‘ There’s
no, if I may say, bullsh*t ...’ says Ernest Fleischmann,
managing director of the Los Angeles Phil. Yes, viewers
have been warned, but most of the language on this DVD
is of course civilised and restricted to Debussy and musicianship.
Fleischmann is summing up Salonen’s relationship with the
orchestra, and in a way the bulk of this production.
There
is inevitably some arty cleverness: sequences of various
orchestral shoes, Salonen’s hands in slow motion, rolling
waves and skyscapes which, while lifting the look of the
thing are little more than visual padding, giving the eyes
a rest from often wobbly ‘live action’ views of musicians
and conductor. The opening sequence of John Santana playing
the then new recording of ‘La mer’ over ‘the air’ isn’t
carried very far. His voice weighs in from time to time
with quotes from Debussy in a rich West Coast accent. Salonen
gives some of his opinions on Debussy and his place in
the 20th century, but the real star of this
DVD is the orchestra.
A
team of cameramen has been let loose among the players
of the Los Angeles Phil. Variously inclined, one seems
to have fallen in love with the glockenspiel, another lies
at the feet of one of the trumpet players. The least inventive
linger around the edges, so that we get the piccolo end
of the woodwinds, lots of double-bass close-ups, not-so-shiny
horns with their battered mutes, well-worn timpani, and
much zooming in from the sidelines which amplifies the
wobbliness. In fact, what you really get is quite an accurate
portrait of an orchestra at work, with some nice little
touches of yawning, oft tacet heavy brass players
(the brass, not the players), the violin leader doing his
leading thing and keeping everyone waiting, and the odd
chat going on here and there. Spectators interested in
Hoffnung-style type spotting will see all their favourites:
twitchy and intense oboists, a flautist looking incredulous
that she should be asked to play louder (‘I’ll try…’),
highly strung harpists and relaxed-looking rank and file
strings. Listeners who only get their music through CDs
miss out on the real life experience of making music. It
is very easy to forget that what comes out of your speakers
was once made by fairly ordinary men and women, and it’s
nice to see such a talented crowd of musicians close-up.
Salonen
comes over as a fairly easy person to work with. There
are some shots of home life and young children as he talks
about his changing attitude to La mer as he has
progressed through fifteen years of conducting. Little
touches like this put what amount to few words neatly into
some kind of context, and much of the time the music is
allowed to speak for itself. Despite sometimes looking
as if they would like to eat the conductor alive, the orchestra
seems to get on well enough with Salonen. There is a big
laugh when he exhorts them to wear the same clothes for
the next day’s recording, reminding me of that wonderful
Ephraim Kishon story about how a crowd of extras at a film
set nearly asphyxiate in week-old garments, all for the
sake of continuity.
There
is some serious work going on, and students will lap up
one or two comments regarding thematic development and
orchestration, but a sixty minute documentary can only
ever scratch the surface of a piece like La mer.
This might serve as an introduction, and we get the chance
to listen to some of the most beautiful moments being played
gorgeously, but University students looking for source
material will profit from looking further. Conducting students
will find this an interesting glimpse into how things can
be when an internationally recognised conductor stands
in front of a superbly professional orchestra playing a
piece they already know back to front. In other words,
there’s not really very much to learn, but it’s nice to
dream.
… .oh,
by the way – it’s not the rich brass sounds or elegant
conducting which you will be showing your classical muso-mates
when they come round for beer and disc bashing. Esa-Pekka
calling his agent on a monster mobile phone from his car
and having to put up with a lowly receptionist who either
doesn’t know who he is or who has had bad luck with atmospherics
will have you in light stitches. I can’t imagine many superstar
conductors allowing such a clip to be included, so, rock
on Salonen!
Dominy Clements
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Editor's Note - the DVD reviewed
above is not available through AmazonUS. The link is to what
appears to
be the same recording through a different label (Image
Entertainment) in NTSC format, with different cover images and a
much earlier release date.
Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra 
[60:00] 
