Review: Conductor Daniel Harding, pianist Rudolf Buchbinder and the Dresden Staatskapelle open the Philharmonic Society of Orange County’s 57th season. The Orange County Register, Oct. 28, 2010. click here to read my review
Where on earth is Gustavo Dudamel?
The Dude abides. Not for long, though.
After spending a fortnight with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, opening the season with his usual aplomb, Gustavo Dudamel is in Milan this week to begin a nine-performance run of Bizet’s “Carmen” at La Scala. After that he’ll be in Gothenburg, Sweden, conducting his other orchestra in three concerts in late November, then, according to his web site at least, take a few weeks off before end of the year performances with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Over the summer, he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic at the Lucerne Festival, then, just before the L.A. Philharmonic opener, took the Viennese to the U.S. for high profile performances in Kentucky and at Carnegie Hall.
He records for Deutsche Grammophon with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, his old and current mates. Their latest recording, released in June, features “The Rite of Spring” and “La noche de los mayas” by Revueltas.
In other words, Dudamel is in demand the world over. He visits us when he can.
Great moments in film music: ‘Gun Crazy’
OK, I admit that I’m sharing this clip just because I like it. The scene unfolds in one long take — that is, without any edits and shot with a single camera. Our two heroes (played by Peggy Cummins and John Dall) are on their way to rob a bank. That’s all you need to know. Notice that when Cummins gets out of the car (a natural place for a cut), the camera merely follows her out the door.
But great moments in film music are also made by the absence of music, as in the famous biplane scene in “North by Northwest.” There is no music in this “Gun Crazy” scene until the bank’s alarm goes off, which adds to the reality of the sequence.
From the department of ‘Things we thought we’d never be saying’
I wind up my sixth week as a celebrity journalist today.
Top concerts
… all taking place within the next few days. CLICK HERE TO SEE MY LIST.
A reader calls
I listened to my phone messages this morning after a few days away from the office. A reader had called complaining of a headline on one of my reviews in Saturday’s paper. Readers always think that writers write the headlines, but we don’t, at least not usually, in print. So, the caller was all disgusted sounding with me. Acted as if I was a jackass for writing it, and bolstered her argument by quoting me her musical credentials, and those of her husband and daughter, who also thought the headline a blaring mistake.
She read the headline to me in the phone message. I suspected that it might indeed have been a typo or a full-blown blunder. It happens. So I went to the newspaper’s library down the hall and had a look at the headline in Saturday’s edition myself.
What was it? “Pacific Symphony offers ‘Pictures’ at an exposition.” Yes, “exposition.” Note the punctuation.
A writer can’t hope for a much better headline than that — a pun that perfectly captures the gist of my review. I thanked the copy editor responsible for it when I saw it.
Anyway, I called the reader back, and attempted to explain the headline to her, but she was still having none of it. She said puns were supposed to be funny. Really?
Some readers are just a pain. You can’t let it get to you.
Weekend roundup
Riccardo Muti released from hospital. … Sarah Chang chased out of Detroit. … Joan Sutherland dead at 83. Martin Bernheimer interviews her in his Volkswagen in 1966. … Lincoln Center invaded by bed bugs. … Anne Akiko Meyers becomes the proud new owner of a Stradivarius, the most expensive ever sold. … Support the arts; grow pot.
Click on the links to view full stories.
Unwinding ‘Peter’ and ‘Pictures’
Review: The Pacific Symphony explores visual elements in ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and ‘Pictures at an Exhibition.’ The Orange County Register, October 15, 2010. Click here to read my review.
Great moments in film music: ‘The Big Sleep’
The set-up is this. Bogart (as Philip Marlowe) has been captured by the bad guys and is being held in a remote cottage in handcuffs. This is his escape. Returning, the bad guys drive up and, as ordered, Lauren Bacall screams inside the cottage to distract them. The rest is clear enough.
Max Steiner, a Viennese composer who studied with Brahms and Mahler, wrote the music. Again, as we saw with “The Sting,” there is little dialogue, the music carries the scene. Steiner composed a Straussian tone poem as score to this movie, with themes reminiscent of Till Eulenspiegel and the Symphonia Domestica. Marlowe’s theme is heard for the first time in this scene (not the movie) just as he closes the door to the car — it’s a trickster’s theme, perfectly suited to Marlowe. Steiner then repeats the theme in several guises shortly thereafter, and uses fragments of it as well.
The high point is Canino’s (the bad guy’s) death, when the Warner Bros. orchestra is unleashed.
(Note: When you click on the video, it will take you to YouTube to watch it.)
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