A trip to Los Angeles on LA Times business and a friend visiting from London has kept me away from my blog for the last few days.
All I want to say for now is that I love the Hollywood Bowl.
I spent Monday afternoon watching Grant Gershon rehearse the LA Phil and the LA Master Chorale for a Tuesday evening concert of celebratory music which included Haydn’s Te Deum, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Poulenc’s Gloria and the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah (complete with fireworks!). Then I returned the following evening for the concert.
OK, so music nerds like to sniff and moan about the sub-optimal acoustics and the fact that audience members spend their time drinking wine and eating cake instead of paying one hundred percent of their attention to the artists on stage. But really there’s no place like the Bowl on earth.
The trick to enjoying yourself at the Hollywood Bowl is to leave some of your musical pretensions at the door. Bring warm clothes, find a friend to cuddle up with and get together a picnic. Otherwise it’s bound to be a long night.