This is not a review of Gustavo Dudamel and LA Phil's performance of Verdi's Requiem at the Hollywood Bowl last Thursday night. Just a few thoughts about my experience: When the summer season was released, I was skeptical of hearing Verdi's Requiem at the Hollywood Bowl. When I arrived at the Bowl Thursday evening, I … Continue reading About the other night…
Gustavo is America and You Can Too
Like the best summer tomatoes, Thursday night's LA Philharmonic concert at the Hollywood Bowl was one to savor. Of the six performances conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at the Bowl this year, this was certainly the musician's concert of the bunch. No superstar soloists, like Yo-Yo Ma or Plácido Domingo, and a 12-tone piano concerto to … Continue reading Gustavo is America and You Can Too
You Must Hear This: A Human-Ape Hybrid & Drowning Witches
Two very different recordings came out this week that I highly recommend. I previously wrote about both of them for The Music Issue of the very cool lit-quarterly The Aviary. More of my summer music picks are posted there, as well as those of such writerly folks as Amy Gerstler, Katy Henriksen, Mathias Svalina, and … Continue reading You Must Hear This: A Human-Ape Hybrid & Drowning Witches
Beethoven is not Enough…Apparently
Growing up, when my sister and I would fight, my mother would trot out the old adage, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." So when this bizarre and inexplicable recording of the Beethoven 9th Symphony + narration landed on my desk a couple of weeks ago, my first … Continue reading Beethoven is not Enough…Apparently
A Very Gehry Don Giovanni
Even before the overture started at last night's LA Philharmonic performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni, it was clear this wasn't going to be Gustavo Dudamel's Don Giovanni. The 31-year-old music director seemed quite pleased to be taking a back seat to Walt Disney Concert Hall architect Frank Gehry, who created the sets for the production, … Continue reading A Very Gehry Don Giovanni
Brian Lauritzen 