STORY AND LINKS: Zubin Mehta to conduct Berlin Philharmonic in live digital stream Sunday, Oct. 2

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

Berlin Philharmonic; Zubin Mehta,, conductor; Johannes Moser, cello
Gottfried von Einem: Orchestermusik. Robert Schuman: Cello Concerto in A minor.
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
Sunday, Oct. 2, 11 a.m. (PDT) • Berlin Philharmonie
Available on Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall
Information: www.digitalconcerthall.com
__________

If you have broadband internet access — and particularly if you’ve never tried listening to a live streaming (audio and video) concert broadcast before — you might want to check out the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall stream of its concert on Sunday from the Berlin Philharmonie. The concert is at 8 p.m. Berlin time, which means it streams at 11 a.m. Pacific time.

The program is interesting for two reasons from a L.A. perspective. First, Zubin Mehta, who was music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1962-1978, will lead the Berliners almost 50 years to the day that he first conducted the famed orchestra (the actual day was Sept. 18, 1961). In fact, this program is the same music that Mehta (now age 75 — how hard is that to come to grips with?) led in that first concert.

Second, the cello soloist, Johannes Moser, will be joining Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Oct. 20 and 21 in the world premiere of Magnetar, a concerto for electric cello by Mexican composer/guitarist Enrico Chapela, who (to quote the L.A. Phil Web site) integrates jazz, rock and Latin-American traditions with modern techniques. INFO

On Sunday, Oct. 22, the Phil will take this concerto (in fact, the entire program, which includes John Adams’ Short Ride on a Fast Machine and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5) to Davies Hall in San Francisco for the first of two performances in that hall. The other concert, Oct. 23, is a repeat of this weekend’s concerts. The appearances are part of the SFO’s centennial season.

Back to Berlin: if you’ve never used the BPO’s Digital Concert Hall, it’s easy. Follow the prompts to sign up. You can listen to one concert for about $13.30 (9.90 Euros) and you can also buy multiple concerts for a much cheaper per-event cost. There’s a free sampler you can try out if you’re interested. Presuming you have a good computer and your broadband doesn’t flake out on you, the video and sound quality are excellent in this format. From the site above, click the Information tab and use the test video to make sure your computer and internet connection work for the format.
___________

(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.