4. Jeffrey Bernstein, the orchestra's associate conductor and director of choral music at Occidental College, will give a pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m., an hour before the concert.

The 40-year-old Chen becomes the latest in a long line of Mester "discoveries," a group of soloists -- ranging in age from the teens to the 60s -- who are mostly unknown to locals but who invariably leave audiences asking, "Why haven't we heard this person before?"

In this case, it wasn't Mester who uncovered this hidden gem, whom the Zurich newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung has described as "one of those geniuses that come along once in twenty years." It was PSO Board Member Teresa Yen who pointed out Chen to Mester after the pianist played at Disney Hall in July 2006. Chen also allows the orchestra to reach out into one of the area's many ethnic communities.

For Chen, who spoke in a Civic Auditorium dressing room this week with occasional assistance from a very fetching translator, tomorrow night's performance is a chance to revisit a concerto he hasn't performed for many years.

"I was young when I played this concerto for the first time," says Chen. "Now I am older and more experienced so it is a different feeling for me. Many people say that Ravel was influenced by jazz when he wrote the piece [from 1929 to 1931), but that leads me to wonder how strong was jazz for that generation."

As Chen noted, Ravel is light years away from Rachmaninoff (it's a comparison Chen can make authoritatively; he has won rave reviews for his performances of the five pieces the Russian composer wrote for piano and orchestra). "Some pianists say that the Ravel isn't every exciting," says Chen, "but I think they're wrong. Ravel didn't play like Rachmaninoff but some of the passages in the Ravel concerto are quite challenging and others are quite beautiful."

Chen may be the most laid-back competition winner in history. At the age of 13, the Taiwanese government sent him to live and study in Austria ... alone. "I've actually lived in Vienna longer than Taiwan," says Chen; "German is my second language." It was a lonely life for a shy teenager. "I lived and I learned," remembers Chen. "But nobody ever taught me how to manage a music career."

So when Chen began reeling in what would ultimately become a string of 18 prizes, including five gold medals, he wasn't prepared for the consequences. "I never thought I would win," says Chen with a shrug, "and I'm not very ambitious." Although his concert schedule has included appearances in Europe, Asia and the United States (in 1998, he was named soloist of the 75th anniversary celebrations in Turkey), he seems totally at ease. "No one in those competitions could imagine my life now," he says. "I live a very calm life and my time is very flexible. When I feel like performing, I do."
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(c) Copyright 2007, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

COMMENTARY AND LINKS: Wrapping up the SBYOV in NYC

I expected to find a couple more reviews but here's what I have from the Simón Bolivár Youth Symphony of Venezuela's two concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the conclusion of a wildly successful cross-country tour that began in Los Angeles.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT
• Jay Nordlinger in the New York Sun HERE
• Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times HERE

MONDAY NIGHT CONCERT
• Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times HERE
• Night After Night blog HERE

Comment and link: hope you're not tired of this yet

Don't fail to read the comments below the post: NIGHT AFTER NIGHT

Quote of the week: It's actually very simple: when you care, we care. When you are just going through the motions, we can tell, even when the performance is polished to the point of spotlessness. Maybe even especially when. — Composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue

Link: Do you think maybe he didn't like this concert?

RICHARD MORRISON IN THE LONDON TIMES

Responding to a comment

I couldn't decide where this response ought to go; because of its length, I've decided to make it a separate Blog entry. If you didn't read the comment by Ravi, click HERE. Mark Swed's colunn from last Friday is HERE.

MY RESPONSE:

Although I don't feel that Mark Swed needs me to defend him, I do want to respond to a couple of comments in Ravi's response to my previous Blog entry.

Mark wasn’t the only person to notice the curious programming in the Simón Bolivár Youth Orchestra of Venezuela concerts at Carnegie Hall. It seems obvious (to me, at any rate) that the decision to insert a piano concerto with NY favorite Emmanuel Ax as soloist in the first concert and to have Simon Rattle conduct one of the pieces in the second concert had to have been made because Carnegie Hall management wasn’t convinced that the SBYOV could sell tickets on its own. Why it elected to use Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 instead of a concerto that better showed off the orchestra is equally mystifying.

To be fair to CHM, it elected to stay with its decision even when it was obvious that the kids had become a major story; for example, there may well have been people who bought tickets to the first concert to see Emmanuel Ax and, as readers of my Blog know, few things tick me off than to management failing to acknowledge decisions made by ticket buyers based on previously published information. So, kudos for not switching.

It is true that the New York Philharmonic has now paired Gustavo Dudamel and Gil Shalam with equal billing for its concerts at the end of the month, but that is a very recent change. Given (a) the SBYOV recordings, one of which is nearly a year old and (b) the decision to name Dudamel to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic (which occurred many months ago), it seems curious that the NYPO elected to publicize its concerts in the manner it originally chose. Does that mean New York is “minimizing” Dudamel? Well, let’s just say that Carnegie Hall and the NYPO don’t seem to be maximizing what every other city on the SBYOV tour has considered a great marketing opportunity.

So, was Mark’s column “overdoing it”? Not in my book. It’s hard not to describe Dudamel in “can’t-miss” terms; the L.A. Phil certainly believes that the case. Frankly, if it weren’t for critics like Mark and Alan Rich calling attention to the young conductor from his first appearances locally, he might not be coming to Los Angeles. Does that mean there’s no margin for error? Of course not; I’ve been reviewing concerts professionally for nearly 30 years and I have yet to see a conductor who doesn’t come up with an occasional clunker; they are, after all, human. Will Dudamel need room and time to grow? Of course, but the L.A. Phil management and audiences have a long history of allowing that to happen.

Finally, there were many significant things to come out of the SBYOV concerts in Los Angeles, including the potential for music education in the future. However, the reasons for the incredible excitement that permeated both concerts — a level that I’ve never experienced before — continue to elude me. I’m still talking to people who attended the concerts and trying to come to grips with what happened and why. But I think that every arts organization in Southern California ought to be asking itself three important questions based on those concerts: (a) what happened? (b) why? (c) what does mean for the future? When I get some answers that satisfy me, I’ll write further.

Story and links: "Were you and I at the same concert?"

I find it amusing to read the New York Sun's (mostly) acerbic critics, who seem to go out of their way to dislike everything that NY Times critics enjoy. Read Jay Nordlinger's review of last week's NY Philharmonic concert HERE and then read Alan Koznin's NY Times review HERE. As critics, we often endure the "were you at the same concerts I was?" syndrome from audience members and, occasionally, from fellow critics, but these papers carry this to an art (?) form.