LA Phil/Dudamel concerts at Barbican

[pilamenon]

These should be early highlights of the 2011 concert season. I've never seen Dudamel live and am booked for Friday 28th - Mahler 9. Rather wish I was going Thursday for Beethoven 7 and the American stuff instead, as I don't know Mahler 9 that well and probably won't have time to listen ahead of the date. But not that I'm complaining! Anyway, hints on what to look out for in this symphony would be much appreciated.

http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=10301

http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?id=10302

Message to hosts - is there scope for a sub-board on concert-going? I see there's already one for the Proms.

New Year greetings to everyone!

[Petrushka]

New Year greetings to you to, Pilamenon.

Mahler 9? Well, Leonard Bernstein saw it as four ways to say farewell. He also saw it as the death of tonality. Alban Berg said that the first movement is permeated by thoughts of death. See this as a starting point. Rather fancifully, perhaps, Bernstein felt that the opening represented Mahler's faltering heartbeat and others have noted a similarity with the opening of Beethoven's 'Les Adieux' sonata. The music rises to three enormous climaxes the last of which, according to Berg, announces death and which Mahler asks to be played 'with the utmost vehemence'. A solemn and extended coda in the form of a funeral march dies away on a high solitary flute.

The second movement is in the form of the Austrian dance known as the landler. Mahler wanted it to be played in a coarse, peasant type fashion. At the end, in Bruno Walter's words 'a tragic undertone sounds in the joy and one feels the dance is over'.

The third movement, Rondo Burleske, is a wild and angry movement but there is a moment of stillness that seems to prepare us for the last movement. The trumpet plays a really high exposed passage here. The coda is a veritable maelstrom of many themes in counterpoint. Mahler was possibly influenced by J S Bach here.

The main theme of the finale sounds very much to English ears like 'Abide with Me'. Whether Mahler knew this hymn by W H Monk is not known but the similarity is certainly startling. The tremendous central climax (I will never forget this moment under Bernstein at the Barbican 1985) is underpinned by a huge roll on the bass drum. Listen out for the violins throwing, in Richard Osborne's memorable phrase, 'a bridge of flame' across the score as the music dies away. A final cymbal-capped climax on the horns and the music gradually dies away to nothing. The death of tonality, Mahler's own death, the terrible apocalypse about to engulf Europe in the First World War or the fate of European Jewry in Auschwitz? You decide.

[bluestateprommer]

The 1st of those two LA Phil/Dudamel programs that are coming soon to the Barbican is being HD-cast to cinemas today, in a few hours. Barring accidents, I hope to see that HD-cast, so I can post a report if anyone's interested. The Bernstein Symphony No. 1 is the one of most interest to me, as I've never heard it live (or even "Memorex-live"). It's also been 10 years or so since I've heard the John Adams work live, so a repeat visit is due. \

Also, for pilamenon (M #1), since this board is marked "Performance", I think that concert-going would generally fit in here, so it wouldn't require its own separate board. The Proms are its own special animal, deserving of its own separate board, since that's a seasonal, highly concentrated phenomenon. But I'll defer to french frank on the official word, since this is just MHO.

[pilamenon]

Thanks for your comments, and that's a really helpful synopsis, Petrushka. I do have a Concertgebouw/Haitink Kerstmatinée performance if I can find the time. There are also versions on Spotify by Halasz, Barenboim, Gilbert, Bernstein, Sanderling, Herbig, Boulez, Schwarz, Walter...

Bluestate - do post your findings on the telecast. I agree with you, there's no need for a sub-forum.

Anyone else going to see "the Dude"? Caliban is a big fan, I know.

[bluestateprommer]

Here are some articles from the LA Times on the HD-cast of the Adams/Bernstein/Beethoven concert with Dudamel, sort of as a warm-up (wind-up?), keeping in mind any subliminal hometown bias:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-la-phil-live-20110110,0,155232.story

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/01/early-short-reviews-of-dudamel-and-la-phil-live-from-theaters-via-twitter.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/01/amazing-amazing-amazing-amazing-amazing-so-exclaimed-a-woman-at-a-century-city-cinema-sunday-afternoon-as-the-credi.html

For myself (far from LA-LA-land), I generally enjoyed it, as my first "live" experience of Dudamel in something close to real time. To me, the orchestra sounded in good shape, and should be well primed for the trek across the Atlantic in a few weeks. Carrie Dennis did well in her viola solo in the John Adams work, and got a solo bow. Likewise, in the Bernstein, Kelley O'Connor sang very well and expressively (full disclosure: she's an acquaintance from concert visits).

Dudamel didn't take the 1st movement exposition repeat, and "paired" the 1st and 2nd, and 3rd and 4th, movements in almost an attacca manner, allowing the 1st movement final chord to decay, and then launching into the 2nd. Likewise, once the decay of the 3rd finished, he dove pretty promptly into the 4th. Also, given his reputation as a whirling dervish according to some, I actually didn't get any sense of wall-to-wall exuberance, such as one might get from all the publicity shots of him that get used for PR. He will go a little OTT with his gestures at times, but to me, not to excess. After reading some of the comments about what some felt to be the brashness of the sound, I guess I have to keep in mind that this HD-cast was just not the same as being in the hall, even if I were to have the best sonic seat in WDCH should I ever get there. Maybe the sound balances were better engineered for the HD-cast than I might have heard in the same real space.

This was the first HD-cast by the LA Phil, and it showed more often than was desirable. Vanessa Williams didn't really add anything to the presentation, although she was nominally the host. One intermission video of Kelley O'Connor singing Bernstein's "A Simple Song" from Mass was a nice touch, especially given that it was for school kids and their parents, and the difference in demographic between them and the WDCH audience was striking, namely mostly Latino and African-American (the former) vs. mostly Caucasian with a smattering of Asian-Americans (WDCH).

Oh, and there was an encore, which I suspect the 1st night audience at the Barbican will get (it would be near-blasphemy to play anything after Mahler 9). For the sake of surprise for any potential audience members who might be reading this forum, I won't spoil the encore, except simply to say that it won't be the "Mambo" from West Side Story.

[pilamenon]

No encore last night, and none needed or wanted. First time I've seen Dudamel or this orchestra, or this symphony live, and they all made a very good impression, with Dudamel conducting without a score. I particularly enjoyed the "rough and ready" elements that Petrushka mentioned Mahler wanting in movement two. In fact, that would characterise this orchestra's general sound last night, and in a good way. This was certainly not over-polished, but it was organic and alive in every way. Despite his showman status, I thought the conductor didn't draw unnecessary attention to himself, though there was one marvellous moment in the climax where he seemed to let out a guttural cry as the orchestra let rip.

The death of tonality, Mahler's own death, the terrible apocalypse about to engulf Europe in the First World War or the fate of European Jewry in Auschwitz? You decide.

Absolutely no idea - but I don't see Mahler as a prophet. Death is surely in there, and tonality is certainly on its way out!

[Dave2002]

Bluestateprommer

Oh, and there was an encore, which I suspect the 1st night audience at the Barbican will get (it would be near-blasphemy to play anything after Mahler 9). For the sake of surprise for any potential audience members who might be reading this forum, I won't spoil the encore, except simply to say that it won't be the "Mambo" from West Side Story.

The first encore was obviously one of Brahms Hungarian Dances. The second - haven't a clue! Anyone know?

The Barbican concert got varying reviews. Guardian somewhat lukewarm about Adams and Bernstein, but liked the Beethoven, whereas the Times guy liked the Adams and Bernstein, but not the Beethoven. I thought it was a bit of mixed bag. Not my favourite concert of recent months, sadly.

[Cellini]

Extremely interesting post Petrushka. I will have to bear all of that in mind when I next listen. I think I probably agree with most if not all of that.