Review of LA Phil Live in HD; Brahms at the Cinema

The Los Angeles Philharmonic finished the third of its three live broadcasts into theaters across America and Canada with an unusual program of late Brahms--the Double Concerto paired with the fourth symphony. This was an event where solid and inspired musicianship was contrasted with an awkward presentation that was a step back from either of the two earlier broadcasts.

First the music. Cellist Gautier Capuçon and his older brother, violinist Renaud Capuçon joined the orchestra as soloists in the Double Concerto. They lit up the place.

They have the kind of ensemble that you could only acquire by growing up together, and this was of value in a work where the soloists are often called upon to finish one another's thoughts. But what struck me as I listened was the differences in artistic personality between these two siblings. Gautier plays with a kind of reckless abandon, fierce and always on the edge. Renaud seeks the Apollonian, as at that wonderful passage in the recapitulation where he played the famous "Viotti" theme in a sweet and crystalline A major.

They returned for an encore--the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia--which they played with breathtaking precision. Though this work is commonly used as a encore after the double concerto, in this case it allowed us to anticipate the final movement of the Brahms fourth in advance.

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel took a very classical approach to the opening two movements of the fourth symphony with serene gestures and delicate balances. He led the shaping into the coda and then let us hear "Brahms Unbound."

During the intermission there was a segment with rehearsal footage. The orchestra was working on the second movement where the solo horn restates the opening motive 8-bars after rehearsal [A]. Dudamel stopped the ensemble several time looking for the best sound of the pizzicato strings that support the texture. He wanted the notes to sing. Finally he asked them for "pizzicato sostenuto." There was a warmer and more human sound that opened up when they played the passage.

It was a great insight into the way Dudamel rehearses. I think that the strings could have used the concept for all the pizz playing in this movement--it would have charged the support system for the oscillating tunes that seduce us throughout the movement.

The third movement marked a turning point in Dudamel's conception of the symphony. From here to the end he pulled it out of the box.

The fourth movement held together as an inspired unfolding, and the famous flute solo in the 12th variation was spellbinding. The trombone chorale that concludes this section set in 3/2 meter was also attractive, and this central world, where Brahms reveals a deeply personal outlook, was moving.

Great as the music was in this event, the production was often lacking.

I am a fan of John Lithgow, but wow, he was awkward when he wasn't obtrusive. His dialog was a series of trite interjections. When the Capuçon brothers returned from their encore he said, "Too bad you couldn't have played it faster, huh, huh, huh." Yeah, good one. We didn't see Lithgow trip on Gautier's endpin but Lithgow told us about it anyway. He also asked Renaud if he could touch his violin. Then he did. Really.

The production has continued its idea of reading text messages from selected viewers and addressing them to these great musicians. Banal, again. This segment is standing proof that just because something is technologically possible doesn't mean it is a good idea.

La Phil's President and CEO Deborah Borda was interviewed. She announced "big plans for the future" of these broadcasts, but had no details. None. Here we were, assembled--an audience that has purchased tickets and attended. It was a mistake to not make at least some announcement of what the new season would bring. A segment like this was of no use. None. Give us more time in orchestral rehearsal; give us more conversation with Dudamel about the music.

Let's hope there is an announcement about the new season in the near future. Let's hope that the productions are no longer this tedious. With music this great, anything less is unfair.

"Deep Crazy;" Review of The LA Phil Live in HD

“For Hamlet,” said conductor Gustavo Dudamel, “you have to feel DEEP CRAZY.”

Dudamel was talking about the fantasy overture, the last of three written by Tchaikovsky--all inspired by Shakespearean plays. But "deep crazy" might have just as easily been used to describe the concept of programming all three works on a single event...played without intermission.

It worked.

Before any music was sounded we heard Matthew Rhys recite two welded monologues as Hamlet. Rhys set a breathtaking energy in motion that led us naturally into sound as the enigmatic fantasy overture began.

"The silence is so important," said Dudamel in preconcert footage, "it is always the feeling of...WHY?"

The orchestra focused on these silences, and each the 8th rests in the strange figure that falls away after the very first presentation of the opening fate motive seemed carefully sculpted. As the performance unfolded it became clear that Dudamel was shaping the score like a work by Mahler; shaping lines and twists to edge the philosophical.

Ok, now for more deep crazy: follow the Hamlet overture in F minor with another overture by Tchaikovsky (also in F minor): The Symphonic Fantasia on the Tempest. As if by the magic that powers the tempest this worked also.

There was no applause that separated the works, and with only a brief narration we were set upon the waters that open Tchaikovsky's Tempest. It worked because it felt like a developmental continuation of Hamlet.

In this early work, Dudamel found and voiced the non-Shakespearean influences that moved Tchaikovsky--a mixture of exact opposites combined in a single work--the style of Wagner and the style of Mendelssohn. The attitudes of both composers felt blended and almost reconciled in this elegant but dramatic performance.

Cheers to the section strings for the 21st century clarity in the rhythmic interplay of the opening texture. The precise frictions of this passage generated a platform to launch this second of the three overtures.

Orlando Bloom (as Romeo) and Anika Noni Rose (as Juliet) gave us a narrative blend that harmonized with the musical blend in the final work of the event: the famous Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture.

This production had a technical elegance in the camera angles that was lacking in the first transmission last January. The preconcert footage was informative and colorful. Only the post-concert questions came up short--we just wanted to decompress and, if anything, talk with the folks who had just performed. The questions were banal and distracting in this context.

But this was it. This event realized some of the massive potential in this new medium. I am already looking forward to the next transmission on June 5.

Thinking LA Phil Live in HD; The March 13 Program

I encourage you to try something different...something a little 21st century:

On March 13 the LA Philharmonic will continue its new "Live in HD Series" in selected theaters. You can find the location closest to you on this site.

There has been significant discourse about the pros and cons of hearing an orchestra simulcast played through a movie theater sound-system. We are given to experiencing live orchestral sound as a complexity akin to sonic wine-tasting. "I thought the sound ineffective," wrote Mark Swed, "the concert experience dulled."

I can understand Swed's complaint; hearing a live event that is simulcast is different from hearing live sound. One loses the seemingly infinite delicacy of live sound anytime it is processed. But for me the overall experience was not dulled. Without the transmission I would not have had the experience at all. The new medium created a new availability.

One still gets a sense of shared experience with Live-in-HD. We had gathered.

Like Swed, I also attended the first transmission of the LA Phil Live in HD in January and reviewed the event here on Sonic Labyrinth. That program featured a tasty performance of Leonard Bernstein's first symphony with lovely singing in the third movement by mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor. The program--Adams, Bernstein, Beethoven--was engaging. To include Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 in particular was to chart a worthwhile course. This was not pops. It was the real thing.

Cinemas are a place where people come to relax, but also to become engaged. Movies require uninterrupted concentration. Cinemas may be the perfect place outside of a concert hall to develop new audiences inside the concert hall.

I believe that high quality performances like these, made broadly available in cinemas, will allow us to re-energize the conversation about how to develop younger audiences for symphonic music; about how to make classical music relevant to the digital age.

The program on March 13 is also creative and worth your consideration. It will be centered on three works by Tchaikovsky inspired by Shakespeare plays: The Overture-Fantasy on Romeo and Juliet, the rarely played Overture-Fantasia on Hamlet op. 67, and the earlier Symphonic Fantasia after The Tempest, Op. 18. Readings from the plays will be interspersed within the program.

I may not see you there, but I will be there, listening. I remain convinced that there is potential in this new venture.