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Lorin
Maazel brings his colorful style to L.A. Phil in Strauss and
Sibelius |
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Los Angeles Philharmonic
Lorin Maazel, conductor
n his last L.A. tour with the New York Philharmonic several years ago, Lorin Maazel gave two concerts of such rapturous and superlative qualities that his return this week was met with a packed auditorium and a long line of hopeful ticket seekers. Those of us who were fortunate to hear the concert were again elated. The familiar ‘Maazel sound’ was there – subtly brilliant orchestral colors being carried over on a lush cushion of strings. It was perfect for the extravagantly scored music of Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius. The Suite from Der Rosenkavalier opened with a seductively languorous horn call answered by honeyed tones of the strings (helped by the new European seating of the violins flanking the lower strings). Soon the passions built up to a frenzy, but to Maazel’s credit, the delicate orchestral texture never lost its transparency and magic. The Viennese waltzes (associated with Baron Ochs) that followed ranged from the raucous to the saccharine, and saw the L.A. Phil string players literally on the edge of their seats, as if putting a finished touch on a sweet dessert of a master chef. let alone The next work, also by Richard Strauss, was Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils that featured white-hot, erotically-charged string playing and star turns by L.A. Phil’s principal flute and oboe. The wide array of exotic percussions only added to the nightmarish qualities of Salome’s world. The performance ended as it had started, in a violent, frenzied swirl of orchestral colors. Following the Dance, we heard American soprano Nancy Gustafson in Salome’s Final Scene. Ms. Gustafson, whom I have heard on many occasions in such lyric soprano ingénue roles as Marguerite (Faust), Musetta (La Bohème), Rosalinde (Fledermaus), has recently taken on such heavies as Leonore (Fidelio), Jenufa, and now Salome. Judging from tonight’s performance, Ms. Gustafson’s still beautiful lyric voice proved woefully inadequate as Strauss’s Salome, but would have made a credible Massenet’s Salome (in Herodiade). Richard Strauss’s Salome requires a powerfully-focused dramatic voice that can cut through and soar above the mammoth orchestra. Ms. Gustafson’s soft-edged, lightweight soprano simply could not pass muster vocally, or convey such dramatic nuances as Salome’s pained anguish and the incandescent cry of “Jokanaan!” before launching into her big song. Physically, Ms. Gustafson had the looks to kill in her smolderingly sexy body-hugging black gown split in the front and at the hem. So I guess all was not lost. Predictably, the L.A. Phil swamped and obliterated this Salome like a giant tidal wave, leaving her to her own devices. There were, however, many memorable orchestral details, such as the violent jab in the double bass at the moment of Jokanaan’s execution, or the radiant glow in the high strings after Salome's ‘kiss’. The fabulous ‘Maazel sound’ continued after the intermission, with Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major. Long-time patrons of the L.A. Philharmonic will inevitably compare Maazel’s version with that of the recently departed Esa-Pekka Salonen, who favored a coolly unemotional approach to the music of his most famous countryman. Maazel’s, on the other hand, was warm and drenched in the Tuscany sun, resembling the lush landscape of German Romanticism rather than the frigid fjords of the Nordic country. It was a sweeping, ultimately triumphant reading of a great symphony by maestro Maazel. No composers in the 20th Century were better nature painters of orchestral colors than Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius. We got to hear both – superlatively played – at tonight’s concert.
To
purchase tickets for Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2009/10 season, call
(323) 850-2000 or visit online
www.laphil.org
Truman C. Wang is editor-in-chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily.
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