Category Archives: A Little Night Music

The Bullshit Factor The elderly white-haired gentleman sat on the stage and smiled. “This is one of the world’s greatest composers,” said Steven Stucky by way of introducing his old teacher from Cornell University days. “He is the world’s greatest … Continue reading →

Some of the liveliest music making has come to my attention this season under the least-promising circumstances: one proud parent or another entreating my presence at some doted-upon offspring’s high school’s annual musical production. Los Angeles being the proverbial talent … Continue reading →

Three diverse concerts in four nights at Disney: proof enough of the splendid variety of music in these parts – even in May, when the season is supposed to be winding down. The difference in the sounds echoing through these … Continue reading →

Getting It Right Of a couple of dozen productions I have attended of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, the one currently at the Music Center (through this weekend) is by some distance the finest and the most enjoyable. It contains … Continue reading →

Daniel Rothmuller has been a member of the L.A. Philharmonic’s cello section since the 1970-’71 season, and associate principal cellist since 1975. That means he has played under Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, André Previn and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and is … Continue reading →

The signing of 26-year-old Gustavo Dudamel to take over the Los Angeles Philharmonic podium – snatched from the hot grasp of half a dozen other conductor-hungry American orchestras – has been a coup both musical and political, in many circles … Continue reading →

Minimal MerrimentOf all the unreasonable choices for operatic fare to sweep cheery breezes across this season’s repertory, a revival of 2001’s The Merry Widow, in the San Francisco production by Lotfi Mansouri – originally conceived by him in 1981 as … Continue reading →

The Tristan Reject Not content with merely presenting the inscrutable masterpiece, the opera that changed the course of artistic thought forever, the Philharmonic offered further ennoblement under the rubric of “The Tristan Project.” First injected onto the Disney stage in … Continue reading →

When People Die . . . Back in 1992, the host of KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic – what’s-‘is-name? – let himself be hypnotized by the Third Symphony of the Polish composer Henryk Górecki, and passed it on to the rest … Continue reading →

Moving Along One day in 2005, Ernest Fleischmann, former honcho of the Philharmonic and now of the musical world at large, invited me to lunch, a frequent and pleasant occurrence. This time there was good food, plus a command. On … Continue reading →