SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Verdi, Requiem: Soloists, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel (conductor). Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, 6.11.2009 (LV)


After a month in the job, Gustavo Dudamel is supplying the expected seismic thrills to LA Phil, the Southland and the classical music industry. He seems to be keeping Deutsche Grammophon, who daily announce record-setting download numbers for his live Mahler First, profitably occupied. And fans are flocking for the few available tickets as if they were courtside seats for a Lakers playoff game.

Critically speaking, reviewers are falling over themselves to write about the 'Gustavo Effect.' Some are linking Dudamel to NY Phil's new maestro Alan Gilbert and their mentor Esa-Pekka Salonen as members of a classical music triumvirate. Performing arts cynics are starting to calculate how much money they can make from this unexpected nexus of classical music and the entertainment industry. It's like MGM in the 40s when Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly courted Kathryn Grant while she sang grand opera and they crooned Tin Pan Alley. Gustavo's arrival has also made "mornings after" in Hollywood much more delicious: "What did you think of Gustavo's Requiem?" I'm constantly asked. "What was Gustavo like?"

Overall, Gustavo's Requiem was episodic, quixotic and occasionally quite wonderful. There was lots of blood and thunder showmanship (turning to conduct the offstage brass at the back of the hall, or letting 45 seconds of silence tease the audience at the end before dropping his baton) but it was subsidiary to something refreshingly innocent born out of Gustavo's indecision about how to proceed: whether to impose his will on the meandering 90 minutes, or let the music find its own way while he, Gustavo, stops to smell the musical flowers. He chose the latter route.

Perhaps most important was a sense that Gustavo was genuinely pleased to be sharing his own newness to the Requiem (only his third performance) with the audience, and with the singers and orchestra. The result was an authentic and moving exploration of the music. Whenever he found a section that seemed to "speak" to him, he paused and gave it greater intensity and more Technicolor display, but never at the expense of an underlying seriousness of purpose. The result was a consolation of tears not sentiment.

Soprano Leah Crocetto had a voice of the loveliest purity, and floated the famous passages as if she were a musical angel. Mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova had a lovely burnished sound when the orchestra was not covering her up, tenor David Lomeli was valiant, and bass John Relyea projected a Wotan-like authority. The Los Angeles Master Chorale kept in the thick of things with admirable effort and enthusiasm. There was an occasional lack of coordination between the forces assembled, and the soloists must have felt a few times that were being left to fend for themselves, but there was no doubt that Gustavo valued emotional connection over mere precision. He also made sure that the many audiophiles' favorite bass drum passage (starring percussionist Joseph Pereira) came through like canon shots.

Next on Gustavo's LA agenda: Schubert and Berio with Dawn Upshaw, Mozart and Berg with Gil Shaham, and a new music concert to kick off LA Phil's West Coast, Left Coast festival. Then he leaves town until May 6th. What a life!

Laurence Vittes

Laurence Vittes writes and reviews for Strings, Gramophone, Audiophile Audition, the Southern California Early Music Society and The Hollywood Reporter. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, the artist Larisa Pilinsky, and Sophie the dog.