Russian Music Under The Stars

Pianist Lang Lang at the Hollywood Bowl

Music under the stars and dinner alfresco.  Summer is not officially summer here in Los Angeles until we go to the Hollywood Bowl.  This open-air concert venue is a beloved Southern California tradition.  On Thursday night we dined alfresco, eating a delicious meal with our friends.  Afterwards we sat back and basked in the gorgeous music coming from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel.  We anticipated an exciting performance by piano virtuoso Lang Lang.

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel 

The classical program was all Russian.  Lang Lang played Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto and it was electrifying. After a standing ovation, he returned for an encore and played a beautiful piece by Liszt.  In  the second half of the program, the orchestra played "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky which was very beautiful and haunting.

I learned that the impetus for "Pictures" came from the death of Mussorgsky's close friend, the artist Viktor Hartman, who died unexpectedly in the summer of 1873.  A memorial of Hartman's art work was organized and "Pictures" preserves Mussorgsky's visit to the exhibition.  The work presents the pictures connected by a series of "Promenades," during which we hear Mussorgsky walking through the gallery from artwork to artwork.  Amazing!  We were hearing the footsteps of the composer visiting the art exhibition of his dear friend.  I felt transported by the magnificent sounds we were hearing that night at the Hollywood Bowl.

It was a fabulous summer evening under the stars --  delicious food and wine, wonderful friends, and thrilling Russian music. A summertime treat that will be a treasured  memory.  

Photos from The Los Angeles Times

Sublime Noise

In 1910 E. M. Forster wrote in the novel "Howard's End, "

" It will be generally admitted that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated the ear of man."

I will give him that, but on Sunday I think I may have hear the second most sublime, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, played by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel at the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles.

I am certainly far from an expert on classical music, but I can definitely express my emotional reaction to this piece. During the second movement, I felt a surge of emotion that brought tears to my eyes and could only be described as feeling that I was in the presence of greatness.  Greatness in terms of the music, the conducting, and the musicians. Something brilliant and profound was happening on the stage of the Disney Hall.  And as E.M. Forster wrote about Beethoven's Fifth, I would say about Beethoven's Seventh, while listening to it "The passion of your life becomes more vivid."  (By the way, that line alone  makes me so want to go back and reread "Howard's End," one of my very favorite books!)

This feeling continued until the end, and I felt the entire audience shared my bliss.  The experience was inspiring and I left realizing I need to listen to more classical music.  My first choice is to go to concerts and hear it live, which I do whenever possible.  But  I am also determined, as a New Year's goal, to listen to the music of the great composers at home.  Last night I played Beethoven's Fifth to remind myself what Forster was talking about.  And I listened again to the Seventh.  How wonderful it was to have the music coursing through the house.

By the way, this goal of mine to listen to the music of the great composers should be easier now that Anthony Tommasini, music critic for The New York, has started a series of articles addressing the question:  Who are the 10 greatest classical music composers in history?  He will focus on Western classical music.  So I will anxiously await his conclusion and excitedly read the articles he writes along the way.

He made a good point in his article "The Greatest" in The New York Times on Sunday when he noted that four of the possible ten that he chooses --  Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Beethoven --  may all have worked in Vienna during a period of roughly 75 years, from 1750 to 1825.  He asks "What was going on in that town at that tine to foster such awesome creativity"?   I wonder the same thing.   Today, he wrote his second column of the series addressing that question, "The Big Four of Vienna."

I also find it interesting that Sunday's performance at the Disney Hall, which also featured a piece by John Adams and a symphony by Leonard Bernstein, was simulcast in 450 movie theaters in the United States and Canada.   These screenings were heavily attended, according to Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times.

I am inspired!


Photos from Los Angeles Times