Comments for Culture Spot LA

Comment on Conlon’s Prokofiev by Norma

Norma — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:15:41 +0000

great review….loved reading about the concert.

Comment on Disney Hall: Upcoming Concerts & Etiquette by Sabrina Skacan

Sabrina Skacan — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:09:48 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you for including etiquette suggestions in your article. Another item to mention is limiting your appreciative clapping during a performance. Please wait until the end of the piece and not between movements as it can be disturbing to the performer and the conductor (not to mention the rest of us who do not want to miss hearing a single beat!) Please also keep this in mind during a ballet performance! Ballet music is composed specifically to give the audience opportunities to clap at the end of each section – please do not clap after each and every pirouette or manege. The choreography is timed to the music. Remember – you’re at a ballet, not the circus.

Comment on Dutoit Conducts Ravel and Stravinsky by Norma

Norma — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:45:12 +0000

great revue of the Charles Dutoit concert with the LA Phil at Disney Hall.

Comment on Southwest Chamber Explores, Explains Music by John Cage by Andreas G

Andreas G — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:07:31 +0000

For me 4′33″ is an exercise in listening to sounds for what they are. I too found myself at first annoyed at the “noise” makers in the hallway, and trying to figure out where each sound was coming from and it’s “significance”, until I figured out how ludicrous that was, and tried to just hear each sound at “face value”, if you will. After walking out of the Armory onto Raymond Ave., I also heard the sax player and the generalized din of the weekend party crowd in Old Town. I walked around the alleyways in Old Town continuing t try to absorb the soundscape. That’s the point of art, isn’t it? To present “reality” in a new light that wasn’t evident before.

One interesting interactiion between the Rauschenberg artwork occurred for me during the first piece. My view of the percussionist was obstructed by audience members in the front rows, so I watched her performance reflected in the glass of one of the Rauschenberg pieces behind her.

By the way, the lecture did not discuss the piece “Four”, but Wikipedia actually has a fair amount of info on Cage’s works. In his later years he composed a series of pieces all named after the number of players in the piece, and all also using elements of chance.

Comment on Maazel’s Bruckner by Andrew Paroczai

Andrew Paroczai — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:25:53 +0000

Thanks for the new word: Brucknerds. Do we have an organizations? If so, sign me up.

Andy
PS
Thanks for the review.

Comment on Southwest Chamber Explores, Explains Music by John Cage by Andrew Paroczai

Andrew Paroczai — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:57:48 +0000

Your review was referred to me by Jim Eninger. I thought you did an excellent job.

Why did you not comment on ‘Four for String Quartet’? I’m guessing, that, like me, you appreciated, liked, were amused, by the other pieces since there was some explanation about how they were constructed. I found the piece dreary, and wanted it to end. Perhaps you can help me with this one.

Why did you not comment on the humorous side of the performances? Were you able to see the blank sheets the ‘conductor’ had for 4′ 33″? The actions of the ‘performers’, eg, laying down of bow and sticks at the start of each ‘movement’? Also the humor in Cage’s naration/lecture. Perhaps I can guesd-I tried describing it here and for Jim; I certainly can’t do justice to what I saw and heard.

Thank you for the excellent article. See you February 6.

Andy

Comment on Maazel’s Bruckner by Norma

Norma — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:56:21 +0000

What a terrific review of what must have been a memorable musical evening….even if one is not a ‘Brucknerd.’

Comment on Maazel Conducts Strauss and Sibelius by Norma

Norma — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:37:54 +0000

Loved reading the review of Maazel conducting such a splendid program…wish I could have heard it in person.

Comment on Classical Focus, Dec. 5 – 10 by Carolyn Brown

Carolyn Brown — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:44:08 +0000

I was so pleased to be included among your ‘picks’.
With gratitude,
Carolyn

Comment on The Berlin Philharmonic Rattles Disney Hall by Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:06:31 +0000

“The Berlin Philharmonic is still a male-dominated orchestra, especially in the woodwind and brass sections, even though it does boast several female members (more than its Austrian counterpart, the Vienna Philharmonic, which only recently admitted female members and still has very few). This may account for the generally stronger, more powerful sound in all the sections.”
I think it has a lot more to do with the training they received and the particular teachers they studied under than whether they are male or female.