Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone: “Casual Friday” with the LA Phil
November 20, 2012 2 Comments
On paper, Friday night’s Los Angeles Philharmonic concert seemed straightforward enough: a program filled with loads of well-known hum-along tunes, a beloved old-school conductor (Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos) on the podium, and a popular soloist (Lynn Harrell) joining in on the fun. In the concert hall, everything was generally as one would expect: the music sounded beautiful and all the musicians involved could rightly take credit. The audience gave a de rigueur standing ovation at the end and everyone, including me, walked away with a smile.
Pretty much writes itself, right? Except that just below the surface was all the stuff really worth mentioning. Nothing Earth-shattering, mind you. Just a moment here, an observational tidbit there, and a very telling post-concert comment from Mr. Harrell that helped make the concert more interesting to me than a just a collection of well-played chestnuts.
Clearly, Mahler was a guy who liked to think and compose about death. Musical allusions to it show up in all of his works being performed as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Mahler Project” (some may quibble about Songs of the Wayfarer, but if you’re singing about putting a red-hot knife in your breast, I think it counts). Death manifests itself differently in each of his symphonies, with the Ninth typically being referred to as Mahler’s farewell to life, especially in the work’s final movement. Whether the musical adieu is intended to be a melancholy one or not is a matter of interpretation.
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