[contextly_auto_sidebar id="OBug1WHMcv4Mu8jWVEU2LxPTK8wO2pBx"] A NEW book by a British academic has charged that the Venezuelan-born classical-music-for-all program is run like something between a corporation and a cult. I've not seen the book yet, but David Ng of the LA Times interviews its author, Geoffrey Baker. Here's Baker -- whose book is published by Oxford University Press -- discussing … [Read more...]
Saariaho: Finnish Composer
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CRRqStIBmpYdmSguLgIo8y1dooOQBZsV"] ONE of the several nice things about conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen being back more solidly in Los Angeles, where he has a post with the LA Phil, is the steady infusion of strong new or modern music from Scandinavia, a region which has been on a roll for the last few decades. Last night I saw a Salonen-conducted concert at Walt … [Read more...]
Elvis Costello at the Hollywood Bowl
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="yoxDRYe0pvcibitrbAUITNZnhe94ChmB"] OVER the weekend, the former Angry Young Man played the Bowl, alongside indie piano man Ben Folds, both accompanied by the LA Philharmonic. I'm split on the show. Because both artists had equal billing, Costello had to squeeze a career that goes back to the 1970s into an hourlong set. It was too short, and his syncing up with the … [Read more...]
Irony, Minimalism, Ehrenreich and God
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="6L1vQwHGvhhhWxyn2fDj3qlLYwI011YD"] ATYPICALLY, I'll start the week by recapping the weekend a bit. First, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is partway through its second Minimalist Jukebox. The Phil is doing its best to take an expansive view of this oft-caricatured movement. On Saturday I caught a John Adams-conducted concert that included a world premiere, U.S. … [Read more...]
Classical Music on the Radio
NOT long ago I got to hang out at the Hollywood Bowl in the middle of the day -- which was a decadent pleasure in itself -- while talking to Brian Lauritzen, the KUSC deejay who has come to dominate classical broadcasting in town.Brian is still young yet, but he has several decades of commitment to both music and public radio, and he has a deep feeling for the sometimes complex role that music can … [Read more...]
The Roots of Leila Josefowicz
I EXPECT I'm not the only one looking forward to the concert at Disney Hall tonight, which continues over the weekend: the new Philip Glass symphony, in its West Coast premiere, with John Adams' Violin Concerto, both conducted by Adams himself. And the violin part in the Adams piece -- some days, my favorite piece by the bearded Bay Area composer -- will be played by the lovely and talented Leila … [Read more...]
Jazz, Joni Mitchell and the Hollywood Bowl
YOU'LL get less of the introverted poet of Blue and only a hint of the lipstick-and-beret chanteuse of Court and Spark. Instead, Wednesday night will summon the jazz phase Joni Mitchell went through in the mid-to-late '70s. HERE is my LA Times story on the Hollywood Bowl show, Joni's Jazz, which will include all kinds of good people -- including Herbie Hancock, who recently took some … [Read more...]
The Roots of Bobby McFerrin
IS there a more annoying song from the 1980s than "Don't Worry Be Happy"? Maybe -- a lot of bad childhood memories are now flowing back, some of them involving George Michael -- but not one of my favorite number from that low dishonest decade.Debut LPHERE is my brief LA Times exchange with the man who helped revolutionize jazz singing and has made an impact in the classical world as well. (He also … [Read more...]
Cameron Carpenter, Classical Wild Man
THE young organist Cameron Carpenter is a thinker, a talker, a rebel and a nearly androgynous figure in white jeans -- I think of him as a cross between '50s Glenn Gould and '70s David Bowie. He makes other classical iconoclasts I know -- Jeremy, for instance -- seem middle of the road.I spoke to Carpenter for the Los Angeles Times Influences column, which I am taking over for a while. When I told … [Read more...]
Composer Peter Lieberson, RIP
IT"S easy to recall the rude good health with which Peter Lieberson, a serene and gracious Santa Fe-based composer who was in town for a new piece with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, greeted me in 2005.Peter Lieberson, 1946-2011We spoke about the poetry of Neruda -- the inspiration for his latest piece -- his range of classical influences, the music of jazz pianist Bill Evans, his interest in … [Read more...]