Gustavo Dudamel is briefly, joyously back at the Bowl with the L.A. Phil
He walked on stage, now the proud paterfamilias with greying hair and a broad welcoming smile on his face as he surveyed the nearly full house. The weather was fine. The orchestra, as so very few orchestras ever do, looked happy.
For Dudamel, his single homecoming week this Bowl season began Monday evening conducting his beloved Youth Orchestra Los Angeles as part of the annual YOLA National Festival, which brings kids from around the country to the Beckmen YOLA Center in Inglewood. But it is also a bittersweet week. Travel issues (no one will say exactly what, but we can easily guess) have meant the cancellation of his Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela's trip to the Bowl next week. Dudamel will also be forced to remain behind with them in Caracas.
After 20 years, Dudamel clearly knows what works at the Bowl, but he also likes to push the envelope as with Tuesday's savvy blend of Duke Ellington and jazzy Ravel. The soloist was Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho, whose recent recording of Ravel's complete solo piano works along with his two concertos, has been one of the most popular releases celebrating the Ravel year (March 7 was the 150th anniversary of the French composer's birth).
Ellington and Ravel were certainly aware of each other. When Ravel visited New York in 1928, he heard the 29-year-old Ellington's band at the Cotton Club, although his attention on the trip was more drawn to Gershwin. Ellington knew and admired Ravel, and Billy Strayhorn, who was responsible for much of Ellington's music, was strongly drawn to Ravel's harmony and use of instrumental color.
On his return to Paris, Ravel wrote his two piano concertos, the first for the left hand alone, and jazz influences were strong. Cho played both concertos, which were framed by the symphonic tone poems 'Harlem' and 'Black, Brown and Beige, which Ellington called tone parallels.
There has been no shortage of Ravel concerto performance of late — or ever — but Ellington is another matter. Although the pianist, composer and band leader was very much on the radar of the classical world — 'Harlem' was originally intended for Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony; Leopold Stokowski attended the Carnegie Hall premiere of 'Black, Brown and Beige,' as did Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Anderson and Frank Sinatra — Ellington never played the crossover game. The NBC 'Harlem' never panned out and became a big-band score. Ever practical, Ellington, who composed mostly in wee hours after gigs, always wrote for the occasion and the players. He tended to leave orchestration to others, more concerned with highlighting the fabulous improvising soloists in his band.
The scores, moreover, were gatherings, developments and riffs on various existing songs. 'Harlem' is an acoustical enrapturement of the legendary Harlem Renaissance and one of the great symphonic portraits of a place in the repertory. 'Black, Brown and Beige' is an ambitious acoustical unfolding of the American Black narrative, from African work songs to spiritual exaltation with 'Come Sunday' (sung by Mahalia Jackson at the premiere) to aspects of Black life, in war and peace, up to the Harlem Renaissance.
Both works are best known today, if nonetheless seldom heard, in the conventional but effective orchestrations by Maurice Peress and are what Dudamel relies on. The version of 'Black, Brown and Beige' reduces it from 45 to 18 too-short minutes.
The primary reason for these scores' neglect is that orchestras can't swing. The exception is the L.A. Phil. With Dudamel's surprising success of taking the L.A. Phil to Coachella, there now seems nothing it can't do.
The time has come to commission more experimental and more timely arrangements. But even these Peress arrangements, blasted through the Bowl's sound system and with the orchestra bolstered by a jazz saxophone section, jazz drummer and other jazz-inclined players, caught the essence of one of America's greatest composers.
Ravel fared less well. The left-hand concerto has dark mysteries hard to transmit over so many acres and video close-ups of two-armed pianists trying to keep the right hand out of the way can be disconcerting. This summer, in fact, unmusical jumpy video is at all times disconcerting.
Ravel's jazzier, sunnier G-Major concerto is a winner everywhere. But for all Cho's acclaim in Ravel, he played with sturdy authority. Four years ago, joining Dudamel at an L.A. Phil gala in Walt Disney Concert Hall, Cho brought refined freshness to Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto. In Ravel at the Bowl, amplification strongly accentuated his polished technique, gleaming tone and meticulous rhythms, leaving it up to Dudamel and a joyous, eager orchestra to exult in the Ravel that Ellington helped make swing.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
‘Demascus' review: A sci-fi comedy about one man's alternate realities
In the sci-fi comedy 'Demascus,' a man attending therapy tries a new technology that allows him to visit alternate versions of his life that exist in his subconscious in an effort to figure out why he's feeling so bleh. But which version is closest to his real life? Actually, which one is his real life, anyway? The show premieres on the free, ad-supported streaming platform Tubi, but it almost never made it to light. From writer-producers Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm and Mark Johnson, it was originally created for AMC and shot in its entirety, and then canceled in early 2023 before it could air (the network cited cost-cutting measures). It languished on the shelf until now. Kudos to Tubi, which offers only a limited number of originals, for taking a chance on it. But while the premise of 'Demascus' is enticing — what might our lives look like with small changes? — the six-episode series doesn't live up to its initial promise. There is a 'solution' offered by the final episode that explains everything we've seen up to that point, but instead of resonating, it felt somewhat pat. Okieriete Onaodowan plays the title character, a 33-year-old Everyman who moves through his days in a numb haze. His therapist (Janet Hubert) asks: Are you unhappy? What's making you unhappy? 'It's 2023 and I'm a Black man,' he says. 'The world is as inhospitable as ever.' Then he offers up an anecdote from work: Walking toward the break room, he hears someone sharing an anecdote about him, of which he only hears the last line: 'Y'all know how Demascus is, right?' Everyone in the break room laughs uproariously. 'Nobody knows me,' Demascus tells his therapist, confused by what this person could have meant. 'My one dominant quality is I'm unknowable.' You pride yourself on that, comes the response? 'Yeah, actually, I do. I can be anybody. Or nobody. And that's a good quality for a Black man to have, right?' But in your effort to remain unknowable, his therapist says, perhaps you have made yourself unknown even to you. This is good, interesting stuff and had me locked in. Then his therapist places a white contraption on his head that sends him into something called digital immersive reality therapy. 'By identifying commonalities across your alternate timelines, you'll be able to combat the issues you're facing in your everyday life.' It also comes with a warning. 'Attempting to take control of the narrative can permanently corrupt your primary reality.' In one of those alternate realities, he has a sister whose boyfriend has been roughing her up; she wants Demascus to round up some friends to set the guy straight. Demascus is reluctant — this is not his thing — but agrees and calls up Uncle Forty (Martin Lawrence), an aging no-bull type, and his best friend Redd (Caleb Eberhardt), who is ready, willing and eager. Not surprisingly, things go horribly, comically awry. And so it continues. We meet his girlfriend Budhi (Sasha Hutchings), who he is seriously involved with in one timeline, less so in another. In another timeline, it's Demascus and Redd who are a couple. In yet another, Demascus is a priest. In another, he and Budhi are on an instant marriage reality show. Everyone's styling is different each time. At one point, Demascus does the therapy while he's already in a therapy session, which is like staring into an infinity mirror, or waking from a dream, only to still be dreaming — when does the trance stop? The show is commenting on all kinds of ideas, from how we run away from (or suppress) our deepest pain, to the psychological issues — the addiction — that can result from people pretending they have a relationship with computer-generated reality. As his therapist said early on, he's created a world where he's unknowable not only to those around him but to himself as well. The larger issue is that he also remains unknowable to the viewer, and I think that is where the show loses me. Ultimately, who are we supposed to become invested in? 'Demascus' — 2 stars (out of 4) Where to watch: Tubi
Chicago Tribune
2 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
What to do in Chicago: Bud Billiken Parade, a fest for Beatles fans and Northalsted Market Days
Our picks for events in and around Chicago this weekend. Touted as the largest Black parade, the 96th annual Bud Billiken Parade will march through Bronzeville this weekend. Led by this year's grand marshal, 'Chicago P.D.' star and Harvey native LaRoyce Hawkins, the two-mile parade features more than 200 bands, dance teams and performers from across the country. After the parade, check out the It Takes a Village Back to School Festival in Washington Park, featuring free hairstyling, health screenings and live performances. Bud Billiken events support $25,000 in scholarships and thousands of free school wrap up summer without another Northalsted party. Entertainment spans across four stages, more than 250 vendors line the streets and, of course, there's food, drink and 20 years on the scene — no longer Young — the Georgia trap star rolls into the Chicago Theatre with a live performance of his debut album. Backed by the Color of Noize Orchestra and DJ Drama, Jeezy will play 'Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101.' It's the album that put him — and hit song 'Soul Survivor' — on the beloved Chicago band plays two sets with an intermission at The Salt Shed. As you'd expect, it's long sold out … but where there's a Wilco, there's a way? You could also consider grabbing tickets to Jeff Tweedy's solo show on Sept. 7 at Gallagher Way or his full band show with Macie Stewart on Nov. 1 back at The Salt comedy? You've got plenty to see this weekend. Kerryn Feehan and Dwayne Kennedy top the lineup at this weekend's Windy City Comedy Fest. Dozens of comics from Chicago and beyond will perform at a series of showcases across the city, culminating in an installment of Roast Battle Chicago at the Den Theatre on Aug. authors and celebrate Black literature at the Soulful Chicago Book Fair. Music, storytelling, poetry and more will be on offer. Bring the whole family: Children's books are part of the you always wished you could visit a Beatles Ashram? Now's your chance. You just have to go to the Hyatt Regency O'Hare. You'll be surrounded by fellow Beatlemaniacs and have the opportunity to hear from the likes of producer Peter Asher, The Yardbirds' Jim McCarty, Bad Company's Simon Kirke and tour manager and 'Miss O'Dell' inspiration Chris O'Dell. (Or, as the fest's website states, 'Worked at Apple, was at Rooftop Concert.') WXRT's Terri Hemmert serves as master of ceremonies, as she has since you have a giant TV, but nothing compares to the big-ness of experiencing a 70mm film in the theater. See for yourself through Aug. 21 as the Music Box Theatre has put together a lineup of films deserving of the format's grandeur. There's something here for nearly every moviegoer. Yes, 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Cleopatra,' but also Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners.' Rounding out the lineup: 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,' 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,' 'Dunkirk,' '2001: A Space Odyssey,' 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'The Dark Crystal.'Looking for a messy challenge? Women of all ages and fitness levels are invited to participate in MudGirl Run, a three-mile course featuring 17 obstacles and a whole lot of mud. It promises a day of empowerment and aims to raise money for the Pink Army Foundation, a charity supporting breast cancer summertime! Specifically, the Summer of Sue, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Field Museum's beloved T. rex. So skip work and head down to Museum Campus. The Field offers free basic admission to Illinois residents every Wednesday this month. Be sure to bring proof of residency.
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
With the must-watch ‘Demascus,' Tubi rescues a reality-bending comedy
The road to 'Demascus' — premiering Thursday on Tubi — runs through AMC, which had commissioned the series and then, though a six-episode season was completed, declined to air it. Not being privy to any boardroom discussions or the thoughts of executives and accountants, I won't claim to know why that was — most everything these days is a calculation instead of a gamble. But simply as regards its quality, AMC was wrong and Tubi is right. Created by playwright Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm ('Hooded: Or Being Black for Dummies'), it sits alongside some of the most interesting series of the last several years — comedies from Black creators that mess with form and time and space and reality — 'I'm a Virgo,' 'Government Cheese,' 'The Vince Staples Show' and 'Atlanta' and the cartoons 'Lazor Wulf' and 'Oh My God ... Yes!' Perhaps if one already feels outside the system, there's less temptation to play it safe. It's not necessarily a recipe for success in the show-business terms, but it can produce good results. Demascus (Okieriete Onaodowan), 33, is entering his 'Jesus year, my year to be a martyr, and I've chosen this to be my martyrdom.' That martyrdom is therapy, he tells Dr. Bonnetville (Janet Hubert), as the series begins in a jungle — though this turns out to be a Holodeck projection. We're in a version of 2023 — the year the series was first set to air — in which self-driving cars fill the road and a voice-activated assistant (here called Shekinah, played by Brie Eley) is everywhere, setting the stage for the series' science-fictional central conceit. 'Nobody knows me. My one dominant quality is I'm unknowable,' Demascus tells her. 'I can be anybody or nobody. … That's a good quality for a Black man to have, right?' But does he know himself? Bonnetville suggests that Demascus might be a candidate for DIRT (Digital Immersive Reality Therapy), an experimental psychological virtual alternate reality rig that 'follows the path of your conscious and subconscious impulses, allowing you to visit alternate visions of yourself, but only as a voyeur. … Attempting to take control of a narrative can permanently corrupt your primary reality.' (Of course he will do just that.) But just what reality is primary is something the series purposely confuses and doesn't quite settle or really needs to. The gizmo is an excuse for episodes and parts of episodes set in various contexts that work both as short stories and pieces of a bigger puzzle, and as a bonus allows the main cast to try on different roles — in repertory, if you will. In what may or may not be his primary reality, Demascus is a graphic artist employed by the government — he's working on a campaign to encourage Black participation in the space program — which makes for some office-based satire. He has a best friend, Redd (Caleb Eberhardt), a District of Columbia public defender, who will reappear in other forms (in one episode, 'Thanksgiving,' they're a couple); an uncle, Forty (Martin Lawrence), now dissolute, now respectable; and, in some scenarios, a sister, Shaena (Brittany Adebumola). He's slowly losing interest in his 'algorithmically compatible' girlfriend, Budhi (Sasha Hutchings), and becoming interested in Naomi (Shakira Ja'nai Paye), who appears variously as an artist, a nun and a nurse in a psychiatric ward. There's a tentative pan-dimensional love story between them, the sort of thing that could easily be overdone, but is just … nice. The series itself takes different forms — a relationship reality show, a 'sad Thanksgiving' domestic comedy, a setting out of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.' Notwithstanding a change of hair or profession, Demascus remains more or less himself as shapes shift around him — the protagonist, basically a good guy, a little buttoned-up, a little insecure. He's surrounded by more colorful, unpredictable characters, more acted upon than acting and dealing with the same issues from scenario to scenario. 'There are rules and I know some of them and there are rules that I don't know and they're just ever-changing,' he tells Dr. Bonnetville. According to press materials, the show explores the 'gulf between Black male perspectives' and as with any culturally specific work, it may play to an audience that shares those specifics. But like all good art, it doesn't limit its meanings to the artist's statement. 'Demascus' isn't parochial or polemical; the emotional beats are accessible to any moderately sensitive human. And there's pure pleasure to be found in the writing, which is sharp and smart and natural; the direction, which shapes and is shaped by the evolving material without getting in its way; and uniformly marvelous performances. I finished the sixth episode, titled 'Season Two Prequel' (following the penultimate episode, 'Penultimate'), wanting more, though that possibility, given the series' previous wandering in the wilderness, seems an open question. A line of dialogue hearkens back to the beginning in a way that might be thought of as closure, as a circle closes without going anywhere, and yet things are not the same. An ending you can take as a beginning, as with any fairy tale or romantic comedy, it's a beautifully managed moment, as J. Cole's 'Love Yourz' — 'No such thing as a life that's better than yours' and 'It's beauty in the struggle' — makes its complementary points on the soundtrack.
