At the Bowl, L.A. Phil's Summer Finale Packs Impressive Vocal Power
/By Truman C. Wang
9/16/2024
mezzo-soprano rihab chaieb (left), soprano diana damrau (right, photo by rebecca fay)
The L.A. Phil’s final two summer weeks at the Bowl, all conducted by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, were, in my opinion, its finest hour. Braving the worst heat wave to hit Los Angeles in decades, the musicians shed their jackets and some rolled up their shirt sleeves for the Thursday, September 5 concert. The mostly-French program featured Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of Animals and arias from Bizet’s Carmen. Accompanying the musical mimicry of animal sounds were animation videos of animal fables from world folklore, narrated by maestro Dudamel’s teenage son (the lion and the jackal, the dancing turtle from Brazil, the kangaroo and the wombat from Australia, and the ugly duckling and the swan – in which the ugly duckling learns from the swan that “no matter how you look, you can always find your flock.”) The musical contribution was vivid and colorful, including the brother-sister piano duo Sergio Tiempo and Karin Lechner, who delightfully hammed it up during the ‘Novice Pianists’ episode and elsewhere played with easy rapport. The solo cello’s tender cantabile line in the ‘Swan’, the wizardly filigrees and spacy harmony in the ‘Aquarium’ (which would surely resonate with Harry Potter fans in the audience) were among the many highlights of this Carnival.
rihab chaieb sings habanera from carmen
Tunisian mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, fresh from the Glynbourne Carmen this summer, sang Bizet’s femme fatale with luscious tone and smoky sensuality in the Habanera, Sequidilla, and Chanson bohème – in the last number she was joined by mezzo-soprano Madeleine Lyon (Mercédès) and soprano Kathleen O’Mara (Frasquita). Bookending the Carmen selections were two very energetic, at times rhythmically hypnotic, orchestral dances (Fandangos and Alegria) by Puerto-Rican composer Roberto Sierra. We need more new music like this that’s fun and easy-listening.
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Temps had cooled off by the next concert on Tuesday, September 10. The heat of the performance, however, remained high. Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, a personal favorite of mine, was strong, consolatory and comforting. The Los Angeles Master Chorale and countertenor soloist Key'mon Murrah enunciated the Hebrew text with strong conviction, matching the vivid word painting of the music. Fans of Bernstein’s West Side Story would be delighted to hear the gang fight of the Sharks and the Jets invading the peaceful inner sanctum of the Psalm 23 of David. Ideally, this work needs to be heard indoors to be fully effective, particularly the third part (Psalms 131, 133) with its luminous harmonies and sublime choral writing. Also, a boy treble is preferable to an adult countertenor.
beethoven 9th soloists (L to r): Hyesang Park, Rihab Chaieb, Anthony León, Dashon Burton
I have heard Gustavo Dudamel conduct many a Beethoven Ninth, but none so brilliantly and memorably as this reading at the Bowl. The first-movement allegro and the scherzo were excitingly energetic and tempestuous, with a calming trio in the scherzo correctly played at half tempo (per composer’s conversation book with his nephew Karl dated 9/27/1826). The adagio was beautifully serene and rapt in Platonic world. The fourth-movement choral finale was a combination of spiritual sublimity (chorus “Seid umschlugen, Millonen”) and hedonistic outbursts (the Alla marcia choral fugue, the quick dash from allegro energico to “Alle menschen”, and the barnstorming acceleration to the finish). The quartet of soloists (Hyesang Park, Rihab Chaieb, Anthony León, Dashon Burton) were good but not exceptional: Burton’s bass lacked heft, and Park’s final high note, a D natural, did not soar.
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The final summer concert two days later was a relatively lighthearted affair – Mozart and Viennese operetta arias. The original program, a heavy one of Italian verismo arias, was scrapped when the star tenor Jonas Kaufmann cancelled. No replacement for Mr. Kaufmann; instead, his partner, German coloratura-soprano Diana Damrau, was left to hold down the fort, and the concert was rebilled as “A Night of Opera with Dudamel” (from the original “Dudamel and the Stars of Opera”) It started with a lively, snappy Marriage of Figaro Overture, then Ms. Damrau sang two Mozart arias: Cherubino’s “Voi che sapete” and Donna Anna’s “Non mi dir” – neither of which suited her voice well, the first too low and the second too heavy. After a bubbly Die Fledermaus Overture, a selection of Viennese operetta bonbons found Ms. Damrau in a happier medium, singing Lincke’s “Castles that lie in the Moon” and Lehár’s “Meine lippen” with great verve and beautiful full tone, waltzing across the stage in between four gown changes. The Der Rosenkavalier Suite comprised the second half of the program. It was short in length but long on Viennese charm. This waltz-themed opera by Richard Strauss is receiving notable productions this year in Santa Fe (July-August) and Milan’s La Scala (October). Here at the Hollywood Bowl, it happily closed the L.A. Phil’s summer season with good cheers and many champagne toasts in the audience.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2024-2025 season opens on October 1 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.