Czech Mates at the Bowl

Thursday was the last L.A. Phil concert at the Bowl for the season.  The orchestra is on vacation for a week and then return for the season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  I enjoyed a morning rehearsal for volunteers and and evening concert with Colleen and sister Noreen (Half Czech) and neighbor John.  The conductor was Jakub Hrusa, age 33 who was born in the Czech Republic and Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Prague Philharmonia and Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

The program was the Smetana "Sarka from My Fatherland", Prokofiev "Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major" with Simon Trpceski on the piano.  After the intermission the orchestra played Dvorak's "Symphony No. 5 in D major."

It was beautiful night and a sad good to the L.A. Phil for the summer.  Now to look forward  to a season at the Disney.

Jakub Hrusa, Conductor

Simon Trpceski, Pianist

9/11 at the Dodgers

Wednesday night was a fun night at the Dodgers Baseball game with cousin Rob.  It was the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 one attack and tribute was held before the game.  The tribute featured First Responders on the field with bag pipes playing "Amazing Grace." 

The Dodgers lost to the Diamond Backs 4 to 1...the one being a home run by Puig.  Still a nice L.A. night.

Music Music Music

We enjoyed the Pasadena Pops directed by Michael Feinstein at the Arboretum in Arcadia on Saturday night.  The program was "The Gershwins and Me" and included everything from the Overture from "Rhapsody in Blue"  to "Strike up the Band" to "Porgy and Bess Suite" and "Shall We Dance."  Michael was joined by a very entertaining singer, Catherine Russell and Tom Wopat.  The highlight was when Michael sat at the piano...playing and singing.  He is a professional lounge singer and entertainer and that's what I like most.  He is a good director too as in this case he knows all the music from years of singing and playing them. 

Last night was a knock out experience at the Hollywood Bowl with more Gershwin plus Rachmaninoff and and  a West Coast Premiere.  Conductor for the evening was Miguel Harth-Bedoya.  Born in Peru, he lives in Fort Worth, Texas with his wife and three children.  He conducts the Fort Worth Symphony.

The evening began and ended with Gershwin's "Cuban Overture" and "Porgy and Bess Symphonic Picture."  The full orchestra was present with all the principals but one...Ariana Ghez, principal Oboe, was still on vacation, but Marion Arthur Kuszyk, associate principal did a great job.

Then 22 year-old Daniil Trifonov appeared at the Steinway and attacked Rachmaninoff's piano concerto No. 2 in C minor.  The familiar melody soared from the orchestra and from Trifonov who hovered over the keys and played with abandon...sweat dripping off his nose.  This Russian began his musical studies at the age of five at Moscow's Gnesian School of Music.  Since 2009 he has studied piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music.  The large crowd gave him and the orchestra a standing ovation and after 3 curtain calls he played an encore.

Another delight in the program was the West Coast premier of Adam Schoenberg's "Bounce."  The melodic piece was enjoyable and even more fun when I read the notes that said he wrote this before his first child was born.. The 33 year old Schoenberg came out for a bow after the orchestra played.  The notes state that "Bounce is dedicated to my son, Luca.  I know we haven't met yet, but please know that I already love you, both infinitely and unconditionally.  May you enter this world bouncing and soaring with love, creativity, happiness and curiosity.  We will forever be here for you as we watch you grow and become your own person."  That is a fortunate child!  Schoenberg teaches composition at UCLA and is the composer-in-residence with the Lexington Phil and the Kansas City Symphony.

Last night's concert reminded me that we get to see and hear one of the best orchestras in the world plus soloists execute some of the most profound music ever written.  I Love L.A.!

Daniil Trifonov

Sam Francis - Five Decades of Abstract Expressionism

On Wednesday I stopped by to the Pasadena Museum of California Art to view the Sam Francis exhibit:  "Sam Francis Five Decades of Abstract Expressionism."  Francis has been called one of the twentieth century's most influential painters of light and color.  He painted all over the world but his home and studio were in Santa Monica.

Abstract expressionism is defined as an American post-WWII art movement developed in New York.  Wikipedia writes "Technically, an important predecessor is surealism, with its emphasis on spontaneous, automatic or subconscious creation."  Jackson Pollock's dripping paint onto a canvas laid on the floor is a technique that Francis used sometimes but with primary colors.  The Wikipedia entry goes on:  "The movement's name is derived from the combination of the emotional intensity and self-denial of the German Expressionists...Additionally, it has an image of being rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic and some feel, nihilistic."  This is attributed to David/Cecile Shapiro (2000).

Samuel Lewis Francis was born in 1923 in San Mateo, CA.  He started to study pre-med at Cal. Berkeley but joined the U.S. Air Force during WWII.  He was injured during test flight maneuvers and was hospitalized for several years with spinal T.B.  While there, artist David Park visited him and he taught Francis to paint.  He later returned to Berkeley to study art and received his MA in 1950.  He then took off for Paris for a number of years and learned from the works of french painters such as Matisse and his use of color.

Francis was married five times and built his Santa Monica studio and Lapis Press for printmaking and for producing "unusual and timely texts in visually compelling formats." He married his last wife, painter Margaret Smith, in a Shinto ceremony in Japan in 1985.  Their son, Augustus, is also an artist.  He died in 1994 from prostate cancer but created 150 small paintings during his last year using his left hand. 

Below are photos of four of Francis' paintings I saw on Wednesday.

"Mantis," 1960-61, oil on canvas MOCA, LA

"Blue and Yellow," 1954-55, oil on canvas, Broad Collection

"Untitled," 1973 acrylic and oil on canvas, Sam Francis Foundation

"Untitled (Self-Portrait)," 1974 acrylic on paper, Hammer Museum

Tuesday Sept. 3rd Mozart and Beethoven at the Bowl

Nicholas McGegan conducted the L.A. Phil in a night of Mozart and Beethoven.  The first half was Mozart starting with Cosi fan tutte.  Next was an amazing Violin and Viola duet with the Phil behind in Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat.  The stars were L.A. Phil's own Nathan Cole, First Associate Concertmaster, on violin and principle viola Carrie Dennis.

These two young pros were shown in split screen together on the giant monitors even though they stood on either side of the conductor.  They seemed to dance as they played in together.  Carrie is known for her expressive movement with the music and she was beautiful with blonde hair in ringlets and wearing a long apricot colored gown with sequins.  

The second half was Beethoven's Contradances and Symphony No. 1.  Colleen and I were wowed.

Brahms and Beethoven music at the Bowl

On Thursday evening August 29th we enjoyed a wonderful night of music and picnic with neighbor John and daughter Denise.  The program began with the Brahms "Tragic Overture" followed by a wonderful Beethoven's third piano concerto played by Paul Lewis.  The night was frosted by Brahms Symphony no. 2.

Paul Lewis

The conductor for the evening was the thirty-year-old David Afkham from Freiberg, Germany.  He is the son of a German mother and Iranian fathers and led the orchestra with emotion...stiff at first but smiling and fully enjoying himself by the end of the night....we enjoyed his expressions via the camera views displayed on the jumbo screen near us.

Paul Lewis is a 41 year-old pianist from Liverpool, England...the son of a dock worker who found his success in music.  It was a wow evening...one of many this summer at the Bowl.

David Afkham

Wednesday the 28th = Wayne Shorter Night at the Bowl

Jazz sax artist, Wayne Shorter, was celebrated for his 80th birthday and contributions at the Bowl.  A group called Sound Prints opened the evening with Shorter influenced music.  Then Shorter arrived with Herbie Hancock on the piano for an expressive duet.  Hancock left and the "rest of the guys" joined shorter....the rest of his quartet:  Danil

Esperanza Spalding

Herbie Hancock

o Perez, pianist, John Patitucci, bass, and drummer Brian Blade.

Finally the Imani Winds joined the stage for a full and entertaining evening. Esperanza Spalding on the string bass was amazing.  Shorter at times hit the wrong notes...in my view...with the melodic and creative sounds of others being assaulted by impulsive squawks from Shorter...but that's Jazz.   I would like to hear more of the Imani Winds music and will explore.

Wayne Shorter