Concert Report
I.
The concert that was attended was a concert that was held on Thursday July 16, 2009. The concert was held at the Hollywood Bowl, which is located at 2301 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood, California 90068. The performance was given by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is composed of many different members. The Los Angeles Philharmonic includes Esa-Pekka Solonen as the Music Director and also the Walt and Lily Disney Chair. Gustavo Dundamel joins as the Music Director Designate. The Assistant Conductor is Lionel Bringuier. The conductor of the evening was Bramwell Tovey. Steven Stucky acts as the Consulting Composer for New Music. Paul Lewis was a guest and featured on the piano. The first violins included: Martin Chalifour (Principal Concertmaster, Marjorie Connell Wilson Chair), Alexander Treger (Concertmaster, Ernest Fleishmann Chair), Bing Wang (was not present at this event as he is on sabbatical but he is a typical performer and is the Associate Concertmaster), Mark Baranov (Assistant Concertmaster, Philharmonic Affiliates Chair), Tamara Chernyak, Michelle Bovyer, Rochelle Abramson, Camille Avellano, Elizabeth Baker, Robert Vijay Gupta, Mischa Lefkowitz, Edith Markman, Judith Mass, Mitchell Newman, Barry Socher, Lawrence Sonderling, and Stacy Wetzel. The second violins include Mark Kashper (Associate Principal), Kristine Hedwell, Johnny Lee, Dale Breidenthal, David Chernyavky, Ingrid Chun, Chao-Hua Jin, Nickolai Kurganov, Guido Lamell, Varty Manouelian, Paul Stein, Yun Tang, Jonathan Wei, and SuLi Xue.
The violas include Carrie Dennis (Principal, John Connell Chair), Dale Hikawa Silverman (Associate Principal), Jerry Epstein (who did not perform when I was there as he was on sabbatical), Richard Elegino, Dana Hansen, John Hayhurst, Ingrid Hutman, Hui Liu, Meredith Snow, David Stockhammer, Leticia Oaks Strong, Minor L. Wetzel. The cellos include Peter Stumpf (Principal, Bram and Elaine Goldsmith Chair), Daniel Rothmuller (Associate Principal, Sadie and Norman Lee Chair), Ben Hong (Assistant Principal), Jonathan Karoly, Stephen Custer, David Garrett, Barry Gold, Jason Lippmann, Gloria Lum, Serge Oskotsky, and Brent Samuel. The basses included Dennis Trembly (Principal), Christopher Hanulik (Principal), Oscar M. Meza (Assistant Principal), David Allen Moore, Jack Cousin, Richard D. Kelly, Peter Rofe, John Shiavo, Frederick Tinsley, The flutes include Catherine Ransom Karoly (Associate Principal, Mr. and Mrs. H. Russell Smith Chair) and Sarah Jackson. The piccolo is Sarah Jackson. The oboes include Ariana Ghez (Principal), Marion Arthur Kuszyk (Associate Principal), Anne Marie Gabrielle, and Carolyn Hove.
The English horn is also played by Carolyn Hove. The clarinets include Michelle Zukovsky (Principal), Lorin Levee (Principal), Monica Kaenzig (Mauk Nunis Chair), and David Howard. The e-flat clarinet is also played by Monica Kaenzig, while the bass clarinet is also played by David Howard. The bassoons include Shawn Mouser (Associate Principal), Michelle Grego and Patricia Kindel. Patricia Kindel also plays the contrabassoon. The horns include William Lane (Principal), Eric Overholt (Associate Principal), Elizabeth Cook-Shen (William and Sally Rutter Chair), Brian Drake (Loring Charitable Trust Chair), Bruce Hudson, and Eric Bearman (Assistant, Bud and Barbara Hellman Chair). The trumpets include Donald Greene (Principal), James Wilt (Associate Principal), Christopher Still, and Boyde Hood. The trombones include Stephen Witser (Principal), James Miller (Associate Principal, Abbott and Linda Brown Chair), and Herbert Ausman. John Lofton plays the bass trombone. Norman Pearson (Minturn Family Foundation Chair) plays the tuba. The timpani is played by Joseph Pereira (Principal). Percussion includes Raynor Carroll (Principal), James Babor, and Perry Dreiman. The keyboards are played by Joanne Pearce Martin (Katharine Bixby Hotchkis Chair). The harp is played by Lou Anne Neill. The librarians include Kazue Asawa McGregor, Kenneth Bonebrake, and Stephen Biagini. The personal manager is Jeffrey Neville and the production manager is Paul M. Geller.
The entire performance was the masterpieces that have been composed by Ludvig Van Beethoven. The pieces that were performed were Egmont Overture, Piano Concerto No. 2, and Symphony No. 2.
II.
The composition that I liked best was the Egmont Overture. This piece was composed by Ludvig Van Beethoven. The piece was written between 1809 and 1810 and was first presented on June 15, 1810. This was during the Georgian Era.
This piece is a symphony. The piece has six movements. The piece’s sense of unity seemed to come from the overtones of sadness that were radiant in the music. The piece had variety in the way that the different instruments were written into the piece. The melody was sad and it had such deep and tragic overtones that were used to make you feel the tragedy that the piece is meant to describe. The composer kept the melody as true to form as he could as he was trying to portray the symphony as Beethoven had written it. The beat of the symphony was amazing. It was meant to invoke true feeling and involvement in the audience who was hearing it. Interesting enough was that Beethoven was deaf at the time that he wrote this symphony and it is unknown as to whether or not he was ever able to hear it himself. The tempo of this piece was steady at times but changed at others. The instruments were all used at different times to make the sounds more unique and in order to invoke the most feeling possible.
II.
The composition that I liked almost as much was the Piano Concerto No. 2. This piece was composed by Ludvig Van Beethoven. The piece was written 1787 and 1789. It was finished in it’s current form, however in 1798. This was during the Georgian Era.
This piece was a concerto. This piece has three movements. The piece was originally scored for a very small number of instruments and the piano solos in this piece were amazing and absolutely beautiful to hear. The piece had a sense of unity that was strong. The overall melody was used in a different way in this concerto as it was manipulated throughout the movements. There is a lot of enjoyment in this concerto. It is not a serious piece and when listening it is almost childlike or playful in the way that the instruments play and are able to manipulate the sounds. The overall part that stood out the most to me was the part that was comprised of the piano solo. In the original performance of this song Beethoven himself even performed the solo, so for the soloist to perform it so beautifully is something that was amazing and wonderful to get to experience.
III.
The composition that I liked the least was the Symphony No. 2. This piece was composed by Ludvig Van Beethoven. The piece was written between 1801 and 1802. It was dedicated to Prince Lichnowsky. This work was first played on April 5, 1803. this was during the Georgian Era.
This performance was another symphony. This piece is written with four movements. There were a number of things about this symphony that made it less enjoyable than the other two performances. One of these things was that the symphony was very long and drawn out. It was a slow symphony and one that seemed to move at an unnatural slow pace. The tempo was not upbeat and it was not a fun song to hear. It was still beautiful in it’s own way and was enjoyable to the listener although it was not nearly as enjoyable as the other pieces. Also the flow was different and it seemed as though at times it was stuck and the flow was not moving as smoothly as I would have preferred. It can be speculated that the sadness that is meant to be heard in the slow page is part of Beethoven realizing that he is losing his hearing and that he might not be able to hear for much longer.
V.
The entire concert was beautiful and truly amazing to experience. The symphony is one of those things that can be described to someone as it is something that has to be fully experienced to be truly appreciated. All of the musicians are amazingly talented. However it was a highlight to get to see Paul Lewis play the Piano Concerto No. 2. He truly is a very talented young man who deserves credit and recognition.
All of the pieces were amazing. There were no pieces or performances that were lacking in any way. My concert experience was truly something that I will cherish forever. As a foreign student this was a new experience to me and one that I had not experienced back home. I truly feel blessed to have been able to experience this wonderful performance. I only hope that I will continue to be able to have such wonderful experiences in the future.
