A stellar premiere: New works, new setting

Review: Segerstrom Concert Hall's first two evenings, with new works performed by the Pacific Symphony, reveal it as an inviting acoustical space.

by Timothy Mangan / The Orange County Register
September 18, 2006

Already by Saturday, the second night of official life for the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, a new guessing game, destined to become a local pastime, had begun. Is the acoustical canopy, people wondered, higher or lower than it was the night before? Are the reverberation chamber doors in the same configuration, and if not why? What's going on with the sound curtains?

Suddenly the world was full of audiophiles (a frightening development). Yes, it'll be important not to allow the new hall's adjustability, ever capable of some minor tweaking and improvement, to become an obsession.

After two nights, there's little doubt in these ears that the basic hall, even without the bells and whistles, is an exceptional aural space, one in which symphony orchestras will thrive, and chamber orchestras, too, and probably string quartets and recitalists who will perform here. People will inevitably compare it, acoustically, to Disney Concert Hall, usually to the detriment of one or the other. But we don't have to choose; we have both. Disney's is the more spare acoustic, clear and brilliant and exact. Segerstrom is warmer and more luxurious; it seems to add an extra bloom and presence to the sound, but still has clarity and definition. Suddenly, there are bassoon parts you've never heard before (will Rose Corrigan become a household name?) and a viola section and - ooooooohm - get a load of the double basses.

Other little things matter here as well. It's an intimate space, and when the applause comes, it's loud, and exciting and self-perpetuating (unlike in old Segerstrom where it always seemed on the verge of dying out). You can see your fellow audience members, a community of listeners.

The lobby will be a lively place to meet and discuss the evening's music, a drink in hand. Perhaps too lively. To be heard over the din, there was a lot of shouting going on over the weekend. Before the concert on Saturday, a visitor to the first floor men's room could clearly hear violinist Midori warming up (she was playing the Beethoven concerto) in a nearby green room. Something will have to be done about that.

It was a relief, actually, to have the opportunity to hear two world premieres, the first, William Bolcom's "Canciones de Lorca," commissioned by the Orange County Performing Arts Center (and played by the Pacific Symphony), the second, Philip Glass' "The Passion of Ramakrishna," co-commissioned (with the Nashville Symphony) by the Pacific and played by the same. One found oneself listening to the music itself, not the hall's response to it, and that, of course, will be the ultimate goal with all music performed here.

The 45-minute "Ramakrishna" is a winner. It is direct, interesting, moving. The subject matter - the life, teachings and death of a 19th-century Indian holy man, told largely in his own words - seems to have genuinely inspired and revived the composer out of his old formulas to write something fresh. Some of it doesn't even sound like Glass (though much does).

The Ramakrishna speaks via the choir (the Pacific Chorale), giving his words and wisdom an extra-human quality. The words of his wife and devotees are given to solo singers, thus creating a fascinating dialogue between the terrestrial and celestial. With its crisp word-setting (usually one note per syllable) and short sentence phrases, the narrative and drama remain front and center. The orchestra provides drive and mood - the latter quickly changing or ruminative, as need be - and introduces spicy harmonies and jagged rhythms, not just the usual Glassian thrum.

Conductor Carl St.Clair's expressive leadership of it, too, proved impressive. He delved into the fluency of line and ebb and flow, leaving the mechanics behind. Cynthia Haymon-Coleman, Christòpheren Nomura and Nathan Berg were the solid solo singers; the chorale was finely honed and forceful.

The night before, Plácido Domingo sang the "Canciones" as if he meant it. A complex setting of seven poems, with orchestral interludes, by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, Bolcom's work uses his trademark eclectic style, swerving from Expressionism to Impressionism to popular Spanish idioms in capturing the darkness, the humor, and spirituality of the texts. Thickly scored, it didn't invariably "speak" well in this first performance, and the vocal line - sometimes declamatory, sometimes melismatic in the flamenco manner - could seem untethered (no doubt purposefully) from the accompaniment. Never mind. It's a work we'd like to hear again.

In Saturday's Beethoven Violin Concerto, Midori provided the requisite star turn. She invariably phrased tautly (even in the slow stuff, some of which she played very slowly) and her note production sounded like a lesson in elocution. She meted her vibrato judiciously; her tone - always perfect - was spare. It was more of a religious performance than a fun one. With a reduced orchestra, St.Clair led a polished, radiant-hued accompaniment.

Under the circumstances, Mahler's First Symphony on Friday - with all ears, it seemed, on the hall - emerged in a stately, careful reading, the orchestra and conductor on best behavior. One longed, generally, for a little more raucousness, crisper articulation and inflection, daring. The finale was getting there when an electronic glitch (something to do with a power surge in the system, apparently) introduced a clearly audible dissonant pitch that remained to the end. Best soon forgotten.

So, too, should the opening gala atmosphere, with its red carpet and $3,000 dinners. These were entirely appropriate to the occasion (I have absolutely zero beef), but they have left the impression on some that the new hall may be an elites-only club. Nonsense. Tickets start at $22 for many concerts (and you'll never be far away). Just go.