farewell, Rosa!



the finish line






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welcome Patty!


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a silent tribute to los angeles










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charlie chaplin’s modern times





















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a whole lotta pianos








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beethoven the pianist

LACO’s upcoming concert features “double concertos” by Mozart and Bach and a selection of Etudes for Piano by György Ligeti. The finale of the evening will be Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, played by the incomparable Jeremy Denk and the talented musicians of LACO. Beethoven’s piano music is fascinating to me because I know he wrote most of it to show off his own talent as a pianist. To closely study these concertos, sonatas, and piano trios is to understand Beethoven the performer. And one cannot help but feel a little melancholy in looking at these pieces because we know that Beethoven had to give up his performing career sooner than he wanted to because of his hearing loss.

read more →Beethoven (1770-1827) lived almost to the age of 57. His made his first public appearance as a pianist at the age of seven, although his father—wanting to tout his very own musical prodigy—advertised him as a six-year-old. Music was his career from these early days, and he grew in fits and starts as a performer and a composer through a difficult childhood and early adulthood. He studied with local teachers and some relatives as well. Around the time Beethoven was about ten years old, he became the assistant to the new court organist in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe. In a write-up in the Magazin der Musik in 1783 Beethoven is described as:

“a boy of eleven years and a most promising talent. He plays the piano very skillfully and with power, reads at sight very well….[Neefe] is now training him in composition and for his encouragement has nine variations for the piano, written by him on a march, engraved at Mannheim. This youthful genius is deserving of help to enable him to travel. He would surely become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart if he were to continue as he has begun.”

When Beethoven was 18, he took it upon himself to become the head of the family when his mother’s death and his father’s subsequent alcoholism caused a shift in family dynamics. Beethoven petitioned for half of his father’s salary (his father was let go from his singing job) to support his younger brothers. In return, Beethoven sometimes played viola in the court and theater orchestras. This experience would be invaluable to him as a composer. His orchestral works show sensitivity to the roles of the instruments in the orchestra, something he witnessed firsthand from the string section.

Beethoven left Bonn behind for Vienna in 1792. He studied with Haydn for a time, but more importantly he was intent on establishing himself as a pianist and composer in the new city. His connections from Bonn helped him greatly in these endeavors. Also, the members of the Viennese aristocracy who recognized Beethoven’s talent were more than happy to provide him with accommodations and commissions. Beethoven excelled at displays of virtuosity in the salons and private performances held in the houses of these aristocrats. By 1795, he was showing off his talents in public concerts, playing his own piano trios, piano sonatas, and his first piano concertos.

Beethoven was about 26 when he began have troubles with his hearing. He continued to play throughout these struggles, and to compose as well. By 1801 he was finally ready to share the news of his infirmity, which he had kept secret for some time, with his close friends and his brothers. The enormity of this problem caused a crisis for Beethoven, who wondered what effect his encroaching deafness would have on both his professional life and his personal relationships. To his old friend, Franz Gerhard Wegeler, he wrote the following in a letter:

“For almost two years I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people: I am deaf. If I had any other profession it would be easier, but in my profession it is a terrible handicap. As for my enemies, of whom I have a fair number, what would they say?”

Beethoven’s skills would have to shift, and he would eventually concern himself entirely with composing because he could not continue as a performer. By 1814, when Beethoven was in his forties, he was almost totally deaf. It was in April of this year that Beethoven last appeared in public as a soloist. The concert was a benefit for the military, and it was organized by Ignaz Schuppanzigh, violinist and friend of Beethoven. Beethoven’s last public performance was of the Archduke Trio, op. 97. Louis Spohr, the composer and violinist, gave an ungenerous account of the rehearsals, saying, “on account of [Beethoven’s] deafness there was scarcely anything of the virtuosity of the artist which had formerly been so greatly admired.” In truth, Spohr hadn’t heard Beethoven play in his prime and had no firsthand experience of this virtuosity. Friend and fellow pianist Ignaz Moscheles was far kinder, explaining that the piece was wonderful and new, and that the playing, although not as clear and precise as it could have been, still contained “traces of the grand style of playing which I had long recognized in his compositions.”

In addition to writing the large-scale works of his middle and late periods, Beethoven attempted to compose one final Piano Concerto, a sixth. We think he began sketches for it in 1814 or 1815. About seventy pages of music exist for the first movement, but the scoring peters out, and Beethoven left this work unfinished. Perhaps it was put on the back-burner as Beethoven knew he could not himself perform it. In 1987, Nicholas Cook reconstructed the work and provided a completion for this movement.

We can look at Beethoven’s deafness and consequent retirement from performance as a tragedy. It is possible, however, that we can think of this circumstance as nudging Beethoven into his maturity as a composer. One wonders what his output would have been like had he been able to play into his fifties. On the occasion of hearing Piano Concerto No. 1, it is an opportunity to look back at Beethoven at the beginning of his career in Vienna: full of hope, full of talent, and showing unlimited potential. No doubt his career didn’t end up as he planned, but his legacy as one of the greatest composers that ever lived was already in place before his death in 1827. That’s no small feat, considering that some of the most important composers in music history died in obscurity. Catch a glimpse of the young Beethoven in Piano Concerto No. 1, and see that limitless potential for yourself.

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roll the dice






Henry Cowell Experimental classical music, Aleatoric music

Mircea Florian Psychedelic folk, New Wave, Avant-garde jazz

Leo Brouwer Folk music, Film score, Atonal music



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an excellent bunch of showoffs

Many people think classical music is antiquated, and only for older people. I mean, sure, technically a lot of the stuff played at LACO is really old music. And sure, looking around at the Alex theater you see a lot of…distinguished hair. But, for those who attended the April 26th LACO performance, what they got was in some ways a celebration of youth; a concert that showed all the classical haters out there that you don’t have to be old to rock a concerto.

read more →The evening began with the premier of 33-year-old Hannah Lash’s This Ease. The piece was commissioned as part of LACO’s cleverly named Sound Investment program. Sound Investment is an annual event that allows LACO donors to give aspiring up and coming composers the opportunity to create a brand new piece of music. Before the concert began, Lash came out and briefly described her creative process. She imagined she was working in a terrarium full of conceptual animals, which gave her feelings of nostalgia and sadness. Based on this description, I hoped the orchestra would come out dressed in cool, imaginary animal costumes. They did not.

Slight tangent: I was glad to see that Jeffery Kahane was back as conductor. He’s been noticeably absent lately. Where the heck has that guy been? For awhile I was worried that he was either kidnapped or being wooed by a rival Orchestra. Luckily, JK was back this evening, and no rescue mission and/or orchestral retaliation was necessary.

Anyways, back to This Ease. The piece began as a twinkly, Alice In Wonderland sort of reverie; but, it quickly took on a foreboding, and sometimes scary tone. For me, it conjured the image of landing on a seemingly remote tropical island and finding ostensibly friendly natives. As they show you their cool tree houses and hand shucked canoes, you start to get the sinking suspicion that they actually might be cannibals… Slowly but surely, the piece ratcheted up its piercing strings to highly creepy levels. In my imaginary scenario, this is when you happen upon a pile of skulls on your way to the bathroom.

Next up was the night’s titular performance, Chopin’s concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21. Chopin actually wrote this piece when he was 20 years old as a way to showcase his abilities on the piano (what a showoff). Luckily, LACO brought in a fantastic guest showoff to play the piece: 26-year-old piano wizard (or witch – the cool kind not like the evil kind or anything) Natasha Paremski. She came out in a stunning blue dress and tiara. I thought about tiaras a lot during the performance and concluded that very, VERY few people can pull them off. Natasha is one of those select few. Her performance was so expressive, and the piano parts required her to go from stormy and intense, to cautious sounding tingles. It must be noted that she had NO sheet music and performed this complicated composition off the top of her head (showoff)!

The end of Concerto No. 2 was my favorite part because it felt like the orchestral equivalent of a Taaaaa Daaaaaa! After a lightening fast, almost playful piano solo, the rest of the orchestra heralds a triumphant end. Natasha came back for an encore, playing what I think was the 3rd movement of the second piano concerto by Sergei Prokofiev. She didn’t have a microphone so it was a little hard to hear exactly what it was. And as a complete Prokofiev newbie, I couldn’t tell you what it was based off of the music alone. My my classical ear is still maturing, but I think that develops along with the… distinguished hair. This undetermined Prokofiev movement was another incredibly complicated piece of music. It was more frantic than Chopin, and Natasha nailed it once again.

Finally the night ended with Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 in B-flat major. This piece doesn’t fit perfectly into my theme of youthfulness because it didn’t feature any young, hot-shot soloists, or new-fangled up and coming composers. But the piece did have a youthful exuberance that I believe is common in many classical pieces. However, No. 102 felt somewhat more regal than the other pieces performed throughout the night, which makes sense because I read in the program that Haydn wrote a lot of his music specifically for a prince. During one part I wrote down “this is totally horse music” (I thought it would be the perfect music to ride a horse to). It was a treat.

Overall, April 26th’s LACO concert was unique, intricate and of course, youthful. Based on the talents displayed by the performers of all ages it feels like classical music is in excellent hands going forward.

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anticipating the anticipation

LACO’s annual Sound Investment premiere concert is quickly becoming one of my favorites of the year. This year, the official name of the concert was “Chopin: Piano Concerto,” but I didn’t show up for Chopin, I showed up for Sound Investment premiere. I’m glad I heard the Chopin, and I’ll get to that piece a little later, but I’ll start with the Sound Investment premiere. Did I mention it was a premiere?

read more →Sound Investment is LACO’s commissioning club. It’s been around for 13 years, but this is only my second year participating. In a nutshell, you make a donation to join the club, and all those donations get compiled and are given to a promising, exciting young composer, who then writes a brand-spanking-new piece of music. It provides a very rare opportunity for any Joe Sixpack (or Untrained Ear, like myself) to help bring a new piece of orchestral music into the world, and during the course of the season, investors get invited to a few events to see how the work is coming along. Learn more about Sound Investment and join the club!

This year’s Sound Investment composer was Hannah Lash, and she introduced her piece, This Ease, by saying that it was not influenced by any sort of outside event or emotion. I’m a creative sort, and that struck me as intriguing, and actually probably very difficult to pull off. Kudos to Ms. Lash for retreating into a creative space, again and again over the course of a year, and never letting anything seep in to color or affect this piece of music!

I ended up feeling one resounding thing as I listened toThis Ease: anticipation. There’s a moment in many adventure movies – think The Goonies or Indiana Jones – where an object of desire (some sort of treasure, medallion, or jewel, for example) is revealed for the first time. The music is humming with anticipation: bright sounds that reflect the grandeur and importance of the object, with unsettling elements weaving their way through the background, like musical foreshadowing that hints of the danger, mystery, and power that the object can bring.

This Ease sounded like an 18-20 minute experiment in that moment. The piece evolved and grew, but it never lost that sense of anticipation. It was full of complex sounds and stunning instrument combinations, and was enjoyable, and, at moments, breathtaking to listen to. In a way, though, I felt unsatisfied, because that anticipation never grew into anything. There was no sense of conclusion. Imagine being handed a wrapped present and spending 20 minutes looking at it, smelling it, shaking it, turning it over in your hands, imagining the multitude of things it could contain, but never being able to open it. That’s how I felt at the end of This Ease. It was an exciting exploration, and beautiful too, but anticlimactic.

Chopin, on the other hand, knew how to write a climax. His Piano Concert No. 2 ended with a exhilarating flourish, delivered by the impressive LACO musicians and an incredibly dynamic guest soloist, Natasha Paremski. The solo passages throughout all three movements were endlessly impressive. Ms. Paremski’s fingers danced up and down the keyboard for the duration of the piece, and her encore, which was the 3rd movement of some Prokofiev piece (I couldn’t quite hear her from my seat), was downright dizzying. The Chopin provided me some unintentional chuckles, too. While Jeffrey Kahane conducted the entire evening, he was blocked entirely by the raised piano lid during the Chopin, and there were stretches that I forgot he was even there, until I would see, during his grander gestures, a single outstretched arm, baton in hand, enthusiastically leading the musicians. Ah, piano lids!

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