Post by erik on Sept 13, 2023 8:37:32 GMT -5
The seventh and final concert of the 2023 Hollywood Bowl summer season was a fairly big one, combining the natural and the cosmic all in one.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Karen Kamensek, conductor
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Pacific Chorale (Robert Istad, artistic director)
Adam Schoenberg: COOL CAT (world premiere)
Philip Glass: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1
Holst: THE PLANETS
Chicago-born Karen Kamensek was on the podium for a varied and decidedly modern program. It began with the world premiere of a short (5-minute) orchestral fanfare called "Cool Cat", by composer Adam Schoenberg, who is a professor of music at Occidental College in Eagle Rock. The "Cool Cat" in question is the famous mountain lion known as P-22. This fastidious feline made his way all the way across the Santa Monica Mountains from near the Ventura County line to Griffith Park back in 2010, going through various hillside communities and managing to cross two of the busiest freeways in the world, I-405 and U.S. 101, to get there. He had become instantly famous after a motion sensor camera picked up his lithe figure passing along a hiking trail just underneath the Hollywood sign. P-22 sadly had to be euthanized just before Christmas of last year after wildlife experts found him suffering from injuries believed to be caused by a collision with a car. Thus, Schoenberg's piece was a celebratory elegy to the most famous wildcat Southern California has ever known.
The second work on the program was the First Violin Concerto of Philip Glass, one of the highest profile American composers of the late 20th century and a master of what is known as "minimalism". The great violinist Anne Akiko Meyers was on hand as the soloist; and she had quite a lot to work with during the work's 27-minute running time. Glass' melodic style can seem, well, repetitious to some; but when one wraps their mind around it, it evokes cosmic imagery that is a challenge to describe in layman's terms. Following the end of the piece, Mr. Glass himself was bought out to receive the plaudits of the audience, but he needed the help of Ms. Kamensek, Ms. Meyers, and Mr. Schoenberg to come up onstage as, at the age of 86, he seemed to be in frail health. Nevertheless, he was congratulated mightily by the crowd.
Following intermission, Ms. Kamensek led the (very enlarged) L.A. Philharmonic in one of the great works of the 20th century, namely "The Planets" by the English composer Gustav Holst. This is a work that had its roots in the composer's interest in astrology and Hindu mysticism, and it is also a work that probably gave more than a few ideas to such Hollywood film composing legends as John Williams (Star Wars, anybody?) and Jerry Goldsmith {Star Trek: The Motion Picture). The sonic shockwaves of "Mars, The Bringer Of War" and "Uranus, The Magician" were balanced with the serenity of "Venus, The Bringer Of Peace" and "Saturn, The Bringer Of Old Age". The final movement of this great work, "Neptune The Mystic", featured the distant (and unseen) wordless women's voices of Orange County's Pacific Chorale capturing the distant and timeless visions of the cosmos.
And thus ends my twenty-seventh season of concert-going in the hills above Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Karen Kamensek, conductor
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Pacific Chorale (Robert Istad, artistic director)
Adam Schoenberg: COOL CAT (world premiere)
Philip Glass: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1
Holst: THE PLANETS
Chicago-born Karen Kamensek was on the podium for a varied and decidedly modern program. It began with the world premiere of a short (5-minute) orchestral fanfare called "Cool Cat", by composer Adam Schoenberg, who is a professor of music at Occidental College in Eagle Rock. The "Cool Cat" in question is the famous mountain lion known as P-22. This fastidious feline made his way all the way across the Santa Monica Mountains from near the Ventura County line to Griffith Park back in 2010, going through various hillside communities and managing to cross two of the busiest freeways in the world, I-405 and U.S. 101, to get there. He had become instantly famous after a motion sensor camera picked up his lithe figure passing along a hiking trail just underneath the Hollywood sign. P-22 sadly had to be euthanized just before Christmas of last year after wildlife experts found him suffering from injuries believed to be caused by a collision with a car. Thus, Schoenberg's piece was a celebratory elegy to the most famous wildcat Southern California has ever known.
The second work on the program was the First Violin Concerto of Philip Glass, one of the highest profile American composers of the late 20th century and a master of what is known as "minimalism". The great violinist Anne Akiko Meyers was on hand as the soloist; and she had quite a lot to work with during the work's 27-minute running time. Glass' melodic style can seem, well, repetitious to some; but when one wraps their mind around it, it evokes cosmic imagery that is a challenge to describe in layman's terms. Following the end of the piece, Mr. Glass himself was bought out to receive the plaudits of the audience, but he needed the help of Ms. Kamensek, Ms. Meyers, and Mr. Schoenberg to come up onstage as, at the age of 86, he seemed to be in frail health. Nevertheless, he was congratulated mightily by the crowd.
Following intermission, Ms. Kamensek led the (very enlarged) L.A. Philharmonic in one of the great works of the 20th century, namely "The Planets" by the English composer Gustav Holst. This is a work that had its roots in the composer's interest in astrology and Hindu mysticism, and it is also a work that probably gave more than a few ideas to such Hollywood film composing legends as John Williams (Star Wars, anybody?) and Jerry Goldsmith {Star Trek: The Motion Picture). The sonic shockwaves of "Mars, The Bringer Of War" and "Uranus, The Magician" were balanced with the serenity of "Venus, The Bringer Of Peace" and "Saturn, The Bringer Of Old Age". The final movement of this great work, "Neptune The Mystic", featured the distant (and unseen) wordless women's voices of Orange County's Pacific Chorale capturing the distant and timeless visions of the cosmos.
And thus ends my twenty-seventh season of concert-going in the hills above Los Angeles.