Lang Lang Plays Thrilling Rachmaninoff in L.A. Phil Opening Gala
/By Truman C. Wang
10/2/2024
Photo credit: Farah Soso/Courtesy of the LA Phil
On Tuesday, October 1, the Los Angeles Philharmonic opened its 2024/25 season with a glitzy star-studded gala concert featuring popular Chinese pianist Lang Lang. The new season will be the first for CEO Kim Noltemy, and the last for Gustavo Dudamel (who nonetheless promised to return “4 weeks a year, including 1 week at the Bowl.”)
At 5:00pm, the tony black-tied gala guests began arriving on the red carpet in front of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Among the celebrities and VIPs were Beck, Christine Chiu, Amanda Kloots, Rufus Wainwright and Timothy Olyphant. Government officials in attendance included California State Senator Ben Allen, Supervisor Janice Hahn, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, Supervisor Holly Mitchell and former Supervisor Zev Yarosklavsky. The hall’s terrace garden was closed for the pre-concert cocktail reception, where the gala guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and cocktails specially designed by Levy Catering.
At the post-concert gala dinner party on Grand Aveue, Lang Lang and his wife Gina Alice Redlinger shared a special performance of Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 for four hands, and guests continued to enjoy the rest of the evening, dancing at the after party on Grand Avenue hosted by the acclaimed DJ Derrick “D-Nice” Jones.
The above were excerpted from the excellent, hardworking L.A. Phil PR team. But how was the concert itself? In a word, spectacular.
At 7:10pm, the brooding C-minor chords of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 sounded off in gorgeous, burnished tones. Lang Lang sat at the Steinway, his fingers tickling the ivories in a light ripple of arpeggios; his arms by turn outstretched, lifting high up, and circling in the air; his eyes half-closed, gazing up to the heavens as if in a poetic trance. Lang Lang’s physical and facial expressions were as dramatic as his music-making. I admit to being critical, even dismissive, of his playing of the classics in the past (Bach, Schubert, Beethoven). But in the big, Romantic concerto of Rachmaninoff, Lang Lang was thoroughly in his element and absolutely thrilling to behold. There were many fine qualities in Lang Lang’s Rachmaninoff Second: charm of timber, warmth in cantabile melodies, ethereal beauty of sound in the hushed trilling at the coda of the adagio sostenuto. Gustavo Dudamel conducted the L.A. Phil with a painterly hand for color and balance. The adagio melody passing softly and wistfully from the piano to the flute, then to the clarinet; the violas and cellos passionately singing the big tune in the finale -- these were among the many unforgettable orchestral moments.
There was no intermission, only a 10-minute pause to roll the piano off stage for the next piece, ballet Estancia (cattle ranch) by Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983). The ballet was performed complete, with all the musical numbers and dances, and a trenchant narration by baritone Gustavo Castillo as the gaucho who is in love with a city girl. (He wins her hand in the end by out-dancing the other gauchos in the famous final malambo.) Flute and timpani solos stood out prominently amidst brilliant orchestral playing.
After a lengthy standing ovation, Dudamel came back to give a surprise encore: John Philip Sousa’s march “The Liberty Bell”, with audience clapping and a big confetti drop at the end.
Quoting PR again, the Gala Concert raised more than $3.5 million for the LA Phil and its Learning and Community Initiatives (including YOLA), which serve more than 150,000 youths, families and teachers every year. A worthy cause and a wonderful musical night to remember.
The 2024/25 season continues with Gustavo Dudamel conducting A Midsummer Night's Dream with Dudamel on October 3 and 4, featuring the world premiere of Gabriela Ortiz’s new cello concerto Dzonot, performed by Alisa Weilerstein; An Evening of Film & Music: From Mexico to Hollywood, part of the LA Phil’s John Williams Spotlight series, on Oct. 25-27; and Día de Los Muertos with Dudamel on Nov. 1-3.
More info on LA Phil’s 2024/25 season here: laphil.com
For a full chronological listing of events, click here.
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.