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; Herbie Hancock, piano
Gershwin: Cuban Overture, Rhapsody in Blue; An American in Paris
Tuesday, Sept. 27; 7 p.m. • Walt Disney Concert Hall
Information: www.laphil.com
Gustavo Dudamel (L) will conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Herbie Hancock will be the soloist in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue during Tuesday night’s gala concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
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Many major American symphony orchestras open their seasons with splashy gala concerts. Tickets are pricer than normal since the event usually raises money for a good cause (in this case the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s musicians pension fund and educational programs). Attire is dressier than normal, even in laid back Los Angeles. Grand Avenue will be closed off for a post-concert party (which accounts for the 7 p.m. concert time).
Often these types of concerts are frothy affairs in terms of music but, as with most everything else he does, Gustavo Dudamel doesn’t follow standard conventions for his galas. Two years ago in his first Walt Disney Hall concert as LAPO music director, Dudamel and Co. opened with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and the world premiere of John Adams’ City Noir. Last year’s gala brought Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez to the Disney Hall stage for a scintillating collection of opera arias and songs, while “the Dude” and his orchestra danced their way through several overtures and Latin American numbers (although I’m still waiting for a performance of Rossini’s William Tell Overture that got dumped at the last minute).
For Gala No. 3 Tuesday night, Dudamel has planned a program that seems like it belongs up the freeway at Hollywood Bowl. That, of course, is one of its charms: the opportunity to hear George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris played indoors in Disney Hall’s marvelous, natural (i.e., unamplified) acoustics with no wine bottles or circling helicopters to spoil the music.
However, the most intriguing part of the program is the soloist for Rhapsody in Blue: 71-year-old jazz legend Herbie Hancock. It will be interesting to hear (a) whether Hancock plays the concerto “straight” or with improvisatory twists and (b) what, if anything, extra he’ll do as encores on Tuesday evening.
Hancock’s fame comes from his work in electronic and acoustic jazz, along with Rhythm and Blues (his official bio is HERE). In 2010, he was appointed the LAPO’s Creative Chair for Jazz, but it’s worth noting that he was a child prodigy who performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony at the age of 11.
In addition to his Disney Hall performance, Hancock will also play Rhapsody in Blue with the Calgary Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and Oregon Symphony next month.
The L.A. Phil’s 2011-2012 subscription season opens Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and 2 with an all-orchestral (i.e., no soloist) concert that includes Adams’ Tromba Iontana (a four-minute-long fanfare), the U.S. premiere of Rituales Amerindios by Argentinean composer Esteban Benzecry, and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.
Benzecry wrote Rituales Amerindios (Amerindian Rituals) in 2008 on a commission from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and dedicated it to Dudamel, who first performed it with his Swedish band in 2010. It’s a 25-minute piece in three movements: I. Ehécatl (Azteca wind god) II. Chaac (Maya water god) III. Illapa (Incan thunderclap god).
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.
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