Robert D. Thomas/Class Act

LINK: Composer/conductor Gerhard Samuel dies at age 83

• Read Joshua Kosman's obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle HERE.
• Read Melinda Bargreen's obituary in the Seattle Times HERE.

OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Gustavo Dudamel with the Los Angeles Philharonic

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; Simon Trpceski, pianist
Salonen: Insomnia; Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1; Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Friday, March 28, 2008 • Walt Disney Concert Hall
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On a night when youth was definitely center stage at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the magic of Gustavo Dudamel remains as potent as ever.

The 27-year-old Venezuelan returned to Disney Hall last night to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the first time since he was named the orchestra's music director-designate last year. Along with a chamber music recital last Wednesday (REVIEW), the three concerts this weekend and three more next week also mark Dudamel's first local appearances since he brought his Simón Bolivár Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela to town for two stunning concerts last November, the kickoff of a wildly successful U.S. tour.

Last night's program included works by three young (at the time) composers -- well, two young and one middle-aged -- and featured a 28-year-Macedonian pianist who wowed us with 15 minutes of pyrotechnics and then seduced us with five minutes of utter bliss.

Much of what we learned about Dudamel last November remained in evidence last night. The big, bushy hair remains, as does the electricity he generates with the orchestra and the audience when he's on the podium. Every conducting gesture serves the music, although for the first time a couple of gestures crept in that seemed superfluous ... but only a couple. He’s a joy to watch and, like his youthful Venezuelan colleagues, the Phil musicians were locked in on their future leader most of the evening. The results were thrilling.

Dudamel also showed a lot of chutzpah opening with Insomnia, a 20-minute raucous vision of sleepless nights and the dreams (bad and beautiful) that accompany same, written by the man Dudamel will replace as the orchestra’s music director next year, Esa-Pekka Salonen, who, at age 47, was the aforementioned middle-aged composer.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a a ;arger instrumental array 42 if I counted correctly, including 20 tuned gongs and five timpani, all crammed along the back wall. Salonen also added four Wagner tubas for extra weight to the piece; about the only instrument he didn't use was the organ.

Although I didn't hear the premiere of Insomnia in 2002, it's hard to imagine that the orchestra played any better than it did last night, and Dudamel conducted the piece as naturally as if he had grown up learning the work as a child.

The pianist was Simon Trpcepski and, if the sparks that leaped between him and Dudamel are the norm, we're going to see a lot of this duo in the future. His vehicle was Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1, a show-off piece that Prokofiev wrote when was 19. Trpceski tore through it with exuberant virtuosity, and although he's not as ridiculously off-the-wall histrionic at the keyboard as Lang Lang, he dazzled most in the audience with his flying arms along with his thunderous octaves and flying trills and runs.

Dudamel showed another side to his conducting talents, leading a carefully nuanced accompaniment and watching Trpceski carefully to make sure they stayed in synch. They apparently hadn't discussed what was going to happen after the predictable salvos of applause, because when the pianist suddenly sat down to deliver an exquisitely delicate encore, Debussy's Arabesque No. 1 (about as far removed from Prokofiev as can be imagined), Dudamel simply sat on the podium and listened carefully.

There were lots of positives about tafter intermission. For one thing, Dudamel had some original ideas about how Symphonie fantastique should be played, so even if this isn't one of your favorite works, you listened to see what would come next. What remains most indelible in my mind were not the fireworks but the luscious middle movement, Scene in the Country, with a delicate duet between English horn player extraordinaire Carolyn Hove and Oboeist Ariana Ghez echoing offstage.

By the time they got to the final two movements, Dudamel and the orchestra were totally locked in. This March to the Scaffold really was terrifying (which rarely happens) and unlike some performances of Dreams of a Witches' Sabbath, when the bells in the Dies Irae section can barely be heard, the two behemoths used Friday night were loud enough to wake the dead.

The audience, predictably, went bonkers at the end, but this time it was justified. Dudamel took his first set of bows standing deep in the orchestra, as was the case with his youthful Venezuelan colleagues. When he returned to the stage, he asked every wind, brass and percussion principal and then each section to stand, and he remembered to have the orchestra members turn around to acknowledge the applause from those seated behind the orchestra. This kid doesn't miss a trick!
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Unlike Wednesday night, where people clapped after every movement, last night’s audience was silent until the end of each work. At the end of Insomnia, the final note elucidated a breathless “Wow” from one person, as perfect an commentary as the ensuing 10 seconds of silence.
• Gustavo will need to learn that Disney Hall reverberates EVERY sound, including those from his mouth when he’s conducting.
• After next week, we'll know a lot more about Dudamel because, unlike the bombast of Friday night (and last November), those programs will include a health dose of delicate French impressionism: Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and the complete version of Ravel's ballet Daphnis and Chloe. If you can find a ticket, grab it!
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(c) Copyright 2008, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

STORY AND LINK: Kahane extends contract at LACO; 40th anniversary season announced

As reported by Chris Pasales in today’s Los Angeles Times, Jeffrey Kahane has extended his contract with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra through the 2011-2012 season and will appear as soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in the opening gala of the orchestra’s 40th anniversary season on Sept. 27 at Ambassador Auditorium. The gala will be conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, the orchestra’s original music director.

In another nonsubscription concert, cellist Yo-Yo Ma will appear at UCLA’s Royce Hall playing the west coast premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul.

Seven other concerts will be played at the orchestra’s two home: Alex Theatre in Glendale and Royce Hall.

• Read Chris’s story HERE
• LACO Web Site

LINK: what music directors play

In the lead to his REVIEW in today's Los Angeles Times, Mark Swed noted that hiring a conductor who plays an instrument isn't all that rare when it comes to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Swed's list: Alfred Wallenstein (cello), Eduard van Beinum (violin), Zubin Mehta (bass), Carlo Maria Giulini (viola), André Previn (piano), Esa-Pekka Salonen (horn), Gustavo Dudamel (violin).

I can't speak about the first two and I don't think Giulini kept up his viola skills in later years. I do vaguely recall that Salonen and Mehta rarely played their instruments in recitals but couldn't swear to it. As Mark noted, Previn is the real exception; I remember him playing and conducting an exquisite performance of a Mozart piano concerto with the Boston Symphony at Symphony Hall.

Whether Dudamel continues to play an occasional recital will be interesting to watch.

OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Gustavo Dudamel as chamber musician

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

How do conductors occupy their spare time when they're not waving a baton in front of an orchestra? For 16 seasons, the answer for Esa-Pekka Salonen, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has been to compose music. So far, Gustavo Dudamel, who will succeed Salonen at the Phil's helm in Sept. 2009, has not shown any predilection in that direction. Moreover, he has one of the world's busiest guest-conducting schedules and a beautiful, young wife to occupy his scarce down time.

However, Dudamel apparently been harboring a secret life. As we learned last night at Walt Disney Concert Hall, he plays the violin. Who knew? His official bio notes that he began his musical studies with the violin but that's the sort of mention that any young conductor would include. No clue that he still plays, let alone as smartly as he did Wednesday.

By the way, he remains a box office magnet, even if he's only playing second fiddle in the last of three pieces on a program. All 2,265 seats were sold for Wednesday's concert, an unprecedented occurrence for a Philharmonic Chamber Music Society event, according to Adam Crane, the Philharmonic's Director of Public Relations.

Last night, Dudamel joined four of the orchestra's principal players — Concertmaster Martin Chalifour, violist Dale Hikawa Silverman, cellist Peter Stumpf and, most importantly, clarinetist Michele Zukovsky — in a sublime performance of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581.

Peals of laughter ensued when Zukovsky discovered she had brought the wrong glasses as the ensemble was seating itself. Chalifour escorted her offstage to find the right pair, which gave the audience a chance to rain a salvo of cheers on Dudamel. Once she could read, Zukovsky delivered an exquisite performance with a creamy tone and expressive musicality, while negotiating the trills and runs effortlessly.

Dudamel melded in seamlessly with his colleagues. He was no more extroverted than Chalifour (whose sweet, lyrical tone was a delight not only in the Mozart but in the opening piece, as well) and seemed genuinely pleased to be collaborating in this most intimate of musical genres. Both Stumpf and Silverman played with graceful elegance.

All three pieces on the program were quintets, but the first — "Till Eulenspiegel - einmal anders!" — was anything but your standard work. Chalifour joined with David Howard, clarinet, Shawn Mouser, bassoon, William Lane, horn and Christopher Hanulik, bass (whose presence meant that all five players stood for the eight-minute piece) in this "deconstruction" of Strauss' famed tone poem. The group handled the spiky rhythms cleanly but the most indelible moment for this critic was the mid-piece melody duet by Howard and Mouser.

Less successful was Mozart's String Quintet in C Major, K. 515, which seemed a little out of sorts at the beginning but came together with a nicely nuanced Andante and a delicate Allegro in the final movement.
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• The Mozart Clarinet Quintet is a piece familiar to even non-classical music lovers because it was what Major Charles Emerson Winchester was trying, with only modest success, to teach five Korean POWs in the final episode of M*A*S*H.
• The last part of the Strauss title translates, according to program annotator Herbert Glass, as "for once differently." It was that.
• As was the case with Dudamel's appearances in November with his Simón Bolivár Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, there were many people in the crowd who had never been at Disney Hall before, judging from the questions being asked about the hall. In addition, there was a lot of Spanish in the air, both of which would seem to be positive signs for the Phil.
• Chalfour delivered a short pre-concert talk and then sabotaged himself by first telling the audience not to applaud between movements and then saying it was all right if they were unable to contain themselves. Many clapped after every movement and the world didn't shift on its axis over this protocol breach.
• Performers need to remember to acknowledge applause from behind them and on the sides in this "theatre-in-the-round" auditorium. The second group -- Mitchell Newman and Robert Vijay Gupta, violins; Ingrid Hutman and Meredith Snow, violas; and Gloria Lum, cello -- did turn around, and Dudamel reminded his colleagues to do the same (once) following the Clarinet Quintet, but the first ensemble forgot.
• Dudamel's bio is woefully out of date; a lot has happened since it was written a year or so ago!
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(c) Copyright 2008, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Great quote from Alan Rich

In his LA Weekly review of Janine Janson's performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Alan Rich wrote: "It set me on a whole new path of thinking about the piece, which is what a great performance should do."

Profound and thought-provoking, which is what a great review should be.

The entire review is HERE.

FOLLOWUP: The Travails of "Tristan"

You can't make this stuff up.

• THE STORY
• THE REVIEW

ALERT: KUSC to broadcast L.A. Phil's Dudamel concerts

If you don't have a ticket for this weekend's Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts, to be conducted by incoming LAPO Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, you can hear the concert beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday on KUSC (91.5 FM). The station will also broadcast the April 6 concert, again with Dudamel conducting.

LINK: Five arts leaders look at Los Angeles ... and spur questions

A lengthy interview with five of Los Angeles's major arts leaders in today's Los Angeles Times made for interesting reading, although I found myself asking "Why not?" to many of the comments. To cite but one example: in a very short answer to a question about traffic congestion, Placido Domingo bemoaned the problems of getting to downtown (i.e., to Los Angeles Opera performances) because of rush-hour traffic, but no one offered any concrete solutions.

Here's one: it would be interesting to know how much money would be raised over 20 years if every downtown entertainment and sports edifice (e.g., the Music Center, Staples Center, Nokia Theatre, etc.) added a $1 surcharge to their tickets. Ditto for those in Westwood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and others along the proposed Subway to the Sea route, along with those already reaping the benefit of subway service (e.g., Pantages, Kodak, Graumann's Chinese,, etc.). Such a surcharge wouldn't get the project built, but it would make a nice jump-start. Of course, there would be an even bigger boost if one could add in the 4 million people who come to Dodgers games.

Read the entire interview HERE

PREVIEW: Dudamel returns to Philharmonic

Gustavo Dudamel returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the next two weeks.
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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.

Act III of Dudamelmania rolls into Southern California this week as Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music director-designate, returns to the Southland for a chamber music recital and two Philharmonic subscription concerts, all at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

It's been less than a year since the Philharmonic stunned the music world (and broke several orchestra's hearts) when it named the now-27 year old Venezuelan dynamo as the Phil's next music director (he takes over in September, 2009). Last November Dudamel brought his Simón Bolivár Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela to Disney Hall for two truly astounding concerts, the beginning of a nationwide tour that generated the sort of publicity and critical acclaim not seen and heard since, perhaps, Van Cliburn won the 1958 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.

That the "mania" continues apace can be deduced from the fact that this weekend's Philharmonic concerts are already sold out. However as of today, while some tickets remain for Wednesday's chamber music recital, few, if any, are available for the Phil concerts of April 3, 5 and 6 (the April concerts listed Canadian-born and Los Angeles-raised Violinist Leila Josefowicz is the publicity hook, rather than Dudamel).

Not everyone is aware that Dudamel began as a violinist, but that's how he will appear Wednesday night, joining five of the orchestra's principal players — Concertmaster Martin Chalfour, Violist Dale Hikawa Silverman, Cellist Peter Stumpf and Clarinetist Michelle Zukovsky — in a performance of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581. The balance of the program is Till Eulenspiegel einmal anders! a "deconstruction" of Richard Strauss' famous tone poem by little-known Austrian composer Franz Hasenöhrl; and Mozart's String Quintet in C Major, K. 515.

The first of the two orchestral programs begins with Insomnia, a 20-minute piece written in 2005 by current LAPO Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen. The balance of the evening is Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski as soloist; and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

The concerts on April 3, 5 and 6 will show a different side of Dudamel than we've seen so far: Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2, with Josefowicz as soloist; and the complete version of Ravel's ballet Daphnis and Chloe, a piece that Dudamel will take on tour next year with his Venezuelan ensemble.

Dudamel's next appearances in Los Angeles will be Nov. 24, when he conducts the Israel Philharmonic on tour; and November 28-30 and December 4-7, when he leads the L.A. Phil in subscription concerts at Disney Hall. He'll also appear under the auspices of the Orange County Philharmonic Society with the Israeli orchestra Nov. 23 at the Renée and Henry Stegerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa.

Information on the Philharmonic concerts: 323/850-2000; www.laphil.com
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Jushua Kosman's review in the San Francisco Chronicle of Dudamel's concert Thursday in San Francisco is HERE
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(c) Copyright 2008, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.