Robert D. Thomas/Class Act

PREVIEW AND LINKS: Andrew Shulman to solo with Pasadena, conduct L.A. Chamber Orchestra on consecutive weekends

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Pasadena Symphony. David Lockington, conductor; Andrew Shulman, cello
Philip Sawyers: The Gale of Life; Elgar: Cello Concerto
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 (Scottish)
Saturday, Jan. 14; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Ambassador Auditorium; 300 W. Green St., Pasadena
Tickets: $35-$100; senior rush tickets (23) available for 2 p.m. concert. Student rush tickets ($10) available for both concerts
Information: 626/793-7172; www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Andrew Shulman, conductor; Nigel Armstrong, violin
Mozart: Symphony No. 29, K. 201; Violin Concerto No. 3, K. 216 Walton: Sonata for Strings.
Sat., Jan. 21, 8 p.m. at Alex Theater, Glendale. Sun., Jan. 22, 7 p.m. at Royce Hall, UCLA
Tickets: $24-$105; student season passes available
Information: 213/622-7001; www.laco.org
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Andrew Shulman is going to be one very busy musician during the next couple of weeks, but there’s nothing surprising about that.

Shulman, who is principal cellist of the Pasadena Symphony and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, will appear as soloist with the PSO Saturday in two performances at Ambassador Auditorium playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor. David Lockington, music director of the Modesto Symphony and Grand Rapids Symphony, will lead the programs, which will begin with The Gale of Life by English composer Philip Sawyers and conclude with Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 (Scottish).

The following weekend Shulman will make his LACO conducting debut leading a program of music by Mozart and William Walton. Nigel Armstrong will be the soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3. The 21-year-old graduate of The Colburn School will be making his first local appearance since placing fourth in the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition last summer in Moscow (LINK).

There’s nothing unusual, says Shulman, about playing a titan of the cello literature one weekend and conducting an entirely different program the next. “What’s unusual,” he says with an infectious laugh, “is that they’re both in the same city. Usually I’m playing here and then jetting off to England to conduct an orchestra there.”

Now age 51, Shulman was born in London and studied both cello and conducting at the Royal College of Music. “I first encountered the Elgar concerto when I was 17 or 18,” he recalls. He studied with William Pleeth and Pleeth’s most famous student, Jacqueline DuPre, who by then was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. “Jackie talked about things like fingering and bowing the Elgar,” he remembers. “Despite the MS, she continued to be fully involved with music up to her death; she was an inspiration.”

Although Shulman continued to conduct, he gained international fame as a cellist. He served two terms as principal cellist of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, taking a break for 10 years to play in the Britten Quartet. In 1999, Esa-Pekka Salonen called him and asked, “Are you fed up with London and looking for a change?” He and his wife came to Los Angeles where he eventually became principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

That job lasted just two years. “With the Philharmonia,” he explains, “we had co-principals and others as well, so I was playing perhaps 30 percent of the concerts, which left me time to conduct and do film work. Being principal cellist at the L.A. Phil meant that I had to play about 80 percent of the concerts, and I just found that too confining.”

Shulman has since carved out a busy career in film music and conducting. He became LACO’s principal cellist in 2008 and assumed a similar position with the PSO in 2010. “Both of those positions are great,” he says. “Both orchestras have great musicians and both orchestras give me plenty of freedom to maintain all of my professional lives.”

That includes conducting and Walton’s Sonata for Strings has special resonance for Shulman and LACO. “It’s actually a transcription of Walton’s second String Quartet,” explains Shulman (who recorded the original version in the 1980s with the Britten String Quartet). In 1971, Sir Neville Marriner commissioned the transcription for his Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and two years later Marriner and LACO gave the U.S. premiere of what by then was known as the Sonata for Strings. “It’s a virtuosic piece,” explains Shulman, “and a terrific way to show off my string colleagues in the L.A. Chamber Orchestra. They’ll love it, and so will the audiences.”
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Ten things you may not know about “The Mahler Project”

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

By now (certainly if you’re a regular reader of my Blog), you know that the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Mahler Project” begins this weekend in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Gustavo Dudamel will lead the Phil on Jan. 13, 14 and 15 in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, with Miah Persson as soloist, and Songs of a Wayfarer, with Thomas Hampson as soloist.

Tickets are still on sale for all concerts, although some performances have limited availability. Best bets are the Simón Bolivár Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela’s performances of Nos. 3, 5, and 7, the L.A. Phil’s performance of No. 6 on Jan. 27, and the Toyota Symphony For Youth event on Jan. 28. Information on the availability of senior and student rush tickets for all concerts can be obtained beginning at noon on the day of each performance by calling audience services (323/850-2000).

My column from last Sunday (HERE) detailed the basics of this cycle, which will include 17 performances in 24 days in Los Angeles and a complete re-do in Caracas, Venezuela immediately thereafter. However, here are some things you may not know or realize about this effort:

1. Schedule juggling
The Phil will be playing the four weekend sets of concerts (Symphony Nos. 4, 1, 6, 9 and the Adagio from the 10th). The SBSOV will perform its four solo concerts (Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7) within an eight-day period beginning Jan. 22. That means Dudamel will occasionally be rehearsing one program in the daytime and conducting a different one in the evening.

2. Conducting from memory
According to an article by Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times (LINK), Dudamel is planning on conducting the entire cycle without scores. That includes the two pieces he’s never conducted in concert: Symphony No. 8 and the Adagio from the Symphony No. 10.

3. The Dudamel-Mahler connection
Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 was on the first professional program that Dudamel conducted (at age 16) with what was then called the The Simón Bolivár Youth Symphony Orchestra. The work also concluded his inaugural Disney Hall concert as the L.A. Phil’s music director in 2009. Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 was the piece with which Dudamel won the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, Germany in 2004. When the SBYSO made its Disney Hall in 2007, Mahler’s 5th was on one of the programs; Dudamel and the orchestra also recorded it.

4. Symphony of 1,600
Much has been made of the fact that, for one of the few times in history, the performance of Symphony No. 8 on Feb. 4 at the Shrine Auditorium will actually achieve its’ nickname, “Symphony of a Thousand” (both orchestras and more than 800 singers from 16 Southern California choruses will perform). Reports are that the Caracas concert on Feb. 18 will be even larger, with perhaps 1,600 musicians performing. That is also the performance that will be telecast into movie theaters throughout the United States as part of the LA Phil LIVE” series. The Phil has just announced that John Lithgow will be the telecast host.

5. Telecast encore
Speaking of that telecast, this will mark the first time that one of the “LA Phil LIVE” telecasts will have an encore showing, on Wed., Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. (PST). Several Southland theaters are on board for both telecasts. Information: www.laphil.com

6. Lectures — preconcert and otherwise
Each of the concerts (except the Mahler 8 performance on Feb. 4) will have preconcert lectures. Among the presenters will be:
• Stephen Heflig (Jan. 13-15), professor of musicology at Case Western Reserve University, who wrote his doctoral dissertation at Yale on Mahler and later rediscovered Mahler’s manuscript version of Das Lied von der Erde for voices and piano.
• Gilbert Kaplan (Jan. 19-22), the founder of Institutional Investor who eventually sold the magazine for $72 million and set out to make himself THE authority on Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. Kaplan taught himself to conduct and eventually led the symphony in several cities. His Kaplan Foundation is dedicated to Mahler and Kaplan owns the autograph score of the second symphony.
• Norman Lebrecht (Jan. 26-28), a controversial British author who now publishes his own Blog, Slipped Disc. Among his 12 books are Mahler Remembered and Why Mahler?
• Marilyn McCoy (Jan. 31, Feb. 2 and 3), another noted Mahler scholar, who teaches at Columbia University.

Kaplan’s lectures are open to the public even if you’re not planning on attending the concerts. They will be in the main Disney Hall auditorium 90 minutes before the concerts on Jan. 19-22. Reserve ahead of time (323/850-2000 or via email to information@laphil.org with “Mahler Project RSVP” in the subject line) and plan on arriving at least 15 minutes before the lecture time. The other lectures will be in BP Hall, the normal spot for L.A. Phil preconcert talks, and are open to concert ticket holders.

The Phil is also sponsoring “Aloud at Central Library,” a convocation featuring Lebrecht and L.A. Phil President and CEO Deborah Borda, on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. in the downtown Central Library. Information: www.laphil..com

7. The “Project” could have been larger
Mahler composed other symphonic works that aren’t being included in the Phil’s survey. The most notable is Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), a lengthy six-movement work that was written in 1908-09, two years after Mahler completed his eighth symphony.

The title page calls it Eine Symphonie für eine Tenor- und eine Alt- (oder Bariton-) Stimme und Orchester (nach Hans Bethges "Die chinesische Flöte") — A Symphony for Tenor and Alto (or Baritone) Voice and Orchestra (after Hans Bethge's 'The Chinese Flute'") but Mahler did not call it his Symphony No. 9. One reason may be that Mahler was unwilling to buck the “Curse of the Ninths” — no major composer since Beethoven had successfully completed more than nine symphonies before dying (Bruckner actually died while writing his ninth). Mahler eventually went on to write a Symphony No. 9 but did, in fact, die before completing his Symphony No. 10.

Another possibility for inclusion might have been Blumine (flower piece), which was originally the second movement of Symphony No. 1. Mahler eventually discarded Blumine after the third performance of the first symphony (in Weimar in 1894) and Blumine lay undiscovered until 1966. Despite Mahler having discarded it, in recent years a few conductors have played it as part of a Symphony No. 1 performance and others have conducted it as a stand-alone piece.

8. “Bolivars” extras
In addition to their symphony performances, members of the SBSOV will participate in Toyota Symphony for Youth concerts on Jan. 21 and 28, in a chamber music performance on Jan. 29, and in a free Neighborhood Concert on Jan. 25 at Cal State LA’s Luckman Fine Arts Complex.

9. YOLA concert
The Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA), the Phil’s first effort at duplicating Venezuela’s “El Sistema” program of youth music education in Los Angeles, will join with members of the SBSOV (the flagship ensemble of “El Sistema”) in a family concert on Jan. 30 at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles in downtown Los Angeles.

10. And finally …
If all this is too much Mahler for you, Steve Reich, the Bang-On-A-Can All Stars, and red fish blue fish will play a concert that’s about as far from Mahler as you can get on Jan. 17 at Disney Hall. The program includes one of Reich’s seminal works: Music for 18 Musicians. Information: www.laphil.com
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

NEWS: L.A. Phil LIVE announces third telecast — March 18

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

When the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced its 2011-2012 “LA Phil LIVE” movie theater telecast schedule, the final telecast of the troika was left as TBD. Now comes word that the “LIVE” portion of the title will need to be taken with a grain of salt because the telecast — on Sunday, March 18 at 2 p.m. (PST) — will be a showing of the gala concert that opened the 2011-2012 Walt Disney Concert Hall season.

Gustavo Dudamel leads the L.A. Phil in an all-Gershwin program includes An American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue. Noted jazz pianist Herbie Hancock was the soloist in the Rhapsody and also played improvisations on two Gershwin songs, Embraceable You and Someone to Watch Over Me. Unlike the truncated “Great Performances” television broadcast last Friday, this in-movie theater telecast will feature the entire concert, including the Cuban Overture and both improvs, along with a segment from Hancock’s home where he will talk about his improv process.

The complete L.A. Phil media release follows:

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC PRESENTS
ALL-GERSHWIN CONCERT EVENT FEATURING GRAMMY® AWARD WINNER HERBIE HANCOCK IN MOVIE THEATERS THIS MARCH

February Brings Performance Broadcast Live from Caracas, Venezuela,
Featuring Mahler 8, “Symphony of a Thousand,” with more than 1,000 Musicians
on Stage Led by Gustavo Dudamel and Hosted by John Lithgow

LA Phil LIVE is Made Possible with the Proud Support of Rolex

Los Angeles & Centennial, Colo. — January 10, 2012 – The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) and NCM Fathom announced today the third and final performance of the LA Phil LIVE second season featuring world-renowned Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil with jazz legend Herbie Hancock for a celebration of quintessential American composer George Gershwin on Sunday, March 18 at 2 p.m. Pacific / 5 p.m. Eastern. “LA Phil LIVE: Gustavo Dudamel and Herbie Hancock Celebrate Gershwin,” pre-recorded from the LA Phil’s 2011-12 season Opening Night Concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall, includes some of the composer’s best-loved works including the Cuban Overture, An American in Paris, and Rhapsody in Blue, as well as intimate solo improvisations by Hancock on Embraceable You and Someone to Watch Over Me. The event also features exclusive footage of Hancock – the LA Phil’s Creative Chair for Jazz – in his home, playing Gershwin and providing insights into his improvisational process.

Tickets for LA Phil LIVE in-theater events are available at participating U.S. theater box offices and online at www.fathomevents.com. For a complete list of theater locations and ticket prices, please visit the website (theaters and participants are subject to change). LA Phil LIVE will be shown in select movie theaters through NCM’s exclusive Digital Broadcast Network.

LA Phil LIVE’s second performance of the season, LA Phil LIVE: Dudamel conducts Mahler 8, “Symphony of a Thousand,” on Saturday, February 18 at 2 p.m. Pacific / 5 p.m. Eastern will offer a never-before-seen live broadcast from Caracas, Venezuela, featuring Dudamel leading the two organizations that have been so prominent in his life, the LA Phil and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in a dynamic performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of a Thousand.” The live broadcast will be hosted by award-winning actor John Lithgow, who hosted his first LA Phil LIVE performance in June 2011. Multiple soloists and choruses will also be part of the performance. This exceptional presentation is the climactic performance of The Mahler Project – one of the pillars of the LA Phil’s season – which features Mahler’s complete symphonic cycle presented in both Los Angeles and Caracas.

“This is a special moment for me, especially since the Los Angeles Philharmonic coming to Venezuela is a beautiful homage to El Sistema,” said Dudamel. “Bringing one of the world's best orchestras together with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, a symbol of El Sistema, sends a message of hope for the musical youth of the country. Playing the Mahler 8th Symphony together will be historic.”

Fathom and the LA Phil will present an encore of LA Phil LIVE: Dudamel conducts Mahler 8, “Symphony of a Thousand,” in select theaters on Wednesday, February 29, at 7 p.m. local time.

“The LA Phil LIVE concert from Caracas will mark the first time that we have broadcast live to cinemas from anywhere except Walt Disney Concert Hall,” said LA Phil President and CEO Deborah Borda. “For this extraordinary event, we’ll see Gustavo Dudamel in his home town, leading his two musical families in a performance of Mahler’s legendary ‘Symphony of a Thousand.’ It promises to be a momentous occasion. The final broadcast for this season will be the transmission of our Opening Night Gala featuring soloist Herbie Hancock, at Walt Disney Concert Hall, from last October. We are both thrilled and honored to be able to share these remarkable concerts with viewers across North America.”

LA Phil LIVE offers an enriching and unique concert experience in which the orchestra’s performance is broadcast to theaters in high definition and 5.1 digital surround sound, featuring top talent and behind-the-scenes segments. Led by vibrant Dudamel, the LA Phil LIVE series transports audiences to the conductor’s podium and places them inside the music. Each broadcast includes an insider’s look via the Backstage Pass feature with live behind-the-scenes interviews with Dudamel, soloists and LA Phil musicians and exclusive rehearsal footage.

“The in-theater event on February 18 will transport audiences to Caracas to see the spectacle of 1,000 musicians performing together in this amazing performance,” said Dan Diamond, senior vice president of NCM Fathom. “And fans of Gershwin won’t want to miss this must-see event featuring Oscar® and Grammy®-award-winning musician Herbie Hancock this March.  Seeing Gustavo Dudamel bring symphony to life on the silver screen is an experience fans have to see to believe.”

The LA Phil is offering fans an opportunity to win a chance to see Dudamel perform live at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in May, 2012. One grand prize winner, chosen at random, will receive two tickets to a Los Angeles Philharmonic performance with Gustavo Dudamel, a two-night hotel stay and free round-trip airfare for two, along with LA Phil merchandise. For contest details and entry requirements, please visit LAPhil.com/win.

About National CineMedia (NCM)
NCM operates NCM Media Networks, a leading integrated media company reaching U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology.  The NCM Cinema Network and NCM Fathom present cinema advertising and events across the nation’s largest digital in-theater network, comprised of theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) and other leading regional theater circuits. NCM’s theater advertising network covers 176 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50) and includes over 18,300 screens (17,300 digital). During 2010, approximately 700 million patrons attended movies shown in theaters in which NCM currently has exclusive, cinema advertising agreements in place.  The NCM Fathom Events broadcast network is comprised of nearly 700 locations in 165 Designated Market Areas® (all of the top 50). The NCM Interactive Network offers 360-degree integrated marketing opportunities in combination with cinema, encompassing 42 entertainment-related websites, online widgets and mobile applications.  National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 48.7% interest in and is the managing member of National CineMedia LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com or www.FathomEvents.com.

About the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Gustavo Dudamel, presents the finest in orchestral and chamber music, recitals, new music, jazz, world music and holiday concerts at two of the most remarkable locations anywhere to experience music – Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to a 30-week winter subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil presents a 12-week summer festival at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the Association’s involvement with Los Angeles extends to educational concerts, children's programming and community concerts, ever seeking to provide inspiration and delight to the broadest possible audience. For more information, visit www.laphil.com/LAPhilLive.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

AROUND TOWN/MUSIC: Here comes "The Mahler Project"

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
A shorter verion of this article published today in the above papers.

By any standard, the numbers are as gargantuan as a Mahler symphony: More than 800 choristers from 16 different ensembles. Over 700 minutes of music. 200+ instrumentalists. 17 performances over a 24-day period. Nine soloists. Nine symphonies plus a portion of a 10th and one song cycle. Two orchestras. Two concert halls. One composer. One conductor.

Those are just some of the numbers for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Mahler Project,” which will run from January 13 through February 5 at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The sweeping enterprise will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the great Austrian composer-conductor Gustav Mahler (which actually took place on May 18, 1911).

Gustavo Dudamel — music director of the two orchestras participating in this extravaganza, the L.A. Phil and the Simón Bolivár Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela — will lead every performance. The Bolivárs will play four of the symphonies and the L.A. Phil will play five (including the Adagio, the only section of Symphony No. 10 that Mahler completed before he died). To conclude the cycle, the two ensembles will combine and join more 800 choristers and eight soloists for the Symphony No. 8 on Feb. 4 at the Shrine Auditorium, one of the few times in history when that work’s subtitle, “Symphony of a Thousand,” will be fact as well as appellation.

Moreover, the above numbers don’t tell the full story. Following the Feb. 5 concert, both orchestras will pack up and head to Caracas, Venezuela where they will perform the entire cycle again: nine concerts in 12 days. Altogether more than 60,000 people will view the 27 performances lives, plus many thousands more in movie theatres when the Caracas performance of “Symphony of a Thousand” is telecast on Feb. 18.

The “Project” (not exactly why the Phil used that word but it’s better than yet another “festival”) begins Jan. 13, 14 and 15 in Disney Hall when Dudamel — who will turn age 31 during the cycle on January 26 — will lead the L.A. Phil and soprano Miah Persson in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Also on the program is Songs of a Wayfarer, with Thomas Hampson as soloist.

The following weekend (Jan. 19, 20 and 21), Dudamel and the L.A. Phil will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10. The first symphony has significant memories for Dudamel. It was the first big symphonic piece he conducted (at age 16) and was also part of his first Disney Hall concert as LAPO music director in 2009.

For complete information on “The Mahler Project,” log onto www.laphil.com.

Tuesday: “Ten Things You Might Not Know About the Mahler Project”
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Pasadena Master, Los Angeles Daiku present Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 to kick off New Year

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Pasadena Master Chorale, Los Angeles Daiku, L.A. Daiku Orchestra; Jeffrey Bernstein, conductor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Saturday, January 7, 2012 • San Gabriel Mission Playhouse
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Viennese ring in the New Year with Strauss waltzes. Revelers around the world sing Auld Lang Syne, but in Japan they celebrate the turning of the calendar with a most un-Japanese piece of music, as hundreds of organizations perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Last night, Jeffrey Bernstein began what he hopes will be an annual tradition by joining two groups for which he’s the artistic director, Los Angeles Daiku and the Pasadena Master Chorale, in what turned out to be a quite-credible performance of Beethoven’s final symphony at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse as the first week of the new year drew to a close.

Los Angeles Daiku ("The Japanese word 'daiku' is translated literally as 'the great nine' and often refers to Beethoven’s 9th," says Bernstein) was formed in 2009 specifically to rehearse Beethoven’s 9th; 47 singers from that group were on stage last night along with 49 singers of the PMC, 51 instrumentalists (most of whom are familiar as members of ensembles such as the Pasadena Symphony and Los Angeles Opera Orchestra) and four soloists.

Bernstein set brisk tempos throughout the performance and did a nice job of drawing nuanced playing out of his orchestra. What the performance lacked was Beethoven’s Olympian fury, most noticeably in the opening of the final movement. However, Bernstein recovered nicely from a ragged beginning of that movement to shape the main theme lovingly and finished the chorale finale with a flourish.

The 96 singers sang with a nice blend and attention to musical line, although they hampered by the Playhouse stage’s poor acoustics, which made the singers sound far less powerful than they probably were. Baritone Cedric Berry got the famed Ode to Joy choral section off to a somewhat shaky start and tenor Arthur Rishi was nearly inaudible. Soprano Krystle Casey and mezzo-soprano Jessica Marney filled out the quartet solidly.
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Bernstein elected to begin the proceedings with a few comments and then had an actor read Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament, which was written to his brothers in 1802 as the scope of Beethoven’s deafness was becoming apparent to the composer. Unfortunately, Bernstein failed to explain why this letter was important to the context of this particular performance.
• The printed program contained the texts for the Ode to Joy section but the lights were dimmed to the point where they were unreadable.
• The booklet also contained no information about L.A. Daiku and its purpose or the Pasadena Master Chorale, although there was a full-page bio of the conductor, short bios of the soloists, and names of the choristers and instrumentalists.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

SAME-DAY REVIEW: Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Jean-Yves Thibaudet with L.A. Philharmonic at Disney Hall

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Philharmonic; Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor
Dvorak: Hussite Overture; Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major (Jean-Yves Thibaudet, soloist)
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 (Organ)
Friday at 11 a.m. • Walt Disney Concert Hall
Next concerts: Tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Preconcert lectures by Alan Chapman at 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively
Information: www.laphil.com
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Some concerts are notable for their profundity. Others stand out for cutting-edge new music. Still others offer rarely heard masterworks. And then there are those that do no more than offer solid, high-quality music, expertly played. This weekend’s Los Angeles Philharmonic fit squarely in that last category and that’s just fine, from my perspective.

None of the pieces played are at classical music’s apex (one is such a rarity that the Phil has not played it before this weekend). However, in the right hands all three can be thoroughly enjoyable — even stirring — and this weekend’s performances are definitely in capable hands (feet, brains, etc.).

The concerts are also a homecoming for Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who was the Phil’s assistant and then associate conductor from 1998-2004 and who since 2000 has been music director of the Ft. Worth (Tex.) Symphony. Now age 43, the Peruvian native has an athletic conducting style and alternates between infectious grins and Zubin Mehta-like scowls (fortunately, more of the former than the latter) on the podium. He led with solid assurance, and (an occasional shoddy attack notwithstanding) the orchestra played at a high level for him.

When an ensemble like the L.A. Phil is playing a 19th century piece from a well-known composer for the first time, one has to wonder if the work has any merit. Happily, Dvorak’s Hussite Overture, which opened the proceedings this morning, proved to be a solid, if not extraordinary, 15-minute piece. It was obviously familiar to Harth-Bedoya; he conducted it without a score.

Written in 1883 for the opening of Prague’s National Theater, the overture was part of a trilogy of works based on the life of 15th century Bohemian religious leader Jan Hus, and the two hymn-chorales used by Dvorak helped provide a nice mixture of religiosity and stately celebration, which Harth-Bedoya and the orchestra carried off well.

Unlike the Dvorak, the Phil first played Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 almost exactly 90 years ago (Jan. 14, 1921, to be exact) and has performed it as recently as last summer in Hollywood Bowl (when André Watts was the soloist). However, any time it brings pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet back to the Disney Hall stage, it’s worth hearing again.

Most pianists emphasize the concerto’s thunder but Thibaudet isn’t your average pianist. Although the Lyon native (who now lives in Los Angeles) can produce plenty of pyrotechnics, what caught my ear were how elegantly he handled the many poetic passages that alternate with the fireworks. The interplay between Thibaudet and principal cellist Ben Hong was particularly notable both for its musicality and also how closely the two were looking at each other during what amounts to a duet.

After intermission came Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3, popularly known as the “Organ Symphony” although it’s worth noting that the title in French — Symphonie No. 3, “avec orgue” (with organ) — is a better way of describing the 35-minute work. Happily both Harth-Bedoya and Joanne Pearce Martin, the Phil’s principal keyboardist, chose that collegial emphasis.

Saint-Saëns crafted this work imaginatively by taking the standard four movements of a symphony and compressing them into two. The first movement begins, as Alan Chapman said in his preconcert talk, with shimmering strings that evoke Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.

The organ appears stealthly to begin the second section (of the first movement) and Martin sensitive registrations made organ just one of 90+ instruments in the ensemble. Harth-Bedoya emphasized the strings’ lush tones and the entire section was so spellbinding that the audience took quite some time unwinding before the performance continued with the Allegro moderato.

The organ introduces the final Maestoso: Allegro section with a thunderous C-major chord and Harth-Bedoya didn’t give away the surprise (for those who have never heard this symphony). If he cued Martin at all, it was with a nearly imperceptible movement or a lifted eyebrow, but he took charge immediately and introduced some interesting tempo variations throughout the finale. Martin’s registrations were still a model of rectitude — only in the final measures did the organ finally emerge with full-throated vigor. I’ve never heard the registrations done any better.

Any conductor lucky enough to conduct the L.A. Phil and its superb pipe organ in the amazing Disney Hall acoustics must feel like he (or she) is approaching heaven. At the end, Harth-Bedoya held the final chord for as long as possible, seemingly unwilling to let go. I understand how he felt.
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Creating a nice programming tie, Saint-Saëns had dedicated the symphony to Liszt, who had died shortly after the work was completed in 1886.
• In an excess of compositional zeal, Saint-Saëns included a few measures of piano four hands in the final section. Joanne Pearce Martin’s husband, Gavin, and noted local pianist Vicki Ray did the honors.
• I met two ladies outside at intermission who told me they had trained up from San Diego for the concert. We all basked in the 80-degree sunshine beside the Delft-china fountain that Frank Gehry created in honor of Lillian Disney. Ah, the joys of living in Southern California in January.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

STORY AND LINKS: L.A. Phil finalizes cast, creative team for "Don Giovanni"

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

One of the more intriguing Los Angeles Philharmonic programs this spring will be the staging of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the first of what is envisioned as a three-year cycle of operas composed by Mozart to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte that will be presented by the Phil in Walt Disney Concert Hall (the other two are The Marriage of Figaro and Cosí Fan Tutte).

Exactly how the orchestra’s creative teams will make this happen in an auditorium that has no proscenium nor installed apparatus for scenery remains to be scene but the Don Giovanni team is now fully in place.

As announced earlier, Frank Gehry — architect of Disney Hall and other iconic buildings worldwide — is designing the sets and LAPO Music Director Gustavo Dudamel will conduct. Kate and Laura Mulleavy — founders of their fashion house, Rodarte — will make their operatic debut designing the costumes, while noted director Christopher Alden will oversee the proceedings.

The cast will be headed by Marius Kwiecien in the title role and is scheduled to include Kevin Burdette as Leporello, Carmela Remigio (Donna Anna), Aga Mikolaj (Donna Elvira), Pavlo Breslik (Don Ottavio), Anna Probaska (Zerlina), Ryan Kuster (Masetto) and Stefan Kocan (Commendatore).

Performances will take place on May 18, 20, 24 and 26. Complicating matters somewhat from a scheduling perspective is that Dudamel and the Phil will interleave a concert of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 on May 25 and will come back with those pieces plus Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 on May 27.

Information: www.laphil.com
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

STORY AND LINKS: Cleaning out the inbox

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

• In another sign of its rebound from near economic catastrophe several years ago, the Pasadena Symphony Association (which runs the Pasadena Symphony and Pops) has ratified a new four-year contract with its musicians, which are represented by Local 47 of the Professional Musicians Union. The new contract is retroactive to last October and includes a five percent wage increase over the life of the contract. MORE

• The New York Philharmonic has named Matthew VanBesien as its new executive director, replacing Zarin Mehta, who is retiring after a 12-year-tenure with the nation’s oldest orchestra. VanBesien, age 42 and a native of St. Louis, once played French horn in the Louisiana Philharmonic but laid it aside to focus on orchestra management. He has held executive positions with the Houston Symphony and the Melbourne (Australia) Symphony Orchestra. According to a New York Times article, the NYPO declined to state the terms or length of VanBiesen’s contract (both of which will eventually come to light via income tax returns). MORE

• Pablo Heras-Casado has been named principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, one of New York City’s premiere ensembles. The 34-year-old Spaniard becomes the fourth titled conductor in the history of the orchestra, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary during the 2014-15 season. His first concert in his new position will come in July during the Caramoor International Music Festival.

Heras-Casado, who hair is even curlier than Gustavo Dudamel’s, has made a positive impression conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Walt Disney Concert Hall and Hollywood Bowl. He’s scheduled to lead the Phil March 2-4 at Disney Hall (LINK).

The Orchestra of St. Luke’s Web site information on Heras-Casado is HERE.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Five-Spot: What caught my eye on January 5, 2012

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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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:
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• Today at 8 p.m., Tomorrow at 11 a.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Miguel-Harth Bedoya, conductor; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, pianist
The L.A. Phil swings back into action with a program of 19th century music that includes Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Saint-Saéns Symphony No. 3 (Organ). My preview article on the concert is HERE. Information: www.laphil.com

• Friday at 8 p.m. at Alan Goldman’s Mt. Washington Performance Space
Piano Theater: Elizabeth and Soya Schumann
Both of these pianists have won competitions and Elizabeth Schumann received a Gilmore Award so their credentials seem well established. The program includes Saint-Saéns Carnival of the Animals. I have no idea what the performance space is but it sounds intriguing. The duo has other Southland performances listed on the flyer. Information: www.palosverdes.com

• Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at San Gabriel Mission Playhouse
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9
New Year’s celebrations mean Strauss waltzes in Vienna and Auld Lang Syne in NYC’s Times Square, but in Japan it means hundreds of performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Jeffrey Bernstein hopes to recreate the magic by joining his Pasadena Master Chorale with the Los Angeles Daiku Orchestra ("The Japanese word 'daiku' is translated literally as 'the great nine' and often refers to Beethoven’s 9th," says Bernstein) for a performance of this most famous of symphonies. BTW: you may know the venue as the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium; it’s been renamed. Information: www.pasadenamasterchorale.org

• Ongoing at Geffen Playhouse, Westwood
Red Hot Patriot: The Kick Ass Wit of Molly Ivins
This 75-minute performance by Kathleen Turner includes many of the famous stories and lines that made the late, legendary, liberal newspaper columnist beloved of those whose political bent leans to the left. If you’re of that persuasion and don’t know who the saucy, bawdy Texan was (she died in 2007), it’s a chance to see what you missed for decades. If you’re a Republican who loved Ronald Reagan and George Bush (Sr. and “Shrub,” as Ivins termed George W.), you won’t appreciate it nearly as much. The show runs through Feb. 12. Information: www.geffenplayhouse.com

And the weekend’s “free admission” program …

• Friday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 11 p.m. on PBSSoCal (formerly KOCE) television
Los Angeles Philharmonic Gala Concert
This “Great Performances” telecast features the L.A. Phil’s gala concert that opened the 2011-2012 Disney Hall season last September. The program is all-Gershwin: An American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue, with jazz legend Herbie Hancock as the soloist. The TV schedule says that the program will also include one of the two improvisations on Gershwin tunes (Someone to Watch Over Me) that Hancock performed in September. Apparently the one-hour telecast will not include the Cuban Overture that opened the gala or the other improv (Embraceable You) that Hancock played that night. Information: www.pbs.org
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

PREVIEW AND LINKS: L.A. Philharmonic returns to Disney Hall this weekend

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Philharmonic; Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor
Dvorak: Hussite Overture; Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Jean-Yves Thibaudet, soloist)
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 (Organ)
Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday at 11 a.m., Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Preconcert lectures by Alan Chapman at 7 p.m., 9:45 a.m., 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively
Information: www.laphil.com
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With the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Mahler Project” looming on the horizon (beginning Jan. 13), it’s easy to forget that the Phil actually returns to the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage this week. That’s a pity because there are several interesting things to note about this weekend’s performances.

First, the concerts mark a homecoming for Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who was the orchestra’s assistant and then associate conductor from 1998-2004. During that stretch, he won the prestigious Seaven/NEA Conductors Award. Now age 43, the Peruvian-born Harth-Bedoya has been music director of the Ft. Worth (Tex.) Symphony since 2000 after previously heading orchestras in Auckland, New Zealand, Lima, Peru, and Eugene, Ore.

BTW: Harth-Bedoya’s bio (LINK) on his Web site is one of the most informative and readable of any conductor I’ve researched. Also, when I first clicked on his site’s home page (LINK), the first photo that appeared was of the conductor standing outside Disney Hall.

Second, the concerto brings back a Philharmonic favorite (and local resident): pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, as soloist in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2. In November Thibaudet was heavily involved in recording the score for the motion picture Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. James C. Taylor has a story HERE about that in the Los Angeles Times.

Third, the concert concludes with the most famous orchestral work that makes significant use of the organ: Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (Organ). The Phil has never known quite what to do with its massive Disney Hall organ (with 72 stops, 109 ranks, and 6,125 pipes, it’s one of the larger instruments in Southern California). The organ’s distinctive wooden pipes do look like an overturned bag of McDonald’s French fries and the instrument has quite a wide array of sounds available, but it usually sits silent, looming above the stage.

The Phil does sponsor an organ recital series that this season features six concerts (including Clark Wilson accompanying a silent film on Halloween and a Christmas-season concert). Occasionally orchestra programs include a piece that uses the instrument (e.g., Strauss’ Also Sprach Zaruthustra, Elgar’s Enigma Variations) but neither Esa-Pekka Salonen nor Gustavo Dudamel has seemed much interested in organ music.

The organ dedication concerts in 2004 included Lou Harrison’s Organ Concerto and the first performances of James MacMillan’s A Scotch Bestiary but I don’t think either has surfaced since. Aaron Copland’s Concerto for Organ has been played a couple of times and the Phil did commission an “organ” symphony from Stephen Hartke for May 2010 but it never materialized.

Thus, an occasional performance of Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony is just about it for organ/orchestra lovers (I think this marks the third time the piece has been played since 2004). It’s actually quite an inventive piece with the standard four symphony movements compressed into two (you can tell where the second and fourth sections begin because that’s when the organ comes in, quietly in the second section and with a thunderous C major chord to begin the fourth).

Joanne Pearce Martin, the Phil’s principal keyboardist, will play the organ; her husband, Gavin Martin, and well-known local pianist Vicki Ray will play the piano four-hand parts. One other note: Saint-Saëns later dedicated the symphony to Liszt, who died in 1886, the year the symphony debuted.

Finally, one would think it impossible to find a Dvorak orchestra piece that the L.A. Phil hasn’t played but the Hussite Overture, which will open this weekend’s concerts, is receiving its first LAPO performances.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.