Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic took their audience on a Short Ride in a Fast Machine recently when they raced through John Adams’ four-minute orchestral work towards the blazing flares of Enrico Chapela’s e-cello concerto titled Magnetar. After a brief intermission, Dudamel returned to a favorite repertory piece, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100.
Short Ride in a Fast Machine
John Adams found his voice in 70s Minimalism and has since composed music across a wide spectrum of genres including opera, concerto, oratorio and symphonic music. His Short Ride in a Fast Machine was composed in 1985 and provided Gustavo Dudamel with an inventive roadmap to tonight’s centerpiece, the e-concerto Magnetar. This fast-paced piece spans four minutes and got to the point immediately via the woodblock, trumpets, clarinets and synthesizers and hooked the Walt Disney Concert Hall audience with its repetition, steady beats and harmonic language.
Magnetar, Concerto for Electric Cello
Composed in 2011 by Enrico Chapela, this 25-minute concerto had its World Premiere on October 20, 2011 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the piece featured soloist Johannes Moser on electric cello and was conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. The work is scored in three movements and refers to data from three flares produced by three different magnetars collected by the Venera, Ulysses, and RHESSI spacecraft. Chapela used this data to construct the base materials for the work (Chapela 2011).
“Let’s rock this place,” stated Gustavo Dudamel as he and Johannes Moser cozied up to their microphones prior to the performance. “Explain this instrument to us," added Dudamel, pointing to the Yamaha SVC-110SK Silent Cello that Moser was holding. The instrument is a mere frame of a classical cello. It has no body, just a bridge (with an electric Piezo pickup), fingerboard and tailpiece. It is silent if you use headphones, it is meant to rock when it’s plugged into an electric guitar amplifier. And rock they did!
The piece opened with members of the LA Phil rubbing their hands together to simulate cosmic noise before Moser, the brightest electric cellist star in modern classical music, launched into the first fast movement of this amazing space odyssey. His intro was like a burst of gamma rays from a dying star in a faraway galaxy. The orchestra built up to what was representative of the chaos following the big blast before Moser’s solo cadenza returned the first movement to a quieter state.
The melodies in the slow second movement were atonal in nature and had a spacy ambient nature. Jazz, rock, and Latin tinged riffs permeated the orchestration and Moser’s solos. A wah-wah pedal hooked up to electric amplifiers provided additional tones. Shades of Duke Ellington permeated the movement as a jazzed up muted trumpet solo added to the swift, frenzy of rock riffs charging from Moser’s e-cello.
The brutal final movement featured full distortion associated with a what a starquake triggered on the surface of a magnetar might sound like. By this time Moser's head is moving back and forth and he's putting metal to the pedal of the wah-wah. Dudamel's infamous curly locks of hair are provided their own cues and the LA Phil is really rocking. These explosions of sound were all magnificently cued by Dudamel and in an instant, the concerto had come to its conclusion. Overall, the piece was exciting, innovative and launched you into its imaginary orbit of sound.
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100
Sergei Prokofiev composed his Fifth Symphony during the summer of 1944 and led the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere at the Moscow Conservatory on January 13, 1945. It has four movements – Andante, Allegro moderato, Adagio and Allegro giocoso.
Gustavo Dudamel conducted the symphony from memory. In the first movement, from the soaring opening melody, through the rapidly moving harmonies throughout the exposition, the audience was engrossed with the artistry of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A beautiful flow of pizzicato and tremolando violins and violas added to the development while the recapitulation was a passage of bright fortissimo played by the brass, percussion and piano.
The second movement was a scherzo with the violins, clarinet, oboe and violas all making memorable statements. This was a perky movement that ended with Dudamel’s effective style that can sometimes begin with the slightest movement of an eyebrow to indicate a change of soloist or a sudden shift of key and the abrupt launching of the up-tempo coda.
The slow movement featured Dudamel’s controlled energy of somber and lyrical passages. Most memorable for this listener was the coda which was built upon Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as the clarinet arpeggio faded to the coda.
The mood of the fourth movement was joyous and the heightened swirl of principal violist Carrie Dennis brought the program to its conclusion. The audience burst into a roaring standing ovation that required triple curtain calls for Dudamel and the LA Phil as well as an encore.
For more information about upcoming performances by the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, please visit their websites.
Source: Chapela, Enrico. "Magnetar." Performances Magazine, October 21, 2011: P9.
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