LA Philharmonic visits Verizon Hall (1st review)

Great art is nothing without passion, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic took a passionate gamble indeed last year when it appointed the flamboyant 28-year-old Venezuelan matinee idol Gustavo Dudamel as its permanent music director. It's the sort of gutsy commitment that the cautious Philadelphia Orchestra— which for two years hasn't had a permanent music director at all, much less a young and sexy one— seems incapable of making.

Dudamel's arrival in Los Angeles has showered newfound attention on that city's previously ignored orchestra. Surely he's the only reason that envious Philadelphians like me flocked to Verizon Hall for the LA Philharmonic's recent visit.

And, to be sure, its initial effect was impressive. The orchestra's performance of John Adams's City Noir effectively conveyed the dynamism and cacophony of a big bustling city (albeit one more like Manhattan than laid-back Los Angeles).

In Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony— which Dudamel conducted without music— the Angelenos again delivered a solid and confident sound, especially in the brass and woodwinds. Dudamel modestly eschewed the spotlight, refusing after each piece to take a bow by himself and instead hiding himself among his standing musicians.

And yet, and yet….

Annoying gesticulations

This two-piece program was hardly an adequate test of a sophisticated major-league orchestra. Both City Noir and the Pathétique are loud, stirring works likely to reflect well on any ensemble that performs them. The Pathetique's upbeat third movement ends with such a triumphant brass chorus that audiences invariably burst into applause at its finish (as they did on Wednesday), in the mistaken belief that the symphony is over. A work of subtle nuance wasn't to be found on this program.

Moreover, Dudamel's athletic gesticulations, which were entertaining at first, grew more annoying as the evening progressed— suggesting not so much emotion as lack of control. Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra was so disciplined that after his death in 1957 it performed a memorial service without a conductor. The Philadelphia Orchestra's musicians, similarly, surprised Riccardo Muti at his farewell concert in 1992 by performing a piece they had rehearsed on their own. I found myself hard put to imagine what sounds the LA Philharmonic might have produced without Dudamel waving and pointing from the podium.

Travel broadens

From clerks to musicians to audiences, everyone needs a change of pace once in a while. The Angelenos seemed keyed up for this rare Philadelphia appearance, just as the Philadelphians in the audience were energized by the prospect of a change of pace. The Philadelphia Orchestra spends so much time in places like Beijing and Tokyo at least partly because it's wildly appreciated over there and taken for granted here at home.

I've argued during the past two years that the Philadelphia Orchestra's board must get off the pot and choose a permanent music director— that its current limbo is equivalent to operating a football team with a guest coach each week. I still feel that way. But this week's concert did advance the case for cautious deliberation before making a long-term commitment.

The LA Philharmonic can afford to gamble on a fresh new face like Dudamel because it has nowhere to go but up. The Philadelphia Orchestra has a venerable reputation to protect. That's Philadelphia's blessing as well as its curse.♦


To read another review by Steve Cohen, click here.