Music Review: DUDAMEL CONDUCTS BRUCKNER (Los Angeles Philharmonic)

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by Tony Frankel on November 4, 2019

in Music,Theater-Los Angeles

LIVE MUSIC IS ALWAYS SUSTENANCE

I’m happy to report that Andrew Norman’s Sustain, an LA Phil centennial commission that premiered last year — and saw a second showing last weekend at Disney Hall — is far more agreeable than much of the atmospheric “new” music these days, and a much more promising avenue for this young composer than his 15-minute Try — all hammering, clunky, clamoring claptrap. The 45-minute Sustain — which delivers what the title offers — is still that same old soundscape kind of music that desperately needs a sci-fi film like Aliens 15 to truly resonate. It’s very enjoyable given the more than 100 inestimable instrumentalists gathered on the stage under Gustavo Dudamel’s leadership, but other than seeing it live, who is this music for? I suspect only the most die-hard Cal Arts student, possibly after a toke, would listen to this on their iPod. I still don’t see a big audience for this kind of music outside of a concert venue, regardless of how much it’s currently being promoted. Norman’s notes mention his process of creation involved imagining audiences listening to this a hundred years from now. (Last year’s concert was recorded.)

So, will this be the music people will be listening to in a century when they look to the stars as their planet gets ever-hotter, or will they be listening to something new and referring to this era as the Experimental Age? While one can argue that Bruckner, Mahler, and Stravinsky were greeted with befuddlement at first, their music quickly caught on with critics and the public alike. I’ve heard works very similar in construction to Norman’s monumental opus, and Norman reaches a new universe of space and time. But it’s still a soundscape. Yet, as I say, this is precisely the kind of composition that demands to be seen live, even as I encourage Mr. Norman to head to the movie studios to compose.

It begins with a motif on tinkling piano played by Joanne Pearce Martin. Then silence. Then soothing strings slowly cascading. Then silence. A longer lovely lulling phrase. One hit of a triangle. Horns, led by Jaclyn Rainey, and Marion Kuszyk‘s oboe gently enter the increasingly eerie tone — both wondrous and foreboding — with some very light percussion and a building of brass backing them up. Denis Bouriakov‘s plaintive flute floats with a calming reverberating xylophone. Later, in a brilliant orchestration, the brass — working overtime — offers a quick succession of staccato bursts of notes, while violins slide up to pitch and play tremolos. Then, ever-building in volume and tempo, we reach a Bernsteinesque jazzy call-and-response in bursts of wahs, hums, and wild arpeggios.

It’s so interesting and transporting that the repetitious composing is never boring and more than tolerable. Naturally, there’s plenty of shimmering, but not on a gong — Norman has percussionists use an eraser-like apparatus on giant wood planks! Later, Dudamel conducts not through meter, but pointing to instrumentalists who do a stretch of improvised cacophony. Then soft riffs, ending in quiet.

The same thing occurred as at the premiere performance: When Norman came on stage afterward, there was a handful of standing ovations. But when Dudamel, looking trim in a gorgeous black suit and tie, had the players stand, the audience stood with them.

The interesting thing about the pairing in this program is that Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony also sustains itself, promising to go somewhere and then backing up; in it’s way it’s a soundscape from the Romantic Period. Titled Romantic by the author, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 is commonly regarded as the most popularly accessible of his nine symphonies and for good reason. It is endowed with beautifully-shaped melodic lines, rich harmony that’s less “thick” than Brahms, novel highlighting of instrumental line, carefully-crafted crescendos, and glorious, long-awaited climaxes (the brass — Thomas Hooten, trumpet, David Rejano Cantero, trombone, Norman Pearson, tuba — were outstanding in the fox hunt-sounding third movement). With these characteristics, there are many aspects open to interpretation, and Dudamel, conducting without a score, didn’t rush things at all.

The approach was slow and almost careful, adding about eight minutes to the usual running time of sixty-two minutes. Yet, the tempi are not so slow that interest is lost; it actually increased my fascination with the soloists (watch out for a new oboist, not yet the principal but he has my vote: Liam Boisset, a hard worker with a rich tone). In some instances, lingering a little longer provided more time to enjoy the music. It is as though Dudamel lifted a veil of conventionality and allowed us to hear more in the music — he proved that a slower tempo can often reveal beauty which speed obscures. Obviously, not all of the tempi were slower, and the dynamics (Andrew Bain’s horn!) were beautifully pronounced. While this reading didn’t grab me by the lapels and shake me, make no mistake, the symphony was emotionally intense. By the conclusion of each movement (for which the audience remained silent — woo-hoo!), particularly the fourth movement, I felt as though I had had a unique experience with what is familiar music to me. Dudamel went beyond the pretty, approachable Fourth and proved why this is one of Bruckner’s major works.

photos courtesy of LA Phil

Dudamel Conducts Bruckner
Andrew NORMAN: Sustain
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major (WAB 104)
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave.
ends on November 3, 2019
for tickets, call 323.850.2000 or visit LA Phil

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