Starting the new year off with a bang: Grubinger, Eschenbach, and LA Phil dazzle with Tan Dun’s new percussion concerto

January 11, 2013 Leave a comment

Martin Grubinger (photo by Felix Broede)

A new composition for a new year.  Seems rather poetic, doesn’t it?  Often such gestures work better in concept than in practice, but thanks to Martin Grubinger‘s virtuoso performance of The Tears of Nature, Tan Dun’s new percussion concerto receiving its U.S. Premiere last Friday night care of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, this one worked wonderfully.

Mr. Tan creates an eclectic yet accessible soundscape that ranges from melodic to clangorous and everything in between.  It begins simply enough:   Mr. Grubinger led the orchestral percussionists in ensemble, clicking together semi-tuned pairs of stones; muted harp played in the background.  As the soloist walked from the front of the stage to the back where a battery of seven timpani were set up, the score began to expand and grow increasingly complex.  The soloist’s pitch-bending timpani cadenza served as the high-point of the movement.

The second movement had a similar developmental arc:  a quiet, dreamy opening section, with atmospherics care of the orchestral percussionists bowing Tibetan singing bowls; later, an aggressive ending featured Mr. Grubinger with some amazingly fast fortississimo (yes, “fff”) four-mallet work on marimba.  The energetically cheery finale featured variations on a recurring 8-note melodic theme that made its way through the orchestra, not to mention being featured in another cadenza played by Mr. Grubinger, this time working on every part of the large array of tuned and non-tuned instruments set up at the front of the stage.

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Filed under All Reviews, Beer, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews), Reviews 2012/2013 Tagged with , , , ,

Classical music marketing: Norm Lebrecht needs a beer or two (updated)

April 20, 2012 Leave a comment

Back in 2007, long before All is Yar was a mere Fig Newton of my imagination, Victoria Bitter (VB) beer company teamed with the Melbourne Symphony and Orchestra Victoria — playing together as the “Victoria Bitter Orchestra” — to create a unique commercial:  it featured the combined orchestras playing VB’s jingle using variations on a theme of VB bottles in lieu of their regular instruments.  They posted the commercial and a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube, to the thanks and amusement of us all.

After I created this fine blog, I posted the two videos as well as some commentary and suggestions on other potential partnerships (click HERE to see the videos & suggestions).

It turns out that one of the men behind the creation of this commercial was Matthew VanBesien, formerly of the Melbourne Symphony and, as of January 2012, the soon-to-be Executive Director of the New York Philharmonic.

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Eine, zwei, g’suffa! (Oktoberfest care of Costco)

September 24, 2011 Leave a comment

The beginning of autumn is a bittersweet time of the year.  On one hand, days are getting shorter than nights, dropping air and water temperatures make for less-than-ideal beach conditions,  and the family’s free-time and flexibility gives way to more structure and routine.  On the other hand, the football season is in full swing, performing arts seasons have just begun or are about to begin, and as if you needed an excuse to drink more beer, Oktoberfest celebrations are happening.

I’ve never made it to Munich (for Oktoberfest or otherwise), and this year will be no different.  I don’t think I’m even going to make it to any of the local Southern California celebrations this year (in years past, I’ve favored Alpine Village in Torrance to Old World in Huntington Beach, largely because the latter loses points for serving beer in plastic cups).  So to keep up the spirit, I’m just going to have to drink Oktoberfest beer at home and at USC tailgates, and leave it to our friends at Costco to help facilitate that, um, need:

For the purist, they offer the benchmark Spaten Oktoberfest — the world’s first Oktoberfest beer, according to the brewer — for the amazing price of $1/bottle (of course, this is Costco, so your going to have to buy it in 24 bottle increments).

If you prefer to support the American economy more fully, they are offering the Samuel Adams Harvest Collection:

  • The new Bonfire Rauchbier
  • OctoberFest (note the Americanized spelling)
  • Harvest Pumpkin Ale
  • Irish Red
  • Black Lager
  • The ubiquitous Boston Lager
Run, don’t walk, before they get snapped up.  You can thank me later.

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Symphony in Beer

September 6, 2011 1 Comment

You know, some things just don’t get old, especially when it involves the combination of two of my favorite things:  orchestras and beer.

Here’s a real 2007 Australian commercial for Victoria Bitter beer starring the Melbourne Symphony and Orchestra Victoria (playing as the “Victoria Bitter Orchestra”) in a performance of “The VB Stubby Symphony.”  Also below is an equally amusing video showing a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the commercial.

Kudos to the orchestras and to VB for making this happen.  Other possible combos:

  • The San Francisco Symphony and Bear Republic Brewery
  • The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Sanford Winery
  • The Louisville Orchestra and Woodford Reserve bourbon (perhaps this will be more appropriate now that they’re coming out of bankruptcy)

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Beer with drinking instructions on the cork

June 11, 2011 Leave a comment

I ordered a bottle of “Damnation” by Russian River Brewing Company.  Surprise #1 was that it came with a cork like a bottle of sparkling wine.  Upon popping it open (turn the bottle, not the cork), Surprise #2 was that there were instructions for choosing the proper glasswork printed right there on the side of the cork.  First time I’ve seen that from any beverage that wasn’t a can or bottle of Guinness Draught.

As it turns out, the beer turned out to be a Belgian Style strong golden ale — Surprise #3.  As I’m not a fan of this type of beer, this surprise was not quite as amusing as the first two.  If only the drinking establishment had grouped it with the other Belgian-style beers, I would have gone with something more like an Boont Amber, Racer 5, or an Alley Cat.  As it stands, I learned something new at the expense of $8.

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