United States Various: Soloists, Los Angeles Philharmonic / Gustavo Dudamel (conductor). Carnegie Hall, New York, 8 & 9.10.2024. (RP)
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8.10.2024 – Lang Lang (piano), Gustavo Castillo (baritone)
Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op.18
Ginastera – Estancia, Op.8
9.10.2024 – Maria Valverde (narrator), Jana McIntyre (soprano), Deepa Johnny (mezzo-soprano), Music Sacra / Kent Tritle (director)
Gabriela Ortiz – Dzonot
Mendelssohn – Overture and Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op.21 and Op.62
Carnegie Hall opened the new season with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The first two of the three consecutive concerts displayed the versatility of the orchestra and its conductor in repertoire that ranged from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2 to the New York premiere of Gabriella Ortiz’s Dzonot, with a John Philip Sousa march to boot.
The diverse offerings were the means for Dudamel to craft a celebration of orchestral color. This was apparent from the first notes of the Rachmaninoff, which Lang Lang played with a brooding introspection and dark, incredibly rich sound. The orchestra followed suit, reprising the opening theme with majesty while Lang Lang embellished it with delicate, sparkling arpeggios.
Individual moments stood out too. Towards the end of the movement, the solo horn playing was pure and perfect, and the clarinet solo in the second movement was equally expressive in what is perhaps the most famous melody the composer ever penned.
For an encore, Lang Lang played Charlotte Sohy’s ‘Romance sans paroles’ from Quatre pièces romantiques. The colors and emotions that the pianist drew from the short piece were more delicate but just as acute. Lang Lang captured Sohy’s wistful nostalgia, through which she conjured a Paris of the past. When she composed the music in 1944, Paris was in the grip of the Nazis.
Ginastera wrote the ballet Estancia on commission from Lincoln Kirstein in 1941, but it was not done as he intended until 1952. This was the first complete Carnegie Hall performance of the ballet score.
The ballet tells of a young woman who finds her city slicker boyfriend wanting when compared to the dashing gauchos she knew from a childhood spent on her father’s ranch. The young lover wins her favors by outdoing the gauchos in a dance competition. The tale inspired Ginastera to compose music redolent with the energy, drive, rhythm and colors of the pampas. Dudamel was so in touch with the music that at times he did not need to conduct – a gentle sway of his hips could communicate his intent to the orchestra.
Rich-voiced and virile, Gustavo Castillo introduced the story in a forthright, declamatory style. He later sang its sad laments with touching simplicity and emotional honesty. There were equally lovely solos from the flute and violin. However, it was the finale with the spirit and rhythm of the malambo, the traditional Argentinian dance in which the men show their athletic skills and physical prowess, that brought the audience to its feet.
Dudamel returned to the podium to conduct ‘The Liberty Bell’, one of Sousa’s great rousing marches. It is music with few rivals as to spirit and color. The orchestra produced the most wonderful sweeps of sound, which were again induced by the movement of Dudamel’s body.
The second concert opened with the New York premiere of Gabriella Ortiz’s Dzonot, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the LA Phil. A few days earlier, the concerto for cello and orchestra had its world premiere in Los Angeles with Alisa Weilerstein, for whom the work was composed and dedicated, as soloist (review here). The title comes from the Mayan word for abyss, and it was inspired by the ‘cenotes’, a system of subterranean rivers and caves in the Yucatan Peninsula. These natural phenomena possess a unique biodiversity which is now threatened by human activity.
Dzonot is Otiz’s call to action to preserve the world’s fragile ecosystems. Each of the work’s four movements summons a natural phenomenon that captures an element of nature unique to the ‘cenotes’ – ‘Luz vertical’ or the rays of sunlight that pierce the darkness; ’El ojo del Jaguar’ which captures the elegance of the elusive feline; the green hues of the rivers and caves in ‘Jade’; and ‘El vuelo de Toh’ which expresses hope that the elusive, yet endangered, bird that flies in the subterranean darkness will survive.
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Ortiz captured these images in exotic and captivating musical colors and rhythms. The sound of Weilerstein’s cello emerged from a swirl of color like a long primeval cry. Another fine moment came when the cello played to the sound of violin strumming. Whether spinning sustained lines or engaged in fierce musical struggles, Weilerstein played with passion.
The orchestral textures were similarly exotic, ranging from fast, furious and fleet music that captured birds in flight to darker, more threatening sounds evoking mystery and danger. Throughout, Dudamel focused on clarity, precision and mood, never more so than in the final measures when a sense of calm prevailed as the sound of cello and harp faded away.
Mendelssohn’s Overture and Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was the concluding work. Rather than play the music straight, it was conceived as a theater piece. Maria Valverde, an actress of note married to Dudamel, narrated the story in Spanish, with surtitles projected in English at the rear of the stage. She was at once ephemeral and earthy, casting a spell upon the audience with her words and gestures.
The choral movements were sung with flare in English by the sopranos and altos of Musica Sacra together with soprano Jana McIntyre and mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny. Accolades to all, especially McIntyre’s gleaming soprano, but the projected texts came in handy here too.
To add to the experience, excerpts from film adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, along with what was presumably AI-generated imagery, was projected. A beaming, youthful Mickey Rooney briefly appeared in a clip from Max Reinhardt’s 1935 film adaptation. All engaging and professionally done, but it was the music that mattered.
The crystalline chords from the winds crested in an equipoise of beauty and calm. Fairies danced to music that glittered like gossamer, and ‘The Wedding March’ was grand and stately. In other words, true music of the theater, just as Mendelssohn intended.
Rick Perdian
Nothing better!
After a great tradition of New York Classical Music reviews going back centuries, Mr Perdian covered the Carnegie Hall season’s opener featuring Dudamel and the LA Phil like a student reporter writing a first-time review. ‘Lang Lang embellished [the theme] with delicate, sparkling arpeggios’. Come on, now.
Good one, I was scratching my head about that description as well. I also felt the review didn’t convey what the concert was like or what made it special or not. Saying that, it didn’t sound special at all. It would have been nice to hear a lot more about Lang Lang’s playing and the audience response.
Very beautiful concert. I went there and I am very proud of you!!
Thank you