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...where I saw the final Esa-Pekka Salonen/L.A. Philharmonic concert: two glowing Stravinsky neoclassical masterpieces, Oedipus Rex & the Symphony of Psalms. The soloists in Oedipus Rex were somewhere between adequate and good. For me it was very hard to put aside memory of the iconic way Peter Pears sang the Oedipus part on the recording he made with Stravinsky. The orchestra was very solid if a little subdued - not really out of character for this most formal music.
What was out of character was Peter Sellars. He was along for the ride and brought his usual touches of nonsense, which included clothing the men of Thebes in jeans and blue t-shirts, and some kind of crypto sign language/hand signals used by both the chorus and the soloists. The gestures reminded me of the sign language used in elementary school Thanksgiving pageants. The music of both Oedipus and the Symphony is highly structured and saturated with drama and emotion, it really doesn't need to be illustrated. If there was ever a composer who mastered pastiche and irony it was Stravinsky. For Sellars to impose his 1980's styled multiculturalism and sophomoric ironies on top is presumptuous and distracting.
The Symphony of Psalms was the second half. There was a lame monologue that Sellars wrote before the piece started that tried to bridge ancient Greek to ancient Hebrew. But once this was out of the way and the chorus moved into their final position in a circle around the room (this time in green t-shirts and jeans), the piece fared better with less staging.
Using these dark haunting scores on his farewell concerts (the Symphony of Psalms ends very quietly) was a beautiful gesture by Salonen. I just kind of wished the Sellars era was coming to an end instead of the Salonen era.
What was out of character was Peter Sellars. He was along for the ride and brought his usual touches of nonsense, which included clothing the men of Thebes in jeans and blue t-shirts, and some kind of crypto sign language/hand signals used by both the chorus and the soloists. The gestures reminded me of the sign language used in elementary school Thanksgiving pageants. The music of both Oedipus and the Symphony is highly structured and saturated with drama and emotion, it really doesn't need to be illustrated. If there was ever a composer who mastered pastiche and irony it was Stravinsky. For Sellars to impose his 1980's styled multiculturalism and sophomoric ironies on top is presumptuous and distracting.
The Symphony of Psalms was the second half. There was a lame monologue that Sellars wrote before the piece started that tried to bridge ancient Greek to ancient Hebrew. But once this was out of the way and the chorus moved into their final position in a circle around the room (this time in green t-shirts and jeans), the piece fared better with less staging.
Using these dark haunting scores on his farewell concerts (the Symphony of Psalms ends very quietly) was a beautiful gesture by Salonen. I just kind of wished the Sellars era was coming to an end instead of the Salonen era.
