Drama, then exuberance
AS concertgoers approached the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night, there were ominous signs in the air: plumes of smoke rising from nearby Nichols Canyon and a squadron of helicopters circling overhead. It was a sobering reminder of the hazards of living and making music in the chaparral-filled Hollywood Hills.
Fortunately, the blaze was declared under control shortly before concert time, and the choppers racing between Lake Hollywood and the fire disrupted only the first of the four pieces on the program. And if there were any lingering blues, Nicholas McGegan chased them away with his joyful, life-affirming survey of J.S. Bach and Vivaldi.
With McGegan on the podium, you can’t help but smile -- and the Bowl’s big video screens gave the audience a good close-up look at this beaming, animated, elfin figure at work.
He struck a near-perfect balance between period performance ideas and the timbral advantages of modern instruments played by experts. The tempos were vigorous and driving; the rhythms danced, often with a pronounced lilt; the ornamentation was not outlandishly florid. And after a bit of jitters in the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, the chamber-sized version of the Los Angeles Philharmonic caught McGegan’s feeling for Baroque swing and ran with it.
Soprano Cyndia Sieden seemed to struggle a bit with the demanding line of Bach’s Cantata BWV 51, with a few awkward breathing pauses, but she was right on target in Vivaldi’s Gloria in D major, RV 589, paired with Mary Phillips’ dark, commanding mezzo-soprano.
Violinist Bing Wang brandished a full, lush tone, an unapologetic modern vibrato and a good grasp of the contours of Vivaldi’s Concerto in E major, Opus 3, No. 12.
Donald Green displayed impressive Baroque chops on a small G trumpet in the cantata and on a smaller B-flat piccolo trumpet in the Gloria. A medium-sized delegation from the Pacific Chorale had no trouble with McGegan’s lively pace and sharply dotted rhythms in the Gloria. And a distinguished local guest, Lucinda Carver, ably filled in the spaces on harpsichord and organ continuo.
*
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Where: Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood
When: 8 tonight
Price: $1 to $92
Info: (323) 850-2000 or www.hollywoodbowl.com
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