OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Gustavo Dudamel and Los Angeles Philharmonic at Hollywood Bowl

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Marathon concerts used to be quite popular at the Hollywood Bowl and last night’s ¡Bienvenido Gustavo! program certainly fell into that category. From the first note of the national anthem (an unusual arrangement sung by the Andraé Crouch Singers) to the final fireworks salvo, the day clocked in at 5:10; one of the more amazing aspects was how many of the nearly 18,000 people came early and hung in there for the duration.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know that the concert’s climax was Gustavo Dudamel’s first appearance as the 11th music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But before the 28-year-old Venezuelan led the Philharmonic, a combined choir that numbered 179 and four soloists in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, there were five other performing groups (and a solo pianist) who showed off some of the breadth, depth and cultural diversity of musical life in Los Angeles.

It was a unique day, even by Bowl standards. The weather gods cooperated; the afternoon was warm but not boiling, and as the sun set (and a full moon rose in the east) an evening chill had people donning sweaters and jackets. There were more annoying aircraft than usually traverse the sky during a Bowl concert (the search lights didn’t take effect until later in the evening) but fortunately only one obnoxiously interfered with a quiet passage in the Beethoven. There were salvos of applause for everything Dudamel did, including at one of the climactic pauses in the final movement of the Beethoven. Even the sound system cooperated, at least to judge from a seat in Section N (about 3/4 of the way up the Bowl); in the boxes, it might have been overpowering.

There was plenty of Spanish spoken from the stage and in the audience and the day offered hopeful signs for Philharmonic management. It seemed quite apparent that many had never been at the Bowl and many appeared to come for more than just Gustavo. When pianist Alfredo Rodriguez (who recently defected from Cuba to the United States) began the first of his two jazz improvisations, the Bowl was about half-filled but by the time the third group, Flea and students from his Silverlake Conservatory Ensemble, began their 20-minute set, the audience had swelled to about 85% of capacity.

However, Dudamel was the main draw and his concept of Beethoven’s final symphony proved to be revelatory. Conducting without a score, he used measured tempos throughout much of the work but added in just enough urgency to keep things from bogging down. More importantly, he layered sound levels beautifully throughout the performance and spun long arcs of music in each of the movements that made for a compelling reading, even for those not familiar with the piece (which included many in the audience).

Among the highlights, the adagio third movement floated in the night air as liquid sound, magic enhanced by the orchestra’s new principal flute, Marthieu Dufour, who was making his first official appearance in that position. The fourth movement opened with brooding intensity but the first Ode to Joy orchestral utterance again hung almost imperceptibly in the night.

The orchestra played splendidly in most of the performance. The combined choirs — (alphabetically, the Albert MacNeil Jubilee Singers, Harmonies Girls Choir, Lozs Angeles Chamber Choir, Los Angeles Children's Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Our Lady of the Angels Spanish Choir, Pasadena Master Chorale, Philippine Chamber Singers and Southwest Sympghony Chorus — made a mighty, cohesive sound in declaiming Frederick Schiller’s ode to joy (and freedom), and presented a stunning melange of ethnicity and ages. The four soloists soprano Measha Brueggergosman, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, and in particular, baritone Matthew Rose and tenor Toby Spence were stellar. Overall, it was a bravura opening to the Phil’s Dudamel era.

After 10 minutes of a sustained standing ovation, Dudamel thanked the audience in English and Spanish, then led the combined forces in a reprise of the symphony’s final Ode to Joy section (a cruel thing to do for the singers). The purpose, of course, was to show off the Bowl’s famed fireworks, created this night by Eric S. Elias of Souza. Had been Beethoven known of such spectacular pyrotechnics when he wrote the symphony’s climax, he would surely have used them.

Prior to conducting the Philharmonic, Dudamel led the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA) Expo Center Youth Orchestra in an arrangement of the Ode to Joy section (arranged by Steven Venz). This is the first ensemble in the LAPO’s attempt to replicate the success of Venezuela’s “El Sistema,” the legendary youth music program that nurtures hundreds of thousands of young people every year; Dudamel is its most famous graduate.

In the opening measures last night, the YOLA ensemble sounded like a very shaky youth orchestra, not surprising considering the setting. However, as he has in rehearsals Dudamel (who wore a YOLA tee shirt) seems to have an innate ability to transform young musicians almost literally in mid-measure and by the end they were playing at an impressive high quality.

The five acts in the first half were almost all locally based, showed off the area’s vast cultural and ethnic diversity and were heavy on volume. Rodriguez — whose story of struggling for and ultimately receiving political asylum in the U.S. after defecting from Cuba has become quite the cause célèbre, — displayed prodigious technical skills in his two unnamed selections and certainly seemed to justify the laudatory praise from Quincy Jones and others.

Crouch brought his 45-member multi-racial and multi-generational choir from the New Christ Memorial Church and delivered three powerful gospel songs. Since there is some gentle, lyrical gospel music, at least this critic wished for some contrast in the selections. Crouch also inserted a couple of religious testimonials that may or may not have been appropriate, depending on your taste.

Flea, a formidable bass and trumpet player who first made his mark with the rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers, added an impressive riff to the Silver Lake ensemble’s work. The young musicians began with either awful dissonance or an impressive display of microtones (depending on how one chose to hear it ) but settled down and were notable for playing some of the gentler music of the first half.

Easily the most impressive group was the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Jazz Band led by jazz legend Herbie Hancock, who was making his LAPO debut as its new creative chair for jazz.

The final group in the first half was also the only Latin group, with David Hildago, Taj Mahal and Cougar Estrada joining with a Northern California-based group Los Cenzontles.

All segments of last night’s concert can be heard in a live HD Web cast beginning at 10 a.m. this morning and available for 24 hours at www.laphil.com.
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HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVERS:
• I don't usually sit as high up in the Bowl as section N but the location provided some unexpected benefits, including views of the "Hollywood" sign and the John Anson Ford Theatre. Most importantly, the sound was balanced and blended from my seat in the middle of the section. Perhaps the Phil should consider putting the boxes higher up.
• The video screens are a godsend to those sitting in the bench seats but the Phil could have used the screens to identify the presenters. I still have no idea who introduced Andraé Crouch because I couldn't understand him.
• The program was almost totally bilingual (English and Spanish) as were the translations on the video screens.
• Stacked parking remains one of the significant problems at the Bowl (normally I would use public transportation but I was caught in a transit-weak part of town) but last night turned out to be serendipitous. I got to my car just as the Dodgers were coming to bat in the seventh inning so I just listened to the inning while awaiting for cars to unstack. I got home just as Andre Ethier was catching the last out.
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(c) Copyright 2009, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Comments

[C.K. Dexter Haven]

um, "Marthieu" is still not right. (I'll send a bill for my editing fees soon)

[Bob Thomas]

Oops! Thanks for the correction.
— RDT

[CK Dexter Haven]

Thanks for the insight, Señor Thomas. Always good to hear your point of view.

BTW: The LA Phil's distinguished new principal flutist -- or is it flautist? -- is "Mathieu Dufour" (not Martin Dufour).