Liveblogging REDISCOVERED PROKOFIEV

Phew what a liveblog that was! If you're wondering what the hell all that was about, there was, up in here, a live broadcast from Yale University of some extremely rare Prokofiev pieces, headed up by pianist Boris Berman, one of Prokofiev's very greatest champions.

8:21 Okay if you're just joining the concert, you missed an EXCELLENT duet between Robert Blocker and Boris Berman, playing waltzes for four hands. Boris Berman is delivering some fine commentary between pieces, which he hopes will not duplicate the information in the program, which, how often does THAT happen. Double-bravo, Berman. Okay the ballet music is starting.

8:24 The sound and picture are remarkably fine. I've got one computer streaming full screen this whilst I, thanks to the generosity of a certain someone, am blogging it on a borrowed laptop, and even in full screen there's very little distortion of the image. But the sound is what counts more than anything, and crankin' it on my stereo, I've got few complaints (although, after that raucous piano duet, my neighbors might have a few).

8:30 Berman's claims for Trapeze as a major work are pretty well born out by this performance.

8:32 Uh oh—buffering problems. I'ma pause this stream and see if that helps?

8:33 It didn't help much. The ADVANTAGE of watching this via live stream, of course, is that when the stream is less than smooth, I can have a drink of this beer instead of worrying too much about it.

8:36 Cripes those fiddles are ON FIRE. Fully committed.

8:39 1st violin is playing con sordino now—I can't believe how well orchestrated this piece is, given the funky instrumentation: 2 violins, clarinet, oboe, bass. By all rights, this should result in instruments picking up some really unidiomatic materials, or unsettling gaps in the texture, or SOMETHING, but no, the parts snap together like a jigsaw puzzle.

8:43 Wait I said two violins, that is clearly a VIOLA. Christ, I am going to VIOLA HELL for that.

8:45 Oh god, the switchboard is lighting up, the angry calls are coming in, LOOK, HE WAS PLAYING IN HIS UPPER REGISTERS, I'M WATCHING THIS ON A TINY SCREEN, ANYONE COULD HAVE MADE THAT MISTAKE.

8:49 Was totally enraptured by more excellent string writing—then alienated by more streaming problems. I think if I'm going to watch this in HD with my DSL connection I can't keep consulting the e-program. NO WASTING PRECIOUS BANDWIDTH.

8:51 The phone rang. I paused the stream to answer it. It was a pollster. Whoever paid for that poll is going to hell.

8:53 [applauding] Hey I'm gonna go get my laundry out of the dryer, brb.

9:00 Back. Hey, I can see pianist Ilya Poletaev in the fourth row! HI ILYA!

9:07 More excellent remarks from Berman—they're going to bring on LIVE DANCERS for this piece, y'all.

9:08 Hahaha those outfits are AMAZING.

9:11 I'm fully going to allow this. There is something super-Soviet about those dudes' tops.

9:13 BERMAN IS CLAPPING RHYTHMICALLY.

9:15 The stream just cut out totally. "Off Air" it says at the bottom of the screen. Attempting to refresh.

9:16 Annnnnnnnd we're back. At least it wasn't my fault this time—the number of viewers online is listed at the bottom of the screen, and it dropped from 80 to nobody and is still rising.

9:17 Connection still jittery.

9:24 I think it would be much harder to make a case for this piece as a major work—Berman remarked that the intended context of the original performance, an outdoor athletic exhibition, didn't offer much room for subtlety in the score, but even with a grain of salt, it's hard for me to get terrifically excited about this on the concert stage. It's easy to see why Berman, as he put it, didn't want to deprive the work of its physical component—it doesn't really transcend its incidental role.

9:29 Opera excerpts coming up. I am rather stoked, actually. I need a lot more Russian opera in my life.

9:31 Berman is giving a detailed synopsis of the scene; the opera is apparently a farce about students, love, and arctic exploration. I am very, very sad that it was never completed beyond the first fifteen minutes.

9:35 Actually, from that description I expected something of a throwaway work, but this is really, really lovely. These harmonies are actually, like, intoxicating—and Berman's playing is making a complex introduction sing out.

9:37 How much longer until these webcasts come with subtitles? THEN we will TRULY be living in the future.

9:47 I am now eating a delicious dinner whilst enjoying the opera scene. I have to say, the singers seem very well-suited to this repertoire, just in terms of their instruments.

9:55 Streaming jitters keep coming back, past few minutes, grr. There's also the technical matter of miking singers who won't stand still, but that's rather to be expected, ain't it.

9:59 [applauding s'more]

10:00 The End.

LA PHIL SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT LIVEBLOG

I'm liveblogging the press conference announcing the Los Angeles 2009-2010 Season, their first with Gustavo Dudamel! The critics are all yelling at each other over whether this guy is The Next Leonard Bernstein or The Great White Hype, but whatever, that's a lot of noise. He's an interesting artist, from what little I've heard, and the buzz from inside the organization is Great—the players like him, and they say he's bringing to L.A. the same commitment to education that he brought to, uh, whatever place he's from. I never liveblogged anything before! Do you think this will work? 4:22 - The press conference is supposed to start in 8 minutes I think. Right now I am looking at a bunch of empty chairs and I am cursing Los Angeles for opening their stupid gorgeous Disney Hall as soon as I moved away. The stream is working fine though. I can see the little tiny people taking their seats in the auditorium. 4:24 - Should I be Twittering this instead? I still don't know what that Twitter is for. Do you do Twitter? 4:25 - These times are all East Coast, btw. 4:27 - JoJo's computer, which I was streaming this on whilst I liveblogged, went into Sleep mode and had to be reawakened. Must remember to guard against this as liveblogging continues. 4:28 - Are there a lot of people in the auditorium? I can't tell. 4:34 - Oh cool I just found FULL SCREEN MODE. This is much better. 4:35 - I can't decide whether I'm hungry or thirsty. Maybe I want some black tea with milk. 4:36 - My mom cans her own jams and jellies. I bet some apricot jam on bread would be prefect, with some Earl Grey and milk. 4:37 - WAIT HOLD ON WHAT'S GOING ON THERE ARE PEOPLE NOW. The chairman of the Phil is telling us how exciting it is for him to be the chairman in these challenging times. He just got back from the inauguration! There was a lot of classical music at the inauguration. 4:39 - President and CEO Deborah... Gordon? is talking now. This press conference is being webcast live, she says. 4:40 - Ooh, they're going to welcome him with a cinematic somethingorother! Short Ride in a Fast Machine is playing. Mariachis! Surfers! Dancers! Hahaha the KNBC anchorpeople! Buddhist monks! At the observatory! Rock and rollers! Somebody at the Getty! Frank Gehry! Plácido Domingo! Esa Pekka: STILL SEXY. I think he's younger than I am. 4:43 - Okay that's over, it's back to real people. Jesus, Gustavo literally is younger than I am, isn't he? I'm SO OLD. Gustavo Dudamel: "Wow." Haha he made a joke about the comically loud movie screen still rolling up behind him. 4:45 - He's speaking Spanish! I speak Spanish! He's saying, he's very excited. 4:46 - Barbara is also very excited. 4:48 - TALK LOUDER, GUSTAVO. Um, he wants to bring classical music to the people. He wants to say hello to his wife, who is watching on the internet in Venezuela!! 4:50 - The inaugural concert will be broadcast around the world! He made some "very unconventional decisions," including a World Premiere! 4:51 - "L.A. has a tradition of new things," he sez. "With the traditional repertoire, new repertoire." Hahahaha "a premiere is always CRAZY, like WHAT WILL HAPPEN???" They're also doing Mahler 1. 4:53 - "It's actually very rare that there's a world premiere on the telecast!" says Barbara. God, what's wrong with America. OMG WHAT'S GOING ON!!! SOMETHING CRAZY!!! Is John Adams about to come out??? YES OMG OMG OMG 4:54 - Hahahahaha Gustavo is ADORABLE. He's acting all nervous and shy with John Adams. Hahaha "The LA Phil audience has been witness to some of my triumphs... and some of my fiascos." (He means Dharma at Big Sur.) 4:56 - John Adams is writing his FIRST SYMPHONY for the L.A. Phil, subtitled "City Noir." [I thought he said something like, "The piece is called Symphony ('City Noir')," though maybe he said, "The piece is called, simply, City Noir."] 4:57 - It's inspired by the music from film noir, and that's the jumping-off point, but it's also concerned with his Grand Theme, which is what is the music of California. Now I'm wondering if I misheard, and he said Adams's 1st Symphony and not Mahler's? [No, I heard right, they're doing both.] 4:58 - This is SUCH a good idea. Adams is a big crowd pleaser. He says he had GD's interpretation of Mahler 2 in mind when he wrote the piece. 5:02 - Talking about tour plans. And John Adams is directing a festival! A sequel to Minimalist Jukebox as it were. It's called WEST COAST WEST COAST, or maybe he said WEST COAST BEST COAST. [WEST COAST LEFT COAST.] 5:03 - NAMES: Lou Harrison Piano Concerto, Salonen LA Variations, Mel Powell, Bill Kraft, Henry Cowell, Daniel Lentz, Amy X Neuberg, Morton Subotnik, Harry Partch, Ingram Marshall (WHOO!), Frank Zappa, Leonard Rosenman - Rebel Without a Cause. 5:05 - Joshua Redman! Christian McBride! A big hand for Tom Newman, who's going to write for the Kronos Quartet a concerto Adams thinks will have "a very long shelf-life." 5:06 - Gustavo's also doing a festival? Of American music? He's still talking way too quietly. Ginastera, Copland, Carlos Chavez, something something. He wants to create an America without divisions. Like the Golijov Passion. Or something. 5:10 - He's talking about a poet? Named Alberto something? What's going on. 5:11 - Stephen Hartke organ symphony!! Derek Bermel!! Plus John Adamses piece and two other world premieres. [Whoa, I must have misheard: a total of NINE world premieres this season, not five.] Thomas Adès will be in residence. Terry Riley dubbed the Disney organ HURRICANE MAMA, which is awesome. My battery is about to die. Who's the other composer she named? [Unsuk Chin. She is a great pick, and not an easy one.] 5:16 - Gustavo is talking about the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles and how much he loves conducting them. Basically it's the American Sistema, is what they're sayin'. Did I mention he's adorable? "I think it's [his educational project in L.A.] one of the most important projects happening in the world." 5:17 - Adams on the Sistema: "The extraordinary thing you feel, when you're in Caracas, is that young people think classical music is cool." 5:19 - Time for questions for the audience. "THIS IS ALWAYS DEATH." (Krusty the Klown.) But first, did you know the L.A. Philharmonic has the second biggest budget in the US? Yay that's cool. 5:20 - GUSTAVO I STILL CANNOT HEAR YOU. I've just fallen in forever love with you but baby I CANNOT. HEAR YOU. 5:21 - The cat is clawing the crap out of this loveseat, but it came with the apartment and was already clawed to hell, so I'm gonna let it slide. She's so CUTE! 5:23 - Buffering. 5:23 - What in the HELL is this lady talking about. "Bel canto tuning." GUSTAVO WILL YOU PLEASE SPEAK OUT ON THIS IMPORTANT CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC. HOW DO YOU INTEND TO TUNE THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC 5:25 - what the 5:26 - Did the feed just cut out? What's going on. 5:26 - Black screen. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THE FUTURE OF PRESS CONFERENCES 5:27 - I wonder if maybe the Powers that Be brought the press conference to a halt because they knew we couldn't handle the truth about tuning. 5:28 - Okay the picture's back. And the cat is here! Gustavo calls Frank Gehry "Pancho." 5:31 - FINAL QUESTION. The question was not recorded. BUT Barbara says they are they took a hit with this lousy economy, sure, we all did, but they have a long-term plan and they're sticking to it, they're not letting some Depression put the kibosh on their AWESOME FUTURISTIC PROGRAMMING. THE END Okay wow, that was pretty exciting, and not just because everybody kept saying over and over how excited they were. The picture of the new L.A. Phil is pretty clear: they're damnin' the torpedoes and charging ahead into a comprehensive program of music education and new-music advocacy. "The composers are the heroes now" are not the exact words Barbara used, but something close to that. Dudamel has accepted the baton from Salonen and is running with it: like Salonen's, this is programming designed especially for Los Angeles, California, America and the Americas, music from the "here" and "now" in very small and very large senses of the words "here" and "now." Something truly great is happening over there. [More coherent coverage here. Full press release here.]