Opera, music, theater, and art in Los Angeles and beyond
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June 05, 2010
Partch, the ensemble, at REDCAT Photo: mine 2010
With all the Ring excitement this week, it might have been easy to overlook some other worthwhile musical events in town. Included in those would be the annual appearance by Partch, the ensemble dedicated to the preservation and performance of American composer Harry Partch. These musicians returned in their annual visit with their reconstructed versions of Partch’s idiosyncratic instruments to REDCAT this week for an evening that really couldn’t be any farther from the music of Wagner if they tried. This year’s theme focused on “Vernacular Music” or specifically works that are based on speech and often incorporate common ethnic or folk elements. This idea is commonplace to a listener today, but was far more outside the norm when Partch was composing in the 1950s before “World Music” was a category on iTunes. In addition to three pieces from Partch, the ensemble also played the similarly themed Canticle #3 from Lou Harrison and Anne LeBaron’s Southern Ephemera.
The centerpiece of the evening was Partch’s “opera” Even Wild Horses, which loosely incorporates text from Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell. Over three acts and eight scenes that ran about 30 minutes, Partch incorporates a wide variety of Latin and African dance rhythms across his oversized marimbas, and various stringed instruments. There is a small amount of half-spoken, half-sung text in Act II, but this is not narrative material by any means. Partch’s music is nothing if not a lot of fun, though it can sometime be tinged with an eerie sense of memory. (Take a look at the clip above from 1968 for a sense of it.) And while this is certainly present in Horses, I was even more struck by the inventiveness in another offering on the program, a film directed by Madeline Tourtelot from 1961 entitled Rotate the Body in All Its Planes – Ballad for Gymnasts. While Partch was preparing a performance of another work at the University of Illinois in Urbana in that year, the school’s gymnastic coach came for a visit to check up on athletes that were involved in the composer’s upcoming performance. The coach was so taken with what he saw, he convinced Partch to develop Rotate to be performed in conjunction with the NCAA championship meet to take place at the University later that year. Partch did, and the resulting music, timed to coincide with the gymnastic performances of these athletes, was caught on film. The film is a product of its time, but amazing in that it’s the product of a collaboration I would imagine being quite alien in today’s ever balkanized world of academia. So while there were no gods falling from grace in Partch’s tinkling melodies, the return of the ensemble bearing his name was welcome this week as it always is.
Gary Eister, John Schneider and members of PARTCH Photo: mine 2012It’s become an annual rite at REDCAT - the late spring/early summer appearance by PARTCH, the ensemble that bears the name of California composer and perpetual musical outsider Harry Partch. The shows are always special occasions if for no other reason that they are the rare occasions where Partch’s music is performed on the group’s painstaking replicas of the composer’s unique instruments designed to challenge the tonal hegemony of his early 20th Century world. This year’s performance, entitled Bitter Music, was even further removed from what the players have presented in the past by honoring Partch the man and artist apart from his music. They accomplished this through a reading of Partch’s unexpectedly preserved diary from 1935-1936 which recounts not only his travels to Europe to work on a variety of his avant-garde microtonal projects, but also his years living as an itinerant “hobo” wandering the West Coast guest of the government-sponsored camps for the dispossessed, at times begging for food, and working whenever and for whatever he could.
It is this rough and unpredictable life that is reflected in the diary’s title and the intention in its performance, largely a dramatic reading by PARTCH’s John Schneider, is also meant to capture the composer’s interest in the everyday music of human speech. The text contains more than just written text, but also drawings, bars of music, a few songs, and specific intonations for some of the quoted dialog. Schneider’s reading was accompanied mostly by pianist Gary Eister, who joined in with segments of dialog he would sing and simultaneously sound out on the piano. On four occasions, the two were joined by members of the ensemble to perform full-fledged if brief compositions either referred to in the text or reflective of its content. Some of these, including the two vocal line version of Barstow that concluded the evening were some of the most poignant music the ensemble has brought to REDCAT over the years. The performance and music were recorded by the ensemble and released last year in an excellent set by Bridge Records under the same title, Bitter Music.
These diary entries and Partch's lovely, poetic writing impart an intensely personal view of the artist at a critical time in his development. In his own words, Partch sounds like a young man on fire with exploring the world, musical and otherwise around him. He cares passionately about music and changing the musical world. He is concerned about a uniquely American sound and tradition he sees bound up in the lives of everyday people, and there is no doubt from his tales of the Depression years that he is not speaking of them as an outsider. Partch’s drawings of the natural world and the men he lived with during these years have their own beauty, and they also reflect his homosexuality with a frankness not typical for the time. These were not always great times for Partch who could go days without eating and have his work ignored or rejected even when he had the financing to pursue his dreams for a period in Europe. But while this may have provided the bitterness in his music of the period and afterward, much of the diary reflects the composer’s joy for the world around him and his commitment and belief that music and art could be different than they were at the time. What was bitter for him, seems inspirational now and the audience quickly found themselves caught up in this two and a half hour reading with music which was daring for doing the one thing most composers dread – communicating with audiences about the world outside of their musical art. Partch himself thought the diary had mostly been destroyed and it is much to our benefit it survived, unexpectedly copied as part of another project, and given this life by those Californians dutifully keeping his work alive today.
It’s easy to dislike California. Especially now, considering it’s a state mired in financial and political problems largely as a direct result of the fear and idiocy of its own populace. (Vote all you want, you still have to pay for your kids to go to school.) So it was nice to have a weekend of quintessential California originals to remind me of the good things and good folks to come out of this golden state. Saturday night brought this year’s performance from Partch, the ensemble named after the California composer and iconoclast, Harry Partch. These shows, which take place annually at REDCAT downtown, are highly regarded events honoring Partch’s musical life and works, and this year’s installment was sold out. Part of the draw, of course, is getting to see the idiosyncratic instruments designed by the composer to create the microtonal landscapes he imagined. From the giant diamond marimba to the modified guitars and chromelodeon, Partch’s instruments can appear as strange as the music itself.
This year’s show entitled “Partch Dark/Partch Light” included what might be described as songs and song cycles divided into more and less somber groups. I mean “songs” to the extent that the works were mostly short and involved vocal passages. Although not always sung, the pieces reflected on a variety of literary texts including James Joyce and Lewis Carroll, as well as mid-20th century American experiences. They reminded me mostly of Charles Ives, but with less of a New England flair. The first half of the program, “Partch Dark” included Eleven Intrusions a conglomerate of pieces on Greek scales, war, and other topics. The second, lighter half, was more literary in focus, but both groups of songs contained elements of humor. The final cycle Barstow: Eight Hitchhiker Inscriptions reflected the composer’s own itinerant days in a setting of material about hard scrabble characters and life on the margins. Not only did it involve spoken passages, but some opportunities for the players to act and move.
Unfortunately, the show was plagued with technical problems. There were two pieces of video, the first of which Windsong featured a soundtrack by Partch. The non-sync sound art film on Greek mythological themes kept breaking up and eventually after several pauses had to be completely stopped and restarted from the end point. It broke the tension in an already choppy program of short works. I never seemed to be able to get back into the show after this point. The second short piece, Rose Petal Jam, was a brief outtake of documentary footage of Partch himself explaining the recipe for the title foodstuff and railing against music writing in the popular media. It was perhaps the most cogent reminder all evening of the spirit and personality behind this unique art.
Meanwhile, last Thursday brought us a very different group of California-based, if not native, musicians in the latest local show from Fleetwood Mac. The group defined a late 70s California aesthetic that would be repackaged for mass consumption and eaten up until this very day. The group returned with their most famous line-up minus the now retired Christine McVie. This current tour, which is wrapping up here in the Southwest, was not in support of a new recording but focused instead on the wealth of expertly-written popular songs this collaboration produced over several decades. It was fun, which it was supposed to be. It was also plagued by poor acoustics and over-amplification in the Staples center downtown. When the band played simply, things were good. During the last half-hour of the two-and-a-half hour set, though, things did descend dangerously into self-parody. Ribbons and lace are one thing, but when Stevie Nicks pulls out a top hat you know your in trouble. Later in the first encore, Mick Fleetwood descended into an extended drum solo marked with failed attempts at a call and response with the audience who at this point were beyond deciphering any of the barking coming from his head mic. But it was a reminder of a sunny golden past and of a California, which, as Lindsay Buckingham noted from the stage has a way of “pulling you in on its own terms.” It’s still true now 30 years later despite all the bad news.
In case the WDCH way-back machine trip to the 1960s didn’t float your boat last weekend, there was more time travel afoot this weekend in the same building downstairs at the REDCAT. This time around the decade was the 1950s with a program featuring Partch, an ensemble (formerly known as Just Strings) dedicated to performance of works from American composer Harry Partch under the leadership of guitarist and founding member John Schneider. The evening was momentous in a way in that it consisted of the first full performance of Plectra and Percussion Dances, an hour long work of music for dance and other potential collaborations, since it was originally premiered during a live radio broadcast in 1953. In fact, the performance included the recorded elements of the original broadcast such as Partch’s own introduction to the three segments of the work. The piece deals with a variety of themes based on mythology but has a much broader agenda and sense of humor about topics of life and death on the whole.
Partch was known not only for his microtonal compositions, but also for the wide array of self-made instruments he invented to have them played on. Partch, the ensemble, has reconstructed many of these instruments, which were brought to bear in Saturday’s fascinating and quite enjoyable performance. These instruments are largely percussive and string-based in nature and, while reminiscent of familiar marimbas, harps, and cimbalons, could just as easily have stepped out of a sci-fi adventure. The sound is augmented by the chromelodeon, a sort-of wheezing fractured organ that sounds like a distant memory - a sound that would play a huge role in the late 80s and 90s recordings of Tom Waits. Here it was unleashed in all of its 1950s glory wedded to versions of latin dance rhythms, which form the structure of “Even Wild Horses” the third and longest Act of the piece which also included settings of Arthur Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell.
The playing was great, and, while there is so much detail and craftsmanship to admire in the ensemble’s performance, the best thing about it was the way they captured Partch’s own sense of fun in the work. This was evident by the composer’s own description of the pieces for the radio broadcast, and the musicians clearly share his love for these instruments and the sounds and ideas they were meant to express. The sold-out crowd responded enthusiastically and often throughout the night. Partch’s visits have become regular events at REDCAT in recent years, and, with evenings that are this much fun, here’s hoping they continue.
Linda Watson and Vitalij Kowaljow in Act III of Die Walküre Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2009
Even in the land of the endless summer, there’s something special about that Memorial Day to Labor Day period that sets it apart. And for lovers of live performance, options abound everywhere and don’t always involve being outside. June, of course, is a very big month here in Los Angeles with Los Angeles Opera’s first complete performances of Wagner’s Der Ring Des Nibelungen, which begins over Memorial Day Weekend and runs through the 26th. The company has been through a lot to get to this point, including the recent shameful bad mouthing of the production by two of its stars. But honestly, despite it all, it’s a superior and unique production that will continue to be a respected point of reference for years to come. There are thousands of reasons to go and relatively few not to. And even if the cost is an issue, KUSC will be airing local tapings of all four operas on consecutive Saturday mornings starting the 29th. There are also tons of events taking place around town in conjunction with the Ring Festival—from planetarium shows at the Griffith Observatory to four performances of Wagner’s early rarity, Die Feen, which the Los Angeles Lyric Opera will mount at the Pasadena Playhouse starting June 11. On a personal note, for any readers who’ll be attending the Opera America conference in L.A. June 9th -12th, you’ll get a chance to see Out West Arts live and in the flesh when I appear on a panel about the future of journalism. If you’re there, come say hi.
George Benjamin
There’s worthwhile opera up north in San Francisco this month, as well, including that company’s own staging of Wagner’s Die Walküre with Nina Stemme in preparation for their own Ring Cycles in 2011. Also on the bill are Deborah Voigt’s first performances as Minnie in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West and the Patricia Racette-headlining Gounod's Faust, all of which I’ll catch during the weekend of the 18. June also means this year’s Ojai Festival, which I’ll be forced to take an abbreviated visit to this year due to my schedule. On the 12th, however, I will see Eric Huebner play Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus and the local premiere of George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill both on June 12.
Partch
With all of this, there’s little time for anything else, but you might want to consider the touring production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, which will show up at the Ahmanson Theater this month. There are also a few starry classical concerts to keep in mind, as well, including a Christine Brewer recital at Walt Disney Concert Hall on June 1, and an appearance from Leila Josefowicz playing the Adams Violin Concerto in Orange County with the Pacific Symphony on June 5. And last, but never least, is an appearance by Partch, the ensemble dedicated to the ongoing performance of works from the iconoclastic California composer who’ll appear at REDCAT on Wednesday, June 2. So go get your Wagner on and have a great month.
As the gray of a Southern California June settles in, the Spring performing arts season sighs its last sigh before our real summer months kick in. There’s still a lot to take in around town, but it's also one of the prime times to consider getting out of town. The prime example of this is right up the Pacific Coast Highway where this year’s Ojai Music Festival will kick off for four days of adventurous 20th Century and contemporary music on June 7th. This year’s music director is Leif Oven Andsnes and he’s put together a great program that includes the West Coast premiere of John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit which will open the festival on Thursday with its dozens of percussionists spread throughout Liibbey Park. (The video above will give you an idea of what the show was like indoors at the Park Avenue Armory in New York last year.) There’s so much else though, and you can read further about the program and the festival's many guest artists who’ll be visiting Ojai in my interview with Mr. Andsnes from last month.
Further up the road in the Bay Area, there are some other high priority out-of-town events for the month. San Francisco Opera will present Verdi’s Attila starring Ferruccio Furlanetto in the title role on June 12th. But perhaps the bigger temptation will be John Adams' Nixon in China which will receive its company premiere on the 8th with an excellent cast that includes Brian Mulligan as Nixon. And if you are in town the weekend I will be, you’ll likely want to see the San Francisco Symphony who’ll be performing Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle for three nights starting the 21st with Michelle DeYoung and Alan Held under Michael Tilson Thomas. (P.S. If you missed Kander and Ebb’s excellent The Scottsboro Boys in San Diego, don’t make the same mistake when the show comes to A.C.T. in San Francisco starting June 21st after finishing its run down south this coming weekend.)
There’s theater big and small of course. Center Theater Group’s Mark Taper Forum will present the world premiere of a new musical from Michael John LaChiusa, Los Otros starting on the 3rd. The Porters of Hellsgate will mount Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor starting on the 15th. Further south, the Old Globe Theater will kick off its summer festival season with Shakespeare’s Richard IIIon the 3rd, As You Like It on the 10th, and just for contrast, Inherit the Wind on June 17th. This year’s festival and two of the three productions will again be headed up by director Adrian Noble. Also in San Diegp, the LaJolla Playhouse will present the West Coast Premiere of J.T. Roger’s Blood and Gifts starting on the 12th. And if you’re looking for something even more adventurous, there is the return of Robert Cucuzza's take on Miss Julie, Cattywampus on the 22nd and Theatre Movement Bazaar's Anton's Uncles on the 8th both part of the South Coast Repertory Studio series. You may also want to consider one of the dozens of theatrical events this month that will take place this month as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival focusing on the breadth of experimental theater in Los Angeles. I'll be constrained from participating myself this year and there are far too many shows to mention, but you can peruse their website for details. And before the month is out, you’ll want to see Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine’s A Missionary Position at REDCAT starting the 28th which examines the particular conflicts of gay identity in certain parts of Africa.
While last weekend brought a memorable performance from one example of those most modern of musician collectives, the percussion quartet, this coming weekend has me thinking of another. With the explosion of music written for an ever-increasing array of percussion instruments both foreign and domestic, ensembles of percussionists have increasingly struck out on their own, commissioning new works from composers happy to do so and building careers out of playing them together.
Perhaps the most prominent of these ensembles on the West Coast is the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, which is now entering its fifth season with its original line up of Matt Cook, Justin DeHart, Nick Terry, and Eric Guinivan. The group has played 20th and 21st-century works on most of the major stages around town but they passed a new landmark recently with the release of their first major label recording on Sono Luminus entitled, Rūpa-khandha.
The recording is notable for many reasons, but first and foremost because it is focused heavily on the legacy that West Coast composers have left on the percussionists' art. Ensembles like Brooklyn’s So Percussion have made a name for themselves commissioning works from the likes of New York-based composers Steve Reich and David Lang. And while the LAPQ are no strangers to this work, the material on Rūpa-khandha is decidedly different, featuring four newly commissioned works from composers working on the West Coast with an eye toward the percussion legacy left by those California giants of 20th-century composition Harrison, Riley, Harry Partch, William Kraft, and others.
One of those legacies is an interest in Eastern percussion instruments and their use in religious and folk settings. The first two pieces on Rūpa-khandha refer to those elements in direct if not always specific ways. LAPQ member Eric Guinivan’s Ritual Dances imagines music for folk rites of some imaginary tribe of the Pacific Rim. African and Arabic drums are joined by “found instruments” over five movements that emphasize the ritualistic sounds of ceremonies both solemn and celebratory. This is immediately followed by a similar companion piece from Sean Heim, Rūpa-khandha. The title refers to the first of Five Aggregates or “khandras” that constitute the human being in Buddhist philosophy. The allusions in this single movement are taken from a variety of other cultural traditions including the notion of the five basic elements and Native American musical traditions. The music evokes a sense of spirituality separate from the kind of urban transcendentalism common among works coming out of the late 20th century school of American Minimalism.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s current Principal Timpanist and composer Joseph Pereira follows suit with Repoussé, four movements inspired by his travels and instrument collecting while still playing with the New York Philharmonic. The title here, and those of the four separate movements refer to techniques of production in visual arts. Repoussé specifically refers to hammering out low-raised decorative embellishments in a malleable metal. It's an intriguing piece and it speaks to Perira's increasingly higher profile in this region as a composer. The recording concludes with a single movement from Jeffrey Holmes, Occasus.
Timothy AndresOWA is back from the recent cold and snow on the East Coast to sunny everyday Los Angeles and looking forward to a busy March. What to do? Here’s my list for the picks of this month in performing arts around town and beyond. Interestingly the two events I’m most anticipating involve composer Timothy Andres who has been seen on local stages before and will be all over the place at the end of the month. He’s one of a number of young composers whose music will be featured in the latest program from wildUp, entitled “Craft” on the 23rd and the 24th. Director Christopher Rountree and his fellow young musicians have selected a program riffing on the contrast (or lack thereof) between East and West coast composers programming them side by side for these evenings at Beyond Baroque in Venice. Meanwhile, Anders will unveil a major new piano concerto commission entitled Old Keys for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as part of their Sound Investment commissioning project on the 24th and 25th. And just to cap off LACO’s big month on the 7th, music director Jeffrey Kahane and his players will celebrate his 15th anniversary with the group in a concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Frances-Marie Uitti Photo: Francesca d'AlojaProbably the other major musical event this month will be the inaugural Piatigorsky International Cello Festival that will welcome over two dozen cellists from around the world for two weeks worth of concerts, master classes, and other events in a large collaboration between LACO, the L.A. Philharmonic, and the Colburn and Thornton Music Schools. There’s a lot to choose from including performances from Mischa Maisky (17th), Alisa Weilerstein (18th), and Ralph Kirschbaum (15th) with the L.A. Philharmonic under Neeme Järvi (a different work and soloist is featured in each program.) There are also two group shows worth checking out including a performance of all six of Bach’s unaccompanied Cello Suites with 6 different soloists on the 11th and another program that closes the festival on Sunday the 18th at WDCH featuring music by Adès, Stravinsky, Bach, Rachmaninoff and others played by 9 different soloists. And speaking of internationally known cellists, REDCAT will welcome Frances-Marie Uitti for a program of late 20th century works in a rare L.A. appearance on the 23rd.
Jessye Norman Photo: Carol FriedmanOf course if you want 20th century music there are other opportunities to consider. The Southwest Chamber Music collective will continue its John Cage 2012 festival with programs on the 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th and 24th all around town covering a wide variety of the composers works in his centenary year. Monday Evening Concerts will offer avant-garde works on the border between jazz and everything else in a program including works by Peter Ablinger and Stefan Wolpe on the 26th. Also at REDCAT this month will be another adventurous evening from the California E.A.R. unit who'll collaborate on the works of Morton Subotnick on the 24th. Meanwhile, there's plenty to see in San Francisco where Michael Tilson Thomas will lead two weeks of American 20th century music as part of the wide ranging “American Maverics” festival which will repeat at Carnegie Hall later this season. Music by Harbison, Ives, Foss, John Cage and others will be performed by the likes of Jessey Norman, Joan La Barbara, and Meredith Monk who will collaborate on selections from Cage's Song Books on the 10th. The SFS has created a festival pass as well that can get you into the shows for relatively little and it breaks my heart that I’ll only get to see the shows on the 9th and 10th but there are many other worthwhile events including an appearance by the PARTCH ensemble on the 11th.
Rusini Sidi, Eko Supriyanto, Astri Kusuma Wardani, Jessica Rivera, Russell Thomas Photo: CAL Performances 2007
May is always a strange month on the performing arts calendar. The season is more or less over with, but the summer offerings—festival and otherwise—aren’t underway yet. It’s kind of a clearinghouse period, but there are some rewards to gather if you keep an eye out for them. Perhaps the organization with the best example of what I mean this year is the Los Angeles Philharmonic that carries on in the final lame duck, post-Salonen month of its season. Serious effort has gone in to scheduling interesting programs and guests for this dirty work, however. Foremost among these are two shows conducted by composer John Adams who will present local premieres of his Son of Chamber Symphony on May 12 and the semi-staged Peter Sellars-directed version of his most recent opera A Flowering Tree the following weekend. Adams’ music will also feature prominently on the weekend of the 9th when NY Philharmonic Associate Director Xian Zhang will conduct it, as well as Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto with Yefim Bronfman and Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin. The season ends with two weeks under Christoph Eschenbach who will lead more Prokofiev (Symphony No 5) and Julia Fischer in Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto over Memorial Day weekend. The last show will feature Bruckner’s 7th Symphony starting May 28th.
From LAO's La Traviata Photo: Robert Millard/LAO
All of this music will be bookended by two performances from the magnificent L.A. Master Chorale. On May 3rd, they will perform Haydn’s Heilig Mass paired with Messiaen’s Trois petites liturgies and they will wrap everything up on May 31 with the West Coast premiere of Roberto Sierra’s Missa Latina. Both are excellent chances to see this equally esteemed resident of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. And while we’re in that building, it’s worth noting one other musical event downstairs at the REDCAT where the annual celebration of the idiosyncratic world and instruments of Harry Partch takes place on May 29 and 30. There are a smattering of opera offerings to consider. Most unusual is the program from Long Beach Opera which will pair two one act works, Viktor Ullman’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Carl Orff’s The Clever One, for three performances to take place in the hull of The Queen Mary in Long Beach May 8 and 17th. On the more predictable side, L.A. Opera will kick off a revival of the first Martha Domingo production of Verdi’s La Traviata on May 21 with Marina Poplavskaya while San Diego Opera will get involved with Madama Butterfly starring Patricia Racette on the 9th. Just in time for all of the philistines whose senses have been so offended by Achim Freyer’s Ring productions last month. I will also be travelling up to Seattle for business on the 16th allowing me to catch their production of Le Nozze di Figaro with uber-hottie Mariusz Kwiecien as count Almaviva.
Ballet Preljocaj
Away from the music center, UCLA Live will present a return visit from Ballet Preljocaj on May 1 and May 2 with their always visually interesting take on things – this time out it's Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. There’s also quite a variety of theater to take in during May that I’ll be attending too. (Though, admittedly some of this opened up in April). The incredible shrinking CTG season roles on with a revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the Ahmanson theater, David Mamet’s Oleanna at the Mark Taper Forum, and the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at the Kirk Douglas Theater. Since it appears two-thirds of L.A.’s major theater operation will be dark this summer due to the economy, this will be about all we’ll be seeing from them for a while. But there are plenty of other theater games here in town. Odyssey Theater will be staging Caryl Churchill’s A Number this month on the West Side, while downtown the East West Players will offer a double bill of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years with a Sondheim review, Marry Me a Little. The Geffen in Westwood continues to offer up Conor McPherson’s excellent The Seafarer while the smaller theater continues with Louis and Keely Live at the Sahara. In Glendale, A Noise Within is currently mounting Anouilh’s The Rehearsal and down south, South Coast Repertory will revive Donald Margulies Collected Stories. And not to be forgotten, the Theater at Boston Court in Pasadena will present the world premiere of Laura Schellhardt's vampire dramaCourting Vampires from May 9th.
So while it may not be a blockbuster, May certainly has its charms. And if all else fails, keep in mind that Fleetwood Mac will reignited some of their Southern California magic at the Staples Center on May 28th.
John Adams, Leila Josefowicz, and members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Photo: mine 2009
Winning programs have been in short supply for the Los Angeles Philharmonic this Fall, so it was refreshing to catch the second of two new shows this weekend under the guidance of John Adams. It was the final show featuring the L.A. Philharmonic in the “West Coast, Left Coast” Festival celebrating California’s influence on classical music. And while this series has not been particularly well argued or planned over the last two weeks, the final show seemed to pull together a lot of the themes hinted at in earlier parts of the festival. There was cutting edge technology from Paul Dresher who opened the evening with Glimpsed from Afar, featuring the Quadrachord and Marimba Lumina, two instruments he helped create specifically to achieve their unique sound qualities a la Harry Partch. There was also more movie music - this time the real McCoy. Parts of Leonard Rosenman's score for Rebel Without A Cause was given a modernist treatment and sounded richer and darker than you might expect.
John Adams, Joseph Pereira, and members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Photo: mine 2009
But the evening belonged to two living composers and two inspired soloists. Before the break was William Kraft's Timpani Concerto No.1. Kraft, a composer, guest conductor, and former Principal Timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was given a loving reception from the audience and orchestra. Better yet, his music was played with real excitement and flair by the L.A. Philharmonic's current composer and Principal Timpanist Joseph Pereira. A handsome and sharp-dressed man to be sure, but as he whipped off the second pair of gloves in the movements first work, you know he meant business.
The big piece for the evening, however, was a return engagement of Adams’ own The Dharma at Big Sur, a sort-of concerto for electric violin that was commissioned for the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003. It was performed several times in that season with Tracy Silverman as soloist under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen and this was its first return to this stage. This time around it was played by Leila Josefowicz who is no stranger to contemporary works, and, more importantly, she’s probably the greatest current interpreter of Adams’ Violin Concerto. Josefowicz, along with Hilary Hahn and Janine Jansen, represent the best of contemporary violinists, and it is no surprise that in one fell swoop she made Adams' piece seem her own. The Dharma at Big Sur is a gorgeous piece of music that builds into a gigantic golden glow several times and sharply evokes the California coastline more than you'd think any piece of music could. It's crying, nearly South Asian feel is both instantly familiar and strangely from another world at the same time. The performance under Adams' own baton was certainly not as crisp as it could have been, and certainly has been under Salonen's former guidance. But this was still, a radiant evening of California originals.
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