200th Birthday of Franz Liszt

Liszt, Louis Lortie, and Beethoven

2011 is the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt. Last year belonged to Chopin and Schumann and I felt I must give Mr. Liszt his due. As extensive as his compositions are, we felt that it was the piano that gave him his opportunity for greatness; therefore, we have invited Louis Lortie to perform the composer’s most monumental work—Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). This giant task takes two recitals and a massive brain and heart to remember it all and perform it brilliantly. Louis Lortie is the man for the job. You will recall when he substituted last season for the ailing Yuja Wang, he dazzled us with the complete Chopin Etudes. I love to tell this story. Chairman of the Board Sabra Bordas, my wife Kaly and I were having a quite a good lunch at Il Barone Ristorante, when my cell phone rang. Jeff Mistri, our artistic administrator, was on the other end telling me that Yuja was cancelling the next night and asked what did I think of having Louis Lortie take her place. What was astounding is how he managed to have Louis tracked down at the Newark Airport awaiting a flight home to Berlin (a flight that was not going to happen because of that volcano problem, you remember). Things have a way of working out, often during a very pleasant lunch.

I have already told you about our project of late Beethoven works to be scheduled over the next two seasons, inspired by the play “33 Variations” which opens at the Ahmanson Theatre at the end of this month. We are providing a bus to the 2pm performance on February 5th. More about that on my next blog. There is a very interesting Liszt connection. As a ten-year-old, the young composer was able to have his first work published in Anton Diabelli’s Vaterländischer Künstlerverein (Fatherland Artist Society), a collection of 83 variations on a “waltz” composed by the publisher himself—50 variations by a variety of composers, including Liszt, and 33 by Beethoven (who was asked only to write a single variation), which are of course known as his Diabelli Variations. The little composer was probably not on Diabelli’s original invite list. Franz’s teacher Carl Czerny was and probably got him added to it. Czerny, being a student of Beethoven, was the first composer Diabelli approached and he decided to write the last variation, sort of an epigram.

As we all know, the 19th century was an extraordinary period for music. Then as now, it seemed that all the musicians and composers knew one another. Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage was written while he was having an affair with Marie d’Agoult while they were travelling through Switzerland and Italy. They produced three illegitimate children. The middle one, Cosima, married Hans von Bülow and later Richard Wagner, which is another can of worms. Their story must have inspired the creation of Desperate Housewives.

A Happy New Year! Please enjoy!

Vienna Philharmonic: New Ladies' Uniform

The Vienna Philharmonic is in the news again.  The ladies of the orchestra now have new concert attire – pinstriped pants and a long black blazer over a white blouse and gray gilet.  According to the Associated Press, the outfit was designed by Markus Binder, a 22-year-old fashion student.  There are plans to come up with something similar for the males.  You can see the new outfits on television on the annual New Year’s concert.  There will be four women in the orchestra.  Progress is slow and steady, but progress none the less.  I would certainly expect that we can see them in person with the new outfits here when the Vienna Philharmonic comes to the Rénee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on March 3, 2011.

The Christmas Can-Can

Philip Glass

It is always a wonderful treat to be connected to contemporary composers.  Back in November, Philip Glass paid us a visit when we presented Bobby McDuffie and the Venice Baroque Orchestra in the West Coast premiere of his new violin concerto.  This picture was shot by an audience member catching a program page with Glass’s picture and him seated in front.  Nice shot. 

 The concerto was terrific, especially the beautiful second movement.

Kronos comes this April with a new piece by Steve Reich, part of a co-commissioning project that we are a part of.  We hope Steve will be here.   Kronos has appeared with us somewhat regularly over the last 16 years.  They did the West Premiere of Henryk Gorecki’s Third String Quartet for us several years ago, a dark but beautiful piece.  Gorecki passed away last month.

Cool new stuff is coming next season.  We have another Ellen Taaffe Zwillich commission to look forward to next season.  It will be a sextet with piano performed by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, violist Michael Tree and bass Harold Robinson in February 2012   Also the same month, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony are doing a new Mason Bates piece.  In March 2012, Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony are performing a new percussion concerto by Jennifer Higdon featuring Colin Curry, percussionist.  Kaiji Saariaho’s new piece “Orion” will be performed by Franz Welser-Mőst and the Cleveland Orchestra in April 2012.  There is a lot coming up.  Subscriptions for next season go on sale next month.

Daddy Long Legs

One of the delights of the holiday season is the proliferation of performances of music, dance and theater.  We were very happy with a new musical at the Laguna Playhouse which runs through Christmas Eve.  It is “Daddy Long Legs,” book by John Caird and music/lyrics by Paul Gordon.  It has a cast of two with Megan McGinnis and Robert Adelman Hancock, a pair of wonderful actors singers with impeccable pitch.  This is a perfect date night or the thing if your spirits need a lift.  I highly recommend it.

Marjorie Rawlins

A couple of weeks ago, we attended a reception and concert at the Barclay which was a tribute Marjorie Rawlins.  Marge passed away May 2009.  She was a major benefactor of the UCI School of Music and the Philharmonic Society.  She was a great music lover.  I miss our many conversations about music, especially string and chamber music.  Many a confit de canard passed her lips (and mine as well) at Pascal’s.  Her passing marked the end of an era, the departure of a great friend of music and a lovely human being while, I’m sure, producing a sigh of relief from dozens of local ducks.  She is terribly missed. 

The Barclay concert featured music from Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel.  The soloists, UCI Symphony Orchestra and choruses were splendid. UCI Arts Department has some great stuff going on.  Contact them at arts.uci.edu/events.  Please enjoy!

Speaking of Hansel and Gretel, the UCI Symphony Orchestra and UCI Choirs will present Humperdinck's classic fairy tale opera Hansel and Gretel on December 3-5 in the Claire Trevor Theatre. For more information, visit the event page.

Having a cosy Sunday afternoon, staying out of the rain and warm by the fire.  JC Bach Symphonies (all of them one after the other) are playing on the stereo, and duck is on tonight's menu.  Kaly is stuffing the breast with garlic, crushed fennel seeds, fresh chopped rosemary, grated Parmesan, olive oil, salt and Tellicherry pepper.  Later, it will be pan seared and finished in the oven.  She will then confit the legs, thighs and wings for a future winter supper.  I will produce a stock from the carcass and a duck liver pâté with cognac for which I would be willing to share recipe (the recipe and the cognac for the matter.)  We have a great friend from New York showing up for dinner and a night stay.  We are completely out of Pinot Noir and I am not going to the store in the rain.  I guess it is time for another Pinot gathering trip to Santa Barbara Wine Country.   Cabernets are a bit too powerful.  I have rummaged through the wine pile and found a bottle of Tesoro 2006, mostly Merlot with some Cabernet from the Esterhazy Estate in Eisenstadt, Austria.  I have been saving it for a special occasion, so I guess this is it.  I should change the Symphonies on the stereo to Haydn.  I will when I open the bottle.

If you have had a tough week, please enjoy this. There are always good things going on somewhere.

SymphonyCast

Hey Culture Vultures! Here is something for all of you who can’t enough classical music. It’s called SymphonyCast from American Public Media. Just click on the link to check it out. This weekly audio program features a variety of orchestras such as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw and our own Los Angeles Philharmonic. You get a full concert hosted by Brian Newhouse. It’s a great show, worth keeping up with regularly. It is also on KUSC Saturdays 6-8 PM. Please enjoy.

Happy holidays!

With the transition from election commercials to Christmas ads on television, it is a sure sign that the holidays are almost upon us. Leave to the chorus of the Philadelphia Opera Company to usher the season in with style. Many of you have seen their Brindisi flash performance. Now they are singing Hallelujah. I think it again proves that music makes people happy, at least in Philadelphia. First the Handel and then the Verdi. Please enjoy.

Music Makes People Happy, Part 3

With all of the events of our JapanOC, the one that will be the first sell out will be Jake Shimabukuro.  Check him out at Central Park playing a ukulele cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by George Harrison of the Beatles. Are we going to have fun or what?!!

Please enjoy.

OK, OK, OK, I am in a rut but I am having fun and so will you.  Maestro Larry returns at the age of 4 conducting the William Tell Overture followed next by a postscript by Victor Borge.  Please enjoy.

Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring will be a hundred years old in 2013.  It’s hard to believe.   We will be making a big deal about it.   I remember back to the opening concerts of Disney Hall after a performance of the Rite, a women was complaining to me about Salonen playing those crazy new pieces.  I responded that the Rite is not all that new.  The only person in the hall that night that was alive when it was written was Richard Colburn, maybe not even.

Here is another youthful conductor – Larry age 5 conducting the Rite.  He knows the piece.  He nails the 11/4 bar.  The women in the household are not that impressed.  He makes a dramatic and dangerous cutoff at the end.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  Please enjoy.

Music Makes People Happy, Part 2

This is “Music Makes People Happy, Part 2.”

Despite an itchy nose, 3-year-old Jonathan conducts a joyful finale to Beethoven’s Fifth.   

Check it out and please enjoy.

What makes music beautiful?

One of our dedicated board members sent me this clip with a question and a wonderful answer:

What makes music beautiful?

Music makes people beautiful.

Check to see if you think he is correct.  Watch the following.  Please enjoy.

Daniel Harding in the Wall Street Journal

Great article on conductor Daniel Harding in the Wall Street Journal: How He Has Grown 

From his early 20s, British conductor Daniel Harding has had the privilege of honing his considerable talent with many of the world's best orchestras. Mentored by prominent maestros Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, the 35-year-old musician enjoys a blue-chip career in Europe, regularly appearing as guest conductor with the Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonic, La Scala and the Vienna Philharmonic. Yet as Mr. Harding acknowledges, life in the musical fast lane can get bumpy at times... 

(read the rest of the article)

Poaching

Remarks from the Dean Corey, Artistic Director:

Last night’s concert by the wonderful Dresden Staatskappelle Orchestra concluded with an encore of Weber’s Overture to Der Freischutz, which could mean Free Protection, Free Shooter or The Poacher or Something for Nothing.  There was other poaching or attempts at poaching going on in the concert hall besides the music from the stage.  It is a natural occurrence for people to want to improve their situation in all areas of life.  The concert hall is no different.  Members of the audience who sit in the cheaper seats due to their financial situation often stare with envy from the heights of the balcony at the empty seats of the well-heeled below.  A few of these brave souls make a move into these seats at intermission driven by the love of the music and a desire to have a better experience despite the dangers of roving ushers and these well-heeled patrons showing up late.  I did the same when I was a music student.  I was brazen enough to walk into the Met from the street mingling with the crown after the last intermission and sit in the fourth row from the front.  I know well the last acts of a number of operas.  You can’t get away with that today.  Bravo to these people who are after a great music experience.

A Disclaimer from Dean Corey, President:

Poaching of seats at concerts is reprehensible and should not be tolerated.  I support the thankless task of the volunteer ushers who have to send these usurpers back to their seats in the rafters.  The ushers are the pride of the management.

Giveaways & 33 Variations

Back in the spring of 2009 I saw a wonderful play in New York about Beethoven starring Jane Fonda. It was called 33 Variations, written and directed by Moisés Kaufman. It was the story of a terminally ill musicologist racing against her own mortality trying to solve the riddle why Beethoven wrote 33 variations of Anton Diabelli’s insipid little waltz when he was only commissioned to write a single one. I was inspired by the play to curate a number of Beethoven performances from his late period for the Philharmonic Society that we could explore together as an audience this question and others that arise about this curious time in his life. We are fortunate that this same production of 33 Variations will open at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles on January 30. Everyone gets a chance to see it. The Philharmonic Society will organize some special nights there. For information, call Heather in our office at 949.553.2422. Other late Beethoven attractions coming over the next couple of seasons will be a performance of the Diabelli Variations with pianist Marino Formenti; the Ninth Symphony and the Missa Solemnis with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique; special exhibits, films and talks; and, of course the last five string quartets.

Two of those quartets are happening this season – the op. 132 with the Tokyo String Quartet at the Samueli on April 19, 2011, and the op. 131 arranged for string orchestra performed in our current concerts by Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica in their Orange County debut on Monday, November 1, at the Segerstrom Concert Hall.. Try to hear all of our Beethoven presentations including 33 Variations at the Ahmanson. This is another one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that we continually try to bring you.

♫ --------------- ♫

Were you at the Dresden Staatskapelle concert? Do you know the answer that will get you free tickets to the Monday, November 1, performance of the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra? To jog your memory, the answer to Dean's question can be found in this blog post. Here are the directions to claim your free tickets.

What you need to do:
1) E-mail the answer to Dean's question and your contact information (name, address, e-mail, and phone number) to contactus@philharmonicsociety.org. Use subject line: Kremerata Blog Contest.
2) Bring printed confirmation letter to will-call to pick up your tickets.
3) Most importantly, ENJOY THE CONCERT!!

We will send you an e-mail confirming your tickets. One pair of tickets per household, seats chosen by best availability. Promotion runs until 3pm on Monday, November 1.

World of WearableArt

Seems like I have spent most of the summer on a plane. Flew to New Zealand under the auspices of Creative New Zealand, Air New Zealand, the Museum Hotel and WOW to view a spectacular event. WOW stands for World of WearableArt. This is an annual awards show focusing on artful garment creations from artists worldwide. It is fashion week meets Cirque du Soleil. This two-hour extravaganza is New Zealand’s greatest performing arts event. It is impossible to describe, a truly got-to-see-it-to-believe-it experience. I saw the show three times, and I have set about the task of bringing it to the United States. As Kiwis told me, it has never been off-shore, to which my response was “Do you people have any idea how far off-shore is??!” I think the show would be a tremendous hit. It has original music, fabulous staging, and entertainment for the whole family. Here are a couple of clips – one about recording the music theme and some shots of the 2008 show. The picture at the top of this post is entitled "Lady Of The Wood" and was recognized as the 2009 Winner Supreme Montana WOW Award & Winner Tourism NZ Avant Garde Section. It was submitted by David Walker of Alaska, USA.