Gershwin night at the Hollywood Bowl is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. There’s so much high quality material to work with that even average interpretations can bring joy to a listener’s heart. Fortunately for attendees at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recent Gershwin concert, the performances were well above-average, with the soloists — pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, and vocalist/dancer Tony Yazbeck — making the most rewarding contributions. The orchestra and conductor Lionel Bringuier needed some time to gel but managed to peak together when it mattered most.
Mr. Thibaudet is a frequent partner with the LA Phil. While he has a broad repertoire, his interpretations of Debussy, Ravel, and Gershwin have been a joy to behold, so his appearance on more than one piece on the same program was particularly a treat. During the first half, he whetted the crowd’s appetite with a wonderfully spirited account of the “I Got Rhythm” Variations. Later, he gave a stylish, balanced, and well-paced Rhapsody in Blue, a piece which had its world premiere 100 years ago. The French-Angeleno pianist has been known to play jazz from time to time, so it’s no surprise that his Gershwin always feels organic, never forced or overly indulgent. Orchestra and conductor supported him nicely, and Burt Hara, the orchestra’s much lauded outgoing Associate Principal Clarinet, expertly played the opening glissando with casual sass.
The alluring Ms. Leonard’s prior appearances with the orchestra have been for purely operatic-styled works, so I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly and idiomatically she sang “The Man I Love,” the first of the collection of Gershwin songs which formed the centerpiece of the evening. The Grammy winner continued to bring her considerable vocal chops to “Embraceable You” and “Someone to Watch Over Me,” wowing the audience with her power and warm tone and proving to be a thoroughly enticing Gershwin performer. In between, Mr. Yazbeck, a Tony-nominated Broadway performer, sang “I Can’t Be Bothered Now” solidly enough but dazzled the audience more with his footwork — light and breezy one moment and lightning fast the next.
The two then engaged in a few duets: “Fascinatin’ Rhythm/Embraceable You,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” “Love is Here to Stay,” and “I got Rhythm.” Each performer clearly led with their respective strengths, though Mr. Yazbeck held his own vocally and Ms. Leonard proved a lovely and capable dance partner. They made for a charming couple with palpable chemistry. The lush orchestral arrangements gave the best kind of classic Hollywood feel to it all, and the audience loved it, responding with the loudest ovations of the night.
There were two purely orchestral works on the program, and the feeling from the two were quite different. The Cuban Overture which opened the concert was a little awkward and even stiff, quite out of character for the LA Phil. It’s as if orchestra and Mr. Bringuier were out of sync, but it was more than that. Even the most reliable of principal players seemed like they needed more time to warm up, and everything about the piece and playing seemed off kilter.
An American in Paris, which closed the concert, was thankfully much better. Mr. Bringuier, the orchestra’s former Resident Conductor, led a bright performance, emphasizing the tone poem’s energy and enthusiasm and downplaying any sense of melancholy. Principal Trumpet Tom Hooten perfectly played his solos with gusto mixed with swing, and Mason Soria, the LA Phil’s young tuba, played his own prominent solo with bluesy panache.
Random other thoughts:
- One word for Mr. Bringuier’s take on the Star-Spangled Banner: sluggish
- Mr. Bringuier chose to seat the strings in what used to be their default layout (clockwise from the conductor’s left): v1-v2-vla-vc/bass. If memory serves correctly, Esa-Pekka Salonen changed the setup late in his tenure as Music Director.
- As I approached my seat to enjoy my pre-concert picnicking, I noticed a person sitting nearby wearing a t-shirt featuring a young Asian-looking clarinetist. A little while later, I saw that there were two boxes full of people wearing the same shirt. I approached one of them and asked, “By chance, is that Burt Hara?” The person, responded enthusiastically, “Yes!!” It turns out that the group were high school classmates of Mr. Hara, who grew up in SoCal before eventually attending the Curtis Institute of Music for college and becoming one of the finest players of his generation. A few in this unofficial fan club had seen him perform in many other cities, and they took this opportunity to assemble a larger group to send off their friend into his impending retirement and move back to the Midwest. Mr. Hara’s last appearance with the orchestra was planned for July 18.
Los Angeles Philharmonic: July 11, 2024; Hollywood Bowl
Lionel Bringuier, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano
Tony Yazbeck, vocalist
- Gershwin: Cuban Overture
- Gershwin: Variations on “I Got Rhythm” (arr. W. C. Schoenfield)
- Gershwin: selected songs
- “The Man I Love”
- “I Can’t Be Bothered Now”
- “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” / “Embraceable You”
- “Someone to Watch Over Me'”Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
- “Love is Here to Stay”
- “I Got Rhythm”
- Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
- Gershwin: An American in Paris
RELATED POSTS
- REVIEW: violinists Augustin Hadelich and Nathan Cole impress with LA Phil at Hollywood Bowl (July 18, 2024)
- REVIEW: French connection: Paris Opera Ballet alights with grace upon the Hollywood Bowl stage (July 28, 2022)
- REVIEW: Dudamel, Bullock, Thibaudet, and LA Phil revel in unabashed Americana for season opener (Oct 10, 2019)
Photo credits:
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- The unofficial Burt Hara fan club: CK Dexter Haven
- All others: Timothy Norris, for the Los Angeles Philharmonic
All is Yar 