Category Archives: A Little Night Music

Photo by Diane AlancraigTHE INDOOR CONCERT SEASON DIDN’T begin with the customary orchestral spectacular at the Music Center or Royce, but with charm and intelligent small-scale music making in a friendly and informal setting: Gloria Cheng-Cochran’s recital at Pasadena’s Neighborhood … Continue reading →

This was the week of Los Angeles’ annual identity crisis. On Tuesday and Thursday, in shorts and T-shirt, I loaded the picnic basket and made it to the Hollywood Bowl. On Wednesday I fished out my matching socks and headed … Continue reading →

“I still don’t know much about early music, Monteverdi, or even Bach,” said Esa-Pekka Salonen in May 1996, in an interview in these pages. Apparently he‘s a fast learner; his all-Bach program at the Hollywood Bowl last week was a … Continue reading →

Sellars, Kevin Higa; Grimaud, J. Henry FairFINALLY, THERE WERE SIGNS OF LIFE AT the Hollywood Bowl — onstage, and in the audience as well. Esa-Pekka Salonen returned to his rightful podium to kick off his three weeks in the Tuesday/Thursday … Continue reading →

Harth-Bedoya photo by Christian SteinerSERGEI PROKOFIEV’S FIFTH SYMPHONY dates from 1944, but it is the latest large-scale orchestral work to achieve permanence in the standard repertory. Some two dozen recordings are listed in the latest Schwann; at least that many … Continue reading →

IN THE ASTOUNDING LEGACY OF HANDEL operas that now, at long last, assumes its rightful place on world stages, Rodelinda stands apart. It deals not with gods, magicians and philandering Roman generals but with humans subject to human-size emotions. Its … Continue reading →

THANKS TO MR. TURNER’S GOOD OFFICES, Deception dropped into my satellite dish a few weeks ago, reminding me once again of the current glum treatment visited by moviemakers upon the noble art I so valiantly struggle to serve. You can … Continue reading →

FELIX MENDELSSOHN HAS FARED poorly on local hillsides this summer. At the Hollywood Bowl, in the Cahuenga Pass, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was her usual bratty self, turning the Violin Concerto into personal showoff. At the Getty Center, high above Sepulveda Pass, … Continue reading →

YOU WILL FIND MORE USEFUL TRUTHS about music in the dozen or so comic operas of the Sirs W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan than in all 20 volumes of Grove’s Dictionary. The irresistible beauty of their tunes and counterpoints compound … Continue reading →

CLASSICAL SNOBS, WHOSE COMPANY I seldom cherish, tend to look down upon the Friday/Saturday concerts at the Hollywood Bowl as some form of lowlife entertainment to be swept under the nearest rug. What can you expect, they sneer, from a … Continue reading →