Bowl Marathon Stands the Test of Time

On paper, the so-called “Marathon of Marathons” didn’t look like such a bright idea: This was classical music as an endurance test set in picnic land, an intermissionless Hollywood Bowl concert starting at 6 and ending around midnight. “A Mother of a Marathon” seemed more like it.

In practice, though, Saturday night in the Cahuenga Pass, it worked beautifully. Thanks largely to the exceptional taste of composer, conductor and pianist Lukas Foss, who was reviving an idea he and Ernest Fleischmann brought to the Bowl 12 times in the early ‘70s and once in the ‘80s, the concert proved to be an ample feast of good music, absolutely none of it hackneyed, some of it out of the ordinary, and climaxing with no less than Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

In all, 12 different pieces by eight composers were heard, beginning a few minutes after 6 and ending at 11:40. The Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Foss and five vocalists went to and fro on and off the stage. At one extreme, Philharmonic concertmaster Martin Chalifour played Bach’s Partita No. 3 for unaccompanied violin; at the other, the Ninth Symphony enlisted some 150 performers. Vivaldi’s Gloria dated from 1713, Foss’ own “Phorion” from 1967. The key was variety; also, an avoidance of those fattening Bowl staples, the late Romantic warhorses from Russia and Germany.

The marathon format actually had a salutary effect on some listeners. True, many were there primarily to eat, drink and talk, the music serving as mere background to their concept of the good life. But you could also find yourself unusually alert to the music at hand. You weren’t going anywhere for a long time, after all, so impatience disappeared. You relaxed and listened clearly. The variety and intelligent musical selection helped, as did the generally polished and committed performances.

Some were notable. From the piano, Foss led a hugely expressive, delicately nuanced account of Bach’s D-minor Concerto, BWV 1052. Chalifour played cleanly and brilliantly in Bach’s Partita, Michele Zukovsky suavely and mysteriously in Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. A Philharmonic septet took a spiffy romp through Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat” Suite; the Master Chorale gave pointed force to choruses from “Idomeneo.”

Foss coaxed a wonderfully rapt performance of Ives’ “The Unanswered Question,” with trumpeter Boyd Hood posing the question atop a light tower. Foss’ own rattling “Phorion”--a nightmarish deconstruction of the Partita Chalifour played--shook things up a little later.

The secret to the 73-year-old’s endurance this night? When conducting, he alternated arms a lot.

At 10:24 the Ninth began, and proceeded with plenty of drive, rhythmic point and instrumental detail. The “Ode to Joy” finale gathered plenty of steam, thanks much to the resplendent, powerful Chorale. The vocal quartet of Camellia Johnson, Cynthia Munzer, Howard Haskin and Jan Opalach hadn’t really coalesced as a group but was sturdy enough. The Philharmonic gave the conductor his due and perhaps then some.

Foss topped it all off with a chorale from Bach’s “St. John Passion,” “Rest Well.” He should. Job well done.