SAME-DAY REVIEW: Robin Ticcati's and Lars Vogt with Los Angeles Philharmonic

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Philharmonic, Robin Ticciati, conductor; Lars Vogt, pianist
Friday, March 19, 2010 • Walt Disney Concert Hall
Next performance: Saturday at 8 p.m.
Info: www.laphil.com
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After an octet of guest conductors this year who collectively total more than half a millennium (the aggregate would have been much higher except for 33-year-old Vasily Petrenko), youth is elbowing its way back onto the Los Angeles Philharmonic podium for the next two weekends, beginning with 26-year-old Englishman Robin Ticciati who is making his West Coast debut with an unusual and interesting program at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The youthful, curly haired maestro has drawn inevitable comparisons to L.A. Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel but the parallels are not really apt. Ticciati is just getting started in the conducting game. This season he began as principal conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, next season will become principal guest conductor of the Bamberg Symphoniker, and he’s piling up guest conducting gigs and favorable reviews around the globe. Sounds a little like Dudamel at a similar age, minus the “El Sistema” connection.

Upon a first encounter in this morning’s concert, Ticciati doesn’t appear to be as flamboyant as his Venezuelan counterpart. He conducted from a score for all four pieces and his conducting style isn’t as stylish or exuberant as Dudamel. One thing they do share in common is an infectious grin that says, “I’m having a great time.” Of course, if you’re age 26 leading an orchestra the quality of the Phil in Disney Hall, you SHOULD be enjoying yourself!

Ticciati’s calling card was somewhat unbalanced from a time point of view. The first half took nearly an hour; the second half lasted just under 40 minutes. Three of the pieces were from Scandinavian composers; the last — Elgar’s Enigma Variations — is one of the quintessential examples of British romanticism. Two of the works — the Elgar and Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor — are warhorses. Of the other two, Magnus Lindberg’s Chorale was receiving its LAPO premiere while Sibelius King Christian II Suite, hadn’t played by the orchestra since 1929.

One thing that seems apparent from today’s concert: Ticciati relishes drawing buttery string sounds from his ensemble/ The Phil’s combined string sections delivered handsomely throughout, which is a good thing because the King Christian II Suite is filled with lots of lushness in a Sibelius sort of way. Unlike many young conductors, Ticciati also appears to savor silence — in Disney Hall silence can be spellbinding, and today it often was.

Sibelius derided this suite — his first published work (in 1898, a year before Finlandia) — as “salon music,” but that really only applies to the final banal section, Ballade. The other movements were mellifluous; one wonders why it took the Phil 81 years to resurrect the piece.

The soloist in the concerto was 39-year-old German pianist Lars Vogt, who must have found it a novel experience to play with a conductor quite a bit younger than himself. The Grieg usually shows up annually at Hollywood Bowl although it did appear on a Disney Hall program a couple of years back. Hearing it indoors is always a treat.

Since Ticciati has only been conducting for about 11 years, every piece must still seem like it’s fresh to him, and the Grieg was no exception. He and Vogt seemed to be at one with the idea of savoring the concerto's great melodies, so much so that tempos tended to languish more than some might have thought appropriate. However, there was no denying the quality of Vogt’s solo work or the Philharmonic’s first-rate accompaniment, particularly in the long, spinning lines of the Adagio.

Ticciati and the orchestra opened the second half with one of the few Lindberg pieces that haven’t appeared on local programs (the Finnish composer was a favorite of former Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen). The six-minute Chorale (it took longer to read the program note than it did to hear the piece) is a homage to J.S. Bach’s 1724 Cantata O Ewigkett, du Donnerwort, BWV 60. Aside from needing something to balance the time of the two halves, one presumes that Ticciati chose Chorale because it, too, has plenty of lush sounds, albeit in a craggy Lindbergian sort of way.

Given the concerto’s quirky tempos, one feared for the Elgar but Ticciati kept things moving along briskly; even the glorious Nimrod variation was tightly controlled. Sensitive solo work from Michelle Zukovsky on clarinet, French hornist William Lane and Violist Carrie Dennis helped make the performance soar, topped off (bottomed off might be a more appropriate description) by glorious bass rumblings from the Disney Hall organ in the final movement.

The Philharmonic’s Associate Conductor, 23-year-old Lionel Bringuier, returns to the podium next Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a program that includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 ( not being played on the “Casual Friday” program) and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Emmauel Ax as soloist.
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Kudos to the Philharmonic for playing the 22-minute Sibelius suite without pausing to seat latecomers (and there were plenty).
• Yes, for those wondering, I did, in fact, take my Gold Line/Red Line/Angels Flight trip to get to Disney Hall and it was as pleasant as I knew it would be. Took about 40 minutes. See a link HERE for my post on the reopening of Angels Flight and what it means for those taking public transit to Disney Hall.
• As I've often said, the 11 a.m. start time makes for a highly civilized way to enjoy a concert. The last Friday morning concert is April 2 when Semyon Buchkov conducts Mahler's Symphony No. 5.
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(c) Copyright 2010, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.