Continuing Tale of Perick and LACO

Downsizing, that negative buzzword of the ‘90s, explains Christof Perick’s removal of himself from programs of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 1995-96. At least, so says Bruce Thibodeau, executive director of LACO.

In September, six weeks before the start of the season, which Perick was scheduled to open, news came that the German conductor had stepped down from his post as artistic advisor to the orchestra. The names of his replacements, Yoav Talmi in November and Keith Lockhart in January, were announced, but no specific reason for his departure was given.

Last week, Perick, according to his New York management, was not reachable in Europe, where he is based and has recently been doing the bulk of his work. Thibodeau, who took over at LACO after the departure of Erich Vollmer last year, told The Times Perick’s leaving was just the final step in a slow retreat.

In May 1994, when a financial crisis caused downsizing in ACO’s scheduling, then-music director Perick changed his title to artistic advisor; he was penciled in to conduct four of seven programs in 1994-95, instead of the seven of 10 he had conducted in the previous season.

Scheduled for merely two weeks in the further-reduced season of 1995-96, Perick decided to step down altogether, Thibodeau said, “and to pursue other opportunities.” Perick continues to hold two permanent musical posts in Germany, one in Hanover the other in Niedersachsen.

Updating LACO’s financial crisis of two years ago, Thibodeau says the orchestra’s deficit of $1.2 million in January 1994 has been reduced, as of June 1995, to less than $24,000. He acknowledges that $600,000 of that reduction was achieved through debt-forgiveness.

Guest conductor Lockhart arrives at LACO this week, leading an in-school concert in North Hollywood on Wednesday, then three performances of the same program, Thursday in Irvine, Friday at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater in Westwood and Saturday night at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.

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COACH: Returning Wednesday to UC Irvine for a week’s visit to coach, lecture and give master classes, pianist Graham Johnson, at 45 a veteran of many recital stages, a British paragon of the accompanist’s art and a distinguished teacher, says that his field--Lied and melodie--continues to flourish.

He ought to know. A self-described always-touring artist, Johnson also teaches song and song-accompaniment all over the world; he has recently visited both the Juilliard School in New York City and the Eastman School in Rochester, N.Y., and was for six summers on the staff of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. He regularly plays for singers’ recitals--among his many collaborators have been Elly Ameling, Thomas Allen, Jessye Norman, Lucia Popp, Peter Schreier and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and, from his contemporaries, Thomas Hampson, Felicity Lott, Ann Murray, Sarah Walker and Anne Howells--and is the impresario of a 2-decade-old concert series called “The Songmakers’ Almanac,” in London, where he lives.

This week, on the Irvine campus, Johnson will give lectures on, first, the songs of Francis Poulenc and Benjamin Britten (Wednesday, 4-6 p.m. in UCI Concert Hall); on Faure melodies (Thursday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.); and, finally, Schubert’s cycle, “Die schone Mullerin” (Jan. 22, 1 to 3 p.m.). In addition, he will teach two master classes for student singers and pianists.

Then, Jan. 22 at 8 p.m., he will produce and narrate a Schubertiad, a public concert of Schubert lieder, with some of the students performing, again in UCI Concert Hall.

Concerning the sometimes-reported moribund condition of the vocal recital, Johnson says that, on the contrary, everywhere in the civilized world, but especially in the British Isles and in Europe, such recitals are alive and thriving and for a number of different reasons.

“The world of materialism has proved a dead-end to many people,” he observes, on the phone from England. “We are now coming into a time of more spiritual pleasures.”

Today, Johnson points out, one of the ironies is that here in North America, where critics and others worry steadily about the vocal recital becoming obsolescent, “there are more art-song composers, and more songs written, than anywhere else in the world.” Off the top of his head, he mentions William Bolcom and John Musto as American composers busily writing new songs regularly.

Schubert is a particular specialty of his these days. His recordings of the entire canon of Schubert songs--about 620, total EXTRANEOUS?--with a number of famous specialists (Dame Janet Baker, Brigitte Fassbaender and Edith Mathis) continues to be laid down.

“We have completed 24 volumes [CDs] and expect that the final number will probably be 35 or more. But, sorry to say, the project will not be finished by 1997 [the 200th anniversary of Schubert’s death].”