Technically, Thursday’s concert conducted by Gustavo Dudamel opened the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s fall season at Walt Disney Concert Hall. But the lightweight “pops-style” nature of the program felt a lot more like a continuation of summer at the Hollywood Bowl. The only difference was better acoustics and a roof.
The first piece was even dedicated to those lazy days of summer — Samuel Barber’s childhood reminiscence, “Knoxville: Summer of 1915.” With its poetically nostalgic text by James Agee drawn from his novel “A Death in the Family,” it paints a portrait of a time long gone seen through the eyes of youth and was sung as sweetly a breeze through the trees by soprano, Julia Bullock.
Barber’s childhood reflection (which was first performed by the LA Philharmonic on Aug. 27, 1959, with Leontyne Price as soloist at the Hollywood Bowl) gave way to the up-beat urban syncopations of George Gershwin’s “Concerto in F” with Jean-Yves Thibaudet pounding away on the 88s. It was not a performance noted for subtlety. Thibaudet played it with the petal to the metal and the volume cranked up to 11. The trumpet styling by Thomas Hooten did, however, evoke Gershwin’s wet streets sense of blues in the night.
Then came another pastoral evocation— André Previn’s 2016 composition, “Can Spring Be Far Behind,” with the final bloom of the evening devoted to American classical music’s most famous ode to that season— Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.”
Traditionally, opening night is a gala event. Not so Thursday. This year, the big celebration will take place on Oct. 24 when the orchestra toasts its centennial birthday. Officially designated in the calendar as the “Opening Night Concert & Gala,” it will feature three of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s music directors passing the baton between them — from Gustavo Dudamel to Esa-Pekka Salonen to Zubin Mehta. So I’m not sure what that made Thursday’s “not-opening night” concert. Perhaps a preview of coming attractions?
During his tenure as the LA Philharmonic’s music director — from 1985 until his tempestuous resignation in 1989, when he swore he’d never work in this town again (and didn’t) — André Previn represents an awkward chapter in the orchestra’s history. But as part of the centennial celebration it was essential that some recognition be paid. He was commissioned to write a new work but died (Feb. 28, 2019) before it could be completed. “Can Spring be Far Behind” served Thursday as a stand-in.
Composed three years earlier, it is essentially a pastiche of orchestral moods, influences and techniques stitched together like a harmonic patchwork quilt. Well crafted, but without an overall sense of message or magnitude, it combines the diverse musical styles that were all part of Previn’s repertory. The overriding atmosphere is cinematic, which is not a criticism of a composer whose film scores include “Bad Day at Black Rock” and who won an Oscar in 1964 for his musical arrangements for “My Fair Lady.” It’s just sad, since Julia Bullock was a available, that there wasn’t a performance of the aria “Give Me Magic” from Previn’s opera, “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
It also was a bit unfair to play “Appalachian Spring” immediately after Previn’s “Spring.” Their structures share a lot in common, but one is a masterpiece and the other is essentially forgettable.
The Philharmonic’s next set of concerts (Oct. 10-13) titled, “Dudamel Conducts Music of the Americas,” which features music by Carlos Cháves, Esteban Benzecry plus Copland’s “Rodeo,” sounds a good deal more interesting. Then we can celebrate the real “Opening Night” on Oct. 24.
Jim Farber is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Rating: 3 stars
Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles
When: 8 p.m. today, 2 p.m. Sunday
Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes, with one intermission
Suitability: For all audiences
Information: laphil.org or 323-850-2000
