Koyaanisqatsi 1, Hollywood Bowl 0

since i’m not a real critic i’ll just post my observations about philip glass’s concert at the hollywood bowl from last night. but there are a few qualifications i have to get out of the way first.

the bowl is one of my favorite venues to see a show, but i have always avoided going to the ‘classical’ nights b/c i’m not so excited about seeing a pickup orchestra (or what amounts to the 3rd string of the LA Phil), but when i heard that they were going to perform Koyannsqatsi i was pretty intrigued how they program other music around it. i don’t go to enough symphony concerts to know if this is common but they played a pretty short first half (25 min? maybe) ofthe ‘lighter fair’ (selections of PG’s movie and opera music) on the first half and a pretty complete (i think the consensus is there might have been a few small cuts) 90 minute version of Koyaanisqatsi on the 2nd half.

1st half (PG Ensemble)

Opening (PG piano solo), Facades, Spaceship from Einstein on the Beach

• PG isn’t a great piano player, but his musicianship comes through. i think its what yoda would sound like if he played piano (in a good way!)
• the sound wasn’t that great (keyboards vs. woodwinds). it took much too long for the sound engineer to ‘dial it in’. and reinforced my assumption that he/she didn’t give a shit and had an agenda. i also assume a monitor or two was out on the stage because the saxes were having intonation problems and from my experience the worst thing in the world is to be playing a big venue through a PA and you can’t hear yourself in the monitors.
• using a cut down group has lots of orchestration limitations. off the top of my head listening to them play ’spaceship’ is with the keyboard heavy, the eight person ensemble doesn’t really do the music justice.  there are many financial limitations to touring, but i’m not really a fan of their solution.  listening to the performance i had to smile thinking of my keyboard player eric hendrickson, like the PGE and SRE i have attempted to solve orchestration problems in a similar manner (which puts eric in quite a pickle attempting to play some very non-idiomatic parts).  we have had many discussions on how hard and uncomfortable it makes him feel and i wish he could have heard the show because they PGE players were having similar problems. (i know its schadenfreude, but schadenfreude with much admiration) i think eric would walk away from last nights show with a new perspective and feeling pretty good about what i put him through. (eric you are the man!)

2nd half

• the PGE performed much better, most of the balance problems were fixed
• full orchestra was a waste of money. at its core Koyaanisqatsi is a piece for brass and the PGE, expanding it to full orchestra seemed like a marketing gimmick. the most engaging sections (especially during ‘the grid’ they were silent. overall  they probably played 25% of the piece and when they played i don’t see that it added much the film.
• when the strings did play i think they sandbagged their parts. from my box seats the bowings didn’t look together (we was bumped our previous seats b/c of the film projection and were offered a box, yeah!)
• the brass players didn’t fare that much better. maybe they didn’t like michael reisman’s conducting (it looked pretty clear from where i was sitting) and were pitching a fit. they were consistently behind on the upbeats and many of the hemiola’s were pretty sluggish also. on the other had it could have been a monitor situation on the stage, but i was pretty disappointed how sloppy the orchestra played. on the other hand the master chorale sounded great (other than being a bit muddy on their diction the vocal counterpoint was clear and consistent)
• i think the film that was shown was mostly complete. it felt like there were some small cuts, but i couldn’t exactly place them.
• there were some new musical sections (brass fanfare opening to “the grid”)
• the simplest musical and video elements worked the best (keyboard and spinning rocket at the end)
• it was nice to see godfrey reggio come up for the curtain call, i was half expecting to see ron fricke (but after all it is hollywood and the cinematographer never gets to do that do they?)

overall

1. i wonder if the orchestra was added mainly for marketing purposes?
2. thought it was very intersting that the show was mostly pot free and didn’t smell it till the way out(everybody i know claims they first watched it high in their parent’s basement)
3. there are still many hassles coordinating electronic and acoustic instruments in performance. you would think that in a venue like the hollywood bowl the mix wouldn’t sound like a college new music concert
4. listening to the show solidified my confidence in playing with a group of musicians over time. having your music playedbby the equivalent of a touring broadway show, its hard not to miss the inherent limitations which are compounded by the pickup orchestra playing music not in their repertoire. i’m sure they sound 100x better playing the old warhorses, but concerts like this are never going to be a full and satisfying experience.
5. it also makes me question why i paid $65 for a ticket to have a pickup orchestra play film music badly. and the sound engineer not dial in a performance till the 2nd half

despite all my complaints and gripes i have to say the performance of Koyaanisqatsi was amazing. the piece transcended the performance and mesmerized the crowd.  unlike many concerts at the bowl the rolling of wine bottles down the aisle actually diminished as the concert progressed. initially the audience was a little goofy and distracted became engaged and drawn in as the evening went on. it was interesting that the simplest music and film was the final section ‘prophesies’ was the most effective (which was lightly scored solo keyboard and video of the Atlas-Centaur launch explosion in 1972).

for me the music/film combination that is koyaanisqatsi has stood as a high water mark of what art music and film should be and it was great to see that it could transcend and transform a venue like the hollywood bowl.

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Jul 24, 2009 | Categories: blog, review | Tags: Film score, godfrey reggio, hollywood bowl, koyaanisqatsi, la master chorale, philip glass, ron fricke | 2 Comments »