Tonight I went to Disney Hall to see Hilary Hahn. She plays there just about every year, usually in December or January, and this time she is playing a three show stint, of which tonight's concert was the middle one. The L.A. Philharmonic is doing a series of shows this year in honor of the legendary composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein, called "Bernstein 100" in reference to the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. Bernstein is most well known in popular culture for composing the score to "West Side Story", a hugely successful stage show that was made into a movie that won a boatload of Oscars. Even the original Alice Cooper group recorded a Bernstein composition when they covered "Gutter Cat Versus The Jets" for their classic "School's Out" album. So Lenny Bernstein was a force in popular culture in the 50s and 60s, as a musician and even a political activist.
But he also wrote some very deep and serious classical music (though he was most well known as a conductor), and I imagine that one of his more well known compositions was his "Serenade", because it has been recorded many times. The title is actually "Serenade (after Plato's Symposium)", but it's just "Serenade" for short. Hilary recorded it for her second album, released way back in 1999. She probably hasn't toured the piece since then - at least not in all the times I've seen her - but tonight she sounded fantastic as always, playing a piece that is more like a soundscape, or soundtrack, than a violin concerto. The emphasis was on ensemble playing, with the orchestra as opposed to soloing, and though she led the way - all the way through the piece - the focus was on lyricism rather than fireworks. I had not listened to the HH Bernstein CD in several years, so I'd forgotten how lush and beautiful the "Serenade" is. It is a "visual" piece, i.e. sounds like a soundtrack, and maybe he was thinking that way, as he was a movie composer too. Hilary played a short piece by Bach for her encore, though I don't know the title because she didn't announce it.
The other highlight of the evening came in the second half of the program, when we got to hear "The Firebird Suite" by Stravinsky. Man, did it sound incredible! I'm tellin' ya, if I lived a bit closer to Downtown L.A. and didn't have to deal with the traffic getting down there, and maybe if the ticket prices were a tad cheaper, I'd be down there to watch the L.A. Phil most every night.
SB! You've gotta come with me to an L.A. Phil show! I know you live in Chicago, but hey.....
Well, you've just gotta come with me to a show, is all. Or if you can't do it right away, at least go to see your own fantastic and world-famous orchestra, the Chicago Symphony. You guys had the legendary Sir George Solti, and have always been ranked right up there with Philadelphia and Berliner Philharmoniker, and Cleveland, and London and all the best orchestras of the world. And since the 1990s, we are too! LA Phil is world class now, and it is so incredible to go see and hear an 80 piece orchestra play such well developed composition. It feels like you are inside the music. I mean, I know it feels that way at a great rock concert too, and it goes without saying that I am one of the biggest rock fans that have ever lived, but I also wanna extol the Orchestral Experience.
And so, until you can come with me to Disney Hall, try to go see the Chicago Symphony at least once. Pick a concert that you might like - maybe even when HH is playing, or another soloist you may be a fan of - and go. You will blow your mind on the orchestral sound.
One day I will go to a lot more classical shows than I do now. All the little things you can do are really cool, like watching different sections of instruments as their parts come up, or following the music by your ear, and then your eyes catch up. Your ear directs your eyes to, say, a clarinetist, or a cellist, or one of the percussionists in back. There is so much going on......more than 80 musicians.... it's a mindboggler.
And capping it all off was a fantastic young conductor named Jonathon Heyward. He was subbing for another more well known conductor who was ill and couldn't make it. He knocked it out of the park and got a standing ovation.
So, it was a great night of music at Disney Hall. Classical concerts are in your future, SB.
And one day, you've gotta go to one with me. :):) xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
See you in church in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment