Bringing Back Funny

The Downtown Comedy Club has been on hiatus for months and, boy, are we glad owners Kevin Garnier and Garrett Morris are finally bringing back funny. After stints in a rundown old hotel and then a sushi restaurant in a swanky hotel, the club re-opens this weekend in a home of its own on Fifth Street in the Gallery Row area.

The grand re-opening celebration begins Friday, May 1, with a 9 p.m. show and continues Saturday, May 2, with shows at 8 and 10 p.m. Vicki Barbolak, Nick at Nite’s America’s Funniest Mom, will headline. Garrett Morris, the actor from the original “Saturday Night Live” cast whose memorable characters include Chico Escuela and the President of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing, returns as the host who doesn't limit himself to four-letter curses.

Garnier, who’s been in comedy for 15 years, founded the club two years ago with Morris. It was voted best comedy club in the LA area both years on myfoxla.com, undoubtedly because these pros managed to book a steady stream of up-and-coming comedians and top comics, including Craig Shoemaker, Doug Stanhope, Jamie Kennedy, Mark Curry, and Tommy Davidson.

The club has lined up Erik Griffin for May 8 and 9, Richard Chassler for May 15 and 16, Shawn Pelofsky for May 22 and 23, and Peter Berman for May 29 and 30.

Tickets are $10. Parking is available in various lots and garages in the area.

Downtown Comedy Club, 114 W. Fifth St. (between Spring and Main), LA 90013, (213) 841-3940, www.downtowncomedyclub.com

Zimerman Performs the Three Bs: Bach, Beethoven... and Bacewicz

Henry Schlinger reviewed Krystian Zimerman's April 26 recital at Disney Hall.

Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman surprised and shocked those who attended his Disney Hall recital on Sunday night when, before beginning the last piece on the program, Karol Szymanowski’s “Variations on a Polish Folk Theme,” he sat for a few minutes with his head down and his hands in his lap, and then, raising his head and looking at the audience, hesitatingly said, “I was trying not to talk … but I will.”

People immediately applauded, but perhaps they should have waited to hear what the maverick pianist would say. Zimerman announced that this would be his last recital in this country until the United States got out of Poland, most likely alluding to the recent U.S. decision to provide that country with Patriot missile systems. He spent the next few minutes railing against U.S. foreign policy, specifically its failure to prosecute those involved in torture at Guantanamo Bay prison, and added that we had better things to export than our military. Some people cheered at his remarks, others booed, but only a few people walked out, provoking Zimerman to comment that when some people hear “military” they march. One man yelled out, “We’re here for a concert,” whereupon another replied with something to the effect of “You’re getting a concert.”

This wasn’t the first time Zimerman has expressed his political views during a recital; and he has been threatening to boycott the United States for years. Some may cry hypocrisy because he continued to play for financial remuneration in this country during the previous administration most responsible for his complaints. However, Zimerman probably has more reason than others for his sentiments. He always travels (from Switzerland where he lives with his family) with his own Hamburg Steinway piano, which he works on himself, tweaking it to his own liking for each performance. But after 9/11, the Transportation Security Administration twice confiscated his instrument, once destroying it and another time returning it to him after several days with broken keys.

Zimerman’s comments at Sunday’s concert may explain his last-minute decision to replace the originally scheduled Brahms’ “Klavierstucke” Op. 119 with the Sonata No. 2 (1952) by the Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz in the second half. Zimerman played the Bacewicz with a passion and intensity that reflected his nationalist pride. He followed that with the Szymanowski’s “Variations on a Polish Theme,” written when the composer was just 22 years old. This piece, like the Bacewicz, required immense technical skills, which Zimerman admirably displayed. It also gave him another chance to plumb the depths of his feelings for his homeland.

The second half of the concert was more memorable than the first, and not only because of Zimerman’s political rant. He gave the audience a tour de force performance. Perhaps he needed to play the Bacewicz to give him the courage to express his political views and then once expressed, felt free to let loose in the Szymanowski and demonstrate why he is considered to be one of the finest and most sought-after pianists of his generation.

The first half of the concert included readings of two major works for piano: the Bach Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826, and the Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Struggling with his decision to talk to the audience, however, may have affected his performance of these pieces. Zimerman played the Bach well, with a range of dynamics that were probably not intended by the composer, thus giving the piece a more romantic and late-Brahmsian feel. But it was not an inspired performance. Zimerman’s rendition of the Beethoven was even less well rendered, especially with the reverberations in Disney Hall of András Schiff’s recent extraordinary performance of the sonata. There were times, especially in the opening movement, when Zimerman rushed the music and when the melodic lines were muddled, possibly from holding the sustain pedal down too much.

Unfortunately, American audiences won’t be seeing Zimerman in this country for a while – unless, of course, he reneges on his threatened boycott. But that would be hypocritical of him, wouldn’t it?

Deborah Strang

Meet the coal miner’s daughter who’s the leading lady in “Ghosts” at A Noise Within.

Hard day at the office: Deborah Strang has acted in more than 40 productions in her 17 years as a resident artist at A Noise Within, the only classical repertory company in Southern California. She’s appeared in countless TV shows and films – in roles as diverse as a Vulcan in “Deep Space Nine,” a detective in “The X-Files,” and a mother in “Eagle Eye.” That doesn’t mean her job has gotten any easier. “I never approach a role without thinking there’s no way I’m going to be able to do it this time,” she says, sitting in the front row of the Glendale theater on a recent weekday afternoon.

Current challenge: In her latest incarnation, Strang plays Mrs. Alving in Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts,” on stage at A Noise Within through May 9. When the artistic directors, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliot, asked her to take on the role of the widow with an ailing son, Strang admits she was hesitant. “I was trying to find ways to get out of it actually,” she says with a laugh. “I wanted an easier path.” Part of the reason the play is so difficult is that “Ibsen walks a very thin line between realism and naturalism and melodrama,” Strang says. “It’s nonstop, it’s that heightened emotional state, it’s talk talk talk talk talk, and just figuring out how do you make that palpable to our modern-day ears?”

No spoiler alert necessary: Written by the Norwegian playwright in 1881, “Ghosts” was considered shocking and scandalous when it was staged the following year. Without giving away the plot, let’s just say infidelity, venereal disease, incest, and death all play a part in this intense drama, but it's ultimately a universal story. “What our director Michael [Murray] wanted it to be about,” Strang says, “was a debate … between two ways of living: living an authentic, true life where you’re following your soul and your heart or living a life where you’re just living the dictates of religion or government or the people who have power over you, like a husband in her case, or your parents. That’s what this woman is teetering in between: what she knows to be right and what has been instilled in her all of her life.”

Mrs. Alving in “Ghosts”: “We’re haunted by the ghosts of our mothers and fathers – and by all kinds of old, dead ideas and dead beliefs that are piled up inside us.” In many of his plays, Ibsen created strong female characters trapped by Victorian traditions, perhaps influenced by his mother-in-law, Magdalene Thoreson, a leader of the feminist movement in Norway.

From shocks to sparks: Strang’s boyfriend and fellow resident artist, Joel Swetow, plays the role of Pastor Manders. “You always kind of fall in love with your leading man,” Strang says, “so how fun can it be to fall in love with the man you’ve already been in love with for 26 years. It’s like having a little honeymoon or something. It’s opening up all those love channels and you don’t have to repress it at all. It’s great and I think -- I may be wrong -- but I think we’re pretty hot together onstage.”

The place Strang calls "home": Founded in 1991, A Noise Within is one of the few companies in the nation dedicated to classical drama. It presents works in the repertory tradition and has won 26 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. Strang has been there practically from the beginning (she missed the first season when three plays were produced).

Surprise favorite: When Strang read Alfred Jerry’s absurd and surreal 1896 play, “Ubu Roi,” she let the artistic directors know she did not want to be in it. Naturally, she was cast as Ma Ubu in the 2006 production. When Director Rodriguez-Elliott mentioned in the first rehearsal that she wanted to start the play off with Ma and Pa Ubu sitting on toilets, Strang said, “Oh no, I’m not gonna sit on a toilet. I just don’t even want to go there.” It turned out, she says, she had the best time of her life doing that play. “Once you sit on a toilet in front of an audience full of people, you are free to do anything. I was up in the audience sitting on people, I was singing on top of a piano. It was so freeing and so much fun to do and I had no idea.”

On the tube: Despite the numerous TV shows she’s worked on, including most recently “Cold Case,” “Close to Home,” and “Numb3rs,” Strang has yet to be cast as a series regular. “I don’t expect it to happen now. I mean you never know, a ‘Golden Girls’ might come along or something like that,” jokes the middle-aged actress. She currently has a recurring voiceover on “The Spectacular Spider-Man” as Aunt May, a job she got through one of A Noise Within’s subscribers who wrote and produced the animated series.

Coal miner’s daughter: Strang begins her explanation of how a coal miner’s daughter from Appalachia, Virginia, became a stage and screen actress in LA by mentioning the woman who recently caused an international sensation on “Britain’s Got Talent,” the overseas version of “American Idol.” “Have you seen Susan Boyle… the woman who’s on YouTube everywhere now? The poor little woman who just sang her heart out? You’ve got to look at that video. It’s very, very moving.
“You know, there are just a whole lot of people all over the world that have these kinds of dreams and they’re in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes they fall through the door that leads them on the route to their dreams and sometimes they don’t. I think I just fell through the door. It wasn’t through anything that I necessarily made happen. I always pursued my bliss.”

Opening doors: Strang went to a small liberal arts college in her native state to study social work. “I wanted to follow John Kennedy’s ‘Ask what you can do for your country,’ I wanted to join the Peace Corps. … I ended up auditioning for plays and followed that bliss.” She graduated with a BFA from Emory & Henry College and went on to get an MFA in Dramatic Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Once in LA, she went to Santa Monica College and UCLA to pursue a doctorate – but not in theater. “I wanted a Ph.D. in biology, but to go into the environmental world because I was bored with film and television. … But at the same time, this was developing more and more and I didn’t get recycling coordinator at Universal Studios, I got Olga in ‘Three Sisters.’”

Not too many people can say this: “I think I’m probably happier than just about anybody else I know,” Strang says. Following your bliss “is what the play’s about, whether or not we follow what we feel we want or what we ought to do. I do think I’ve generally done what I’ve wanted to do.”

“Ghosts” continues through May 9 in repertory with Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” (through May 17) and Jean Anouilh’s “The Rehearsal” (through May 24). Remaining dates are:

Sat., April 25, 2 pm
Sat., April 25, 8 pm
Sun., April 26, 2 pm
Sun., April 26, 7 pm
Wed., April 29, 8 pm
Thurs., April 30, 8 pm
Fri., May 1, 8 pm
Fri., May 8, 8 pm
Sat., May 9, 2 pm
Sat., May 9, 8 pm

A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale 91204, (818) 240-0910, ext. 1, www.anoisewithin.org.

Photos of Deborah Strang (and Joel Swetow) by Craig Schwartz/courtesy of A Noise Within

The Weekend of Festivals

We've told you about the book festival, the Takemitsu festival, and the Earth Day festival happening this weekend, but there is also an arts festival.

The free Downtown Burbank Arts Festival on Sat., April 25, and Sun., April 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., is billed as one of the largest open-air art markets in the area, bringing ceramicists, painters, photographers, jewelry designers, and other artists to San Fernando Boulevard between Magnolia and Angeleno.

Presented by the Burbank Arts Education Foundation (BAEF) in partnership with the Downtown Burbank Partnership and West Coast Artists, an entire city block will be devoted to student artists from the Burbank Unified School District. Performances are scheduled throughout the weekend (see below). Various interactive arts are offered too; kids can make a movie, play an instrument, and learn to dance, among other activities. A live auction will benefit the BAEF, which was established to ensure that all of Burbank's 15,000 public school students have access to arts education in music, visual arts, dance, and drama.

In addition, the BAEF has an online auction of skateboard deck art donated by comic book artists and animators to raise more funds for arts education. These works will be on display at the festival.

Stage Schedule
Sat., April 25

10 am Emerson Elementary Chorus
10:15 am Free Hip Hop Dance Instruction by Garri Dance Studio
11 am Luther Middle School Wind Ensemble
11 am Miller Elementary Chorus
12:35 pm Jordan Wind Ensemble
12:50 pm Jordan Jazz Ensemble
1:20 pm Burbank Youth Summer Theater Institute
2 pm Burroughs High School VMA
2:30 pm Burbank High School Drama
2:50 pm Media Dance Centre
3:15 pm Show tunes with Melody Hollis, accompanied by Steve Hollis
4 pm Burbank Music Academy Bands: Smash It Up • What If • Skin and Bonez

Sun., April 26

10 am Igloo Music Band: Misperception
10:30 am Burbank High School Dance
11:15 am Erik Garcia and the Afro Cuban Express
Noon McKinley Elementary - ShowCamp Performance
12:30 pm Jefferson Elementary - ShowCamp Performance
12:45 pm Burbank ShowCamp
1:15 pm Burbank Music Academy Band: Harvey Drive
2:15 pm John Burroughs High School Dance
2:40 pm Burbank High Jazz Band
3:15 pm Emerson Elementary Hip Hop
3:30 pm Free Hip Hop Instruction by Garri Dance Studio
4 pm Burbank Music Academy Band: Without Warning
4:30 pm Burbank School of the Ballet

For more information, (818) 238-5180 or www.burbankartsed.org.

Celebrating the Third Rock

Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22.

By now, everyone probably knows about the new documentary, “Earth,” and how Disney will plant a tree for every ticket sold during opening week. Plus, kids get an extra treat at screenings at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood: Wildlife experts will bring animals from around the world onstage Wed., April 22, through Tues., May 26.

But there are plenty of other events for Earth Day too. We’ve compiled an assortment of festivals to get you started.

April 17-23 and April 30
USC Earth Week

Wed., April 22, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Wilshire Center Earth Day
3700 Wilshire Blvd., LA

April 25, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
City of Pasadena Greening the Earth Day and Armory Family Arts Festival
Memorial Park and the Armory Center, Pasadena

Sat., May 16, 10:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.
World Fest
Woodley Park, Encino

Sat., June 27, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Venice Eco Fest
Presented by Venice Chamber of Commerce and Earth Day LA
Venice Beach Recreation Area

Below are some links to environmental nonprofits with websites where you can learn more about sustainable seafood, green companies, reducing your carbon footprint, saving endangered species, and more. All of these nonprofits have been rated four stars by Charity Navigator, an independent nonprofit that evaluates the “financial health” of various charities and lets you know which ones use their donations most effectively.

National and international groups:

Conservation International
World Wildlife Fund
Natural Resources Defense Council
Environmental Defense Fund

Local groups:

Santa Monica Baykeeper
Global Green USA
Heal the Bay

Sounds Like Zen Spirit

The Shumei Arts Council in Pasadena is celebrating composer Toru Takemitsu with a free festival this weekend called “Confronting Silence: The Music of Toru Takemitsu.” The events, including a symposium, concert, film, and other entertainment, are about art, aesthetics, nature, and spirituality, as much as a personal tribute to one of the major composers of the late 20th century.

Takemitsu (1930-1996), the first Japanese composer to win international acclaim, wrote more than 100 pieces for orchestra, chamber orchestra, and piano and another 100 film scores, including music for Akira Kurosawa's 1985 epic, "Ran." In addition to traditional Japanese music and composers such as Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen, Takemitsu was inspired by jazz, popular music and the avant-garde.

Sat., April 25
A symposium at 1 p.m. will focus on the Japanese concept of "ma," an artistic principle that plays a key role in Takemitsu's compositions. On its website, the Shumei Arts Council defines “ma” as “an open space, a breath, a pause, or a silence defined by sound and found between sounds.” (In visual terms, that’s like the aesthetic relationship between the white space in a painting [silence] and the color [sound].) Among the panelists are Japan Society of Boston’s Peter Grilli and Southwest Chamber Music’s Jeff von der Schmidt. Pianist and Occidental faculty member Junko Ueno Garrett will demonstrate instances of “ma” in Takemitsu’s music.

Starting at 4 p.m., an event produced by Takemitsu’s nephew Kouji Sh'tara will put the theory of “ma” into practice with music by Takemitsu and his niece Haruno Kira, as well as the world premiere of “Seihitsu? Thoughts for Takemitsu” by taiko master Koji Nakamura. The music will be accompanied by dance, photography, calligraphy and even a tea ceremony. Then enjoy a reception with a calligraphy demonstration and more from 5 to 7 p.m.

Sun., April 26
Grilli and Sh’tara introduce “Music for Movies: Toru Takemitsu,” a documentary film about Takemitsu’s 40-year film-scoring career, at 1 p.m.

Finally, a 3 p.m. concert by Southwest Chamber Music will include compositions from Takemitsu’s “Waterscapes" series, with harps, vibraphones, and Japanese percussion. The music is inspired by nature; “Toward the Sea III,” for instance, was written in 1981 as a contribution to the Greenpeace Foundation’s Save the Whales program.

Southwest Chamber Music will repeat this concert and conclude their regular season on Mon., May 4, at 8 p.m. at the Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. The ensemble will also perform a selection of pieces from the “Waterscape" series in a free family concert on Sat., May 2, at 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First., LA 90012, and at 4 p.m. at the Pacific Asia Museum, 46 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena 91101. For more information, visit www.swmusic.org.

Shumei Hall, 2430 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena 91107
For more information about these and other events in the Takemitsu festival, visit www.shumeiarts.org/takemitsu.htm.

Get Ready for Books

Tickets for panels at the LA Times Festival of Books (April 25 and 26) became available today. Tickets are free, but Ticketmaster charges 75 cents.

Panels on Saturday and Sunday at the UCLA campus feature authors talking about every genre of fiction and non-fiction, including comedy, horror, sci-fi, crime/mystery, history, biography, and science. Plus, there are plenty of discussions about the future of the newspaper.

Well-known authors appearing at panels on Saturday include Gore Vidal, Ray Bradbury, Janet Fitch, and Clive Barker. Sunday panels bring Jane Smiley, Michael J. Fox, T.C. Boyle, Sandra Tsing Loh, James Ellroy, and Arianna Huffington.

There are also quite a few opportunities throughout the weekend to learn more about LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, author of the book-turned-movie "The Soloist."

Beyond the panels, there are stages with entertainment (no tickets required) ranging from music and dance to poetry reading and cooking demonstrations. An entire stage is also dedicated to children's entertainment. Among those appearing on the stages will be Bob Barker, Peter Yarrow, Alonzo Mourning, Culture Clash, and Marlee Matlin. A Comix Strip area will focus on graphic novels and manga.

Of course, just perusing the booths and partaking of the edible goodies could take you all day.

UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles 90095
Schedules and information about parking and other details can be found at www.latimes.com/festivalofbooks.

Readers' Poll

Scroll down to vote on LA Opera's Ring Cycle. Just below our welcome message is a Readers' Poll. We know you have strong opinions about your art and culture, so tell us what you think.

Dramatic, Creative "Universes"

This weekend, the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA presents Universes: Ameriville Unplugged. Universes is an ensemble of writers and performers redefining the theater experience by blending such artistic elements as poetry, hip-hop, dance, and jazz with drama. Its latest production, “Ameriville Unplugged,” explores attitudes toward race, poverty, and politics in the context of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans. Before the show starts at 8:30 p.m. at the Intimate Theatre, there will be a pre-show event with music, open mic, and open bar, at 7:30 p.m. outdoors on the Luckman Street of the Arts. Tickets are $35; call (323) 343-6600.

Thurs., April 16, through Sun., April 19, 8:30 p.m. (plus 7:30 pre-show event)
The Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, 90032, (323) 343-6600, www.luckmanarts.org

Affordable Play After Tax Day

On Wed., April 15, the taxes will be done and in the mail. It’s time to reward yourself. But that refund’s not here yet, or, worse, you just sent off a check to the government. So how do you do it? Take advantage of A Noise Within’s Pay What You Can night (Thurs., April 16) during previews of Jean Anouilh’s “The Rehearsal.”

The play takes place in 1950s France and concerns a Count bored with pursuing pleasure and excess and suddenly taken with an innocent young woman. His jaded court, of course, does not want the Count to give up his old ways for purity and virtuosity. Humorous, witty, and also intensely dramatic, “The Rehearsal” is Anouilh’s most critically acclaimed work.

Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis, with a limit of two per person, and must be purchased in person at the box office after 2 p.m. on the day of the performance with cash only. There is a suggested $10 minimum; regular prices are $28 for previews and $40-$44 once the play opens on Saturday, April 18.

Thurs., April 16, 8 p.m.
A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale 91204, (818) 240-0910, ext. 1, www.ANoiseWithin.org

Illustrated Love Poems at Norton Simon

Henri Matisse was inspired by poetry, apparently so much so that later in his career he would not lift a paintbrush before reading some verse.

In 1941, the artist began illustrating the work of Renaissance poet Pierre de Ronsard, and seven years later the 128-page “livre d’artiste” (artist’s book) called “Florilege des Amours de Ronsard" was published.

Lithographs from this "Anthology of Ronsard’s Love Poems" are currently on display at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. The exhibit, titled “Matisse’s Amours: Illustrations of Pierre de Ronsard’s Love Poems,” continues through June 8, but National Poetry Month seems an ideal time to see it.

Considered the father of French lyric poetry, Ronsard (1524-85) brought the Italian sonnet and classical ode and elegy to the French. His romantic and sensual “Amours” (first published in 1552) are a natural match for Matisse’s love of painting the female form and flowers in a decorative, almost musical style.

Each of Matisse’s illustrations seems to flow in rhythm with the verse, communicating ethereal beauty with a few strokes of his brush. In one deceptively simple yet exquisite rendering, the artist created a sensual female body with only seven lines.

The Norton Simon exhibit includes 25 pages, spreads and folios, including a drawing of "The Birth of Venus" and one that visitors will recognize as resembling Matisse’s most famous painting, “The Dance.” To set the mood, Renaissance music plays softly in the gallery.

For the sonnet “Je veux pousser par la France ma peine,” Matisse illustrated Ronsard’s words with a mermaid on the surface of the ocean. Lounging with her arms behind her head and the clouds floating lazily above her, she seems to be casually oblivious of her seductive power. The poem (English translations are available in the gallery) reads:

I wish to drag my pain the length of France,
Faster than an arrow from the bowstring,
I desire with wax my ears to stop,
To no longer hear my siren’s voice.
I wish my two eyes to turn into a fountain,
My heart into a fire, my head into a rock,
My feet into a trunk, never to approach
Her so proudly human beauty.
I wish my thoughts to turn into birds,
My gentle sighs into new Zephyrs,
To broadcast the world over my complaint.
I wish the hue of my pale color
On the banks of the Loire to bear a flower,
Painted with my name and my misfortune.
(Translation by Michael Mills)

An illustration of two lovers in an embrace, with heads, arms and legs inseparably wound together in ecstasy, accompanies this song called “Plus estroit que la Vigne l’Ormeau se marie”:

More closely than the clinging vine
About the wedded tree,
Clasp thou thine arms, ah, mistress mine!
About the heart of me.
Or seem to sleep, and stoop your face
Soft on my sleeping eyes,
Breathe in your life, your heart, your grace,
Through me, in kissing wise.
Bow down, bow down your face, I pray,
To me that swoon to death,
Breathe back the life you kissed away,
Breathe back your kissing breath.
So by your eyes I swear and say,
My mighty oath and sure,
From your kind arms no maiden may
My loving heart allure.
I’ll bear your yoke, that’s light enough,
And to the Elysian plain,
When we are dead of love, my love,
One boat shall bear us twain.
(Translation by Andrew Lang)

Matisse created more than a dozen “livres d’artiste” in his lifetime. For the "Amours de Ronsard," he selected and updated the text, chose the typeface, and designed the layout in addition to illustrating the poems. His seven-year undertaking was interrupted during World War II when his wife was imprisoned by the Germans and his daughter was captured and tortured – adding poignancy to an already evocative work of art.

The exhibit is small enough to savor and still have plenty of time to explore the rest of the Norton Simon Museum, a treasure trove of European and Asian art. Just past an amazing room of Van Gogh paintings and Degas sculptures are some colorful canvases by Matisse, featuring sensual women, elaborate patterns and floral motifs, including “Odalisque with Tambourine (Harmony in Blue)” (1926), “The Black Shawl (Lorette VII)” (1918), and “Nude on a Sofa” (1923).

Listen to a podcast before you go.
Norton Simon Museum, 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 449-6840, www.nortonsimon.org.

Image credits:
Florilège des Amours de Ronsard, 1948
Henri Matisse, French, 1869-1954
Lithograph (Printed by Albert Skira, Paris)
Jennifer Jones Simon Art Trust, N.1965.8.1
© 2009 Succession H. Matisse, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

A "Ring" to Make Wagner Proud

Guest contributor David Maurer is a former Senior Editor for Classic Home magazine and writes about the arts and architecture for a variety of print and online outlets.

LA Opera's production of "Die Walküre" is a creative, invigorating and altogether splendid realization of Richard Wagner’s idea of a gesamtkunstwerk, a complete artwork synthesizing music, drama, poetry, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Berlin-based director Achim Freyer has succeeded in giving us a fresh and radical rethinking of Wagner’s 1854 meisterwerk, an overhaul the master himself undoubtedly would have approved of. Make no mistake, with a running time of 4 hours and 50 minutes, sitting through this operatic experience is a commitment — but one that is richly rewarding in numerous ways.

First, the music. This is one of the greatest of the Romantic-era scores, and under conductor James Conlon, who spent nine years leading a Wagner-heavy orchestra in Cologne, the music is communicated with all the passion, drama, and foreboding that Wagner baked in. Although the orchestra has been rendered invisible underneath a black scrim (Wagner’s idea to avoid competing with the drama onstage), the sumptuous music pours forth undiminished with all its moments of power and delicacy intact. The basses and kettle drums carry us into the howling storms, while the brasses continually blat out swells of impending doom. And this is to say nothing of the magnificence of the singers, particularly Plácido Domingo in the role of Siegmund. Having performed this role many times in the past, most notably in New York’s Metropolitan Opera version, Domingo inhabits his character with a natural and seemingly effortless grace. The power and purity of his voice, along with his emotive expression perfectly evokes the tragic hero. Clearly, his Siegmund will be remembered as one of the most memorable roles for one of the most memorable tenors of our era. Other standouts include Linda Watson as Brünnhilde and Vitalij Kowaljow as Wotan. These artists are adept at connecting us to the turbulent emotional currents that form the spine of the drama.

Fortunately, the production is as mesmerizing to watch as to listen to. Freyer not only has stage-directed the production, but is also responsible for the costumes and the lighting. So to a larger extent than is typical, what we see is one man’s artistic vision. Freyer is an accomplished painter (he has a painting represented in the current LACMA show "Art of Two Germanys") and his astute visual sense comes through in eye-popping fashion. Costumes, puppets, even faces are painted in garish, surrealistic designs, adding to the sense of otherworldliness. The characters’ natures are cleverly reflected in the costumes, which appear outlandish, but are fully in keeping with the strange mythical world we have entered. Wotan, for instance, wears a floor length white mantle with giant shoulder pads; his head is represented by, or encased in, a grid of bars somewhat akin to a bishop’s miter, while another head emerges from his stomach.

Characters and images appear as if in a dream — disjointed, isolated, and out of place. Several of the characters have (non-singing) doppelgangers — figures who personify thoughts or moods. There is almost the feeling that you have stumbled into a de Chirico painting. Time and place are indistinguishable and irrelevant here. And this is just how it should be for a drama whose source is myth, an art form where the essential truths exist beyond recognizable ideologies, fashions, or historical periods, removed from the chaotic random events of day-to-day life.

There are a number of technical devices that elevate the production. The entire opera takes place behind a scrim. High-definition digital images — of racing clouds or fire, or even “curtains” opening and closing, are projected on to the scrim at various times. Mostly, the scrim is transparent and does not interfere with clear views of the action onstage. The stage is canted at a sharp angle, the back higher than the front. The action takes place on, next to, and above a large circle, which sometimes turns, and at other times is manipulated into abstract symbols suggesting a millstone or a clock. At one point, the wheel becomes a one-Ring circus for an astonishing parade of fantastical dwarves, harlots, babies, giants, animals, and Gods. The ending, in which the horses of the Valkyries transform into a circle of blazing fire that surrounds the accursed Brünnhilde, is another technical as well as emotional high point.

Obviously, strict traditionalists who are annoyed to see Brünnhilde appearing in anything except a horned Viking helmet will be disappointed in this production. But for those who appreciate fresh thinking, arresting visions, and a new way forward for opera, Freyer’s "Die Walküre" is cause for great enthusiasm. This quasi-surrealist approach to Wagner, so true to the spirit of the gesamtkunstwerk, is running "Rings" around the traditional.

The LA Opera introduced the first of its Freyer-produced Ring operas, "Das Rheingold," in February. "Die Walkure," the second in the series, continues through April 25. It will be followed by the final two operas, "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung," in the 2010 season, with the opportunity to see all four staged within a 10-day window in June 2010.

[Editor's Note: The author is also a director of a foundation that has, in the past, provided educational grants to LA Opera, unrelated to this production.]

Photo of Vitalij Kowaljow (Wotan) and Linda Watson (Brunnhilde) by Monika Rittershaus/courtesy of LA Opera

"Photograph 51" Presents Snapshot of History

Considering that British biophysicist Rosalind Franklin played a crucial role in one of the 20th century's greatest scientific discoveries, it’s incredible that she is virtually unknown. That’s one reason that Anna Ziegler’s “Photograph 51,” playing at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood through May 3, is so engaging.

The play, like Franklin’s life, is definitely a tragedy. In the early ’50s, Franklin came extremely close to figuring out the structure of DNA in her research using x-ray diffraction images. The most significant of those images, Photograph 51, was the key to geneticist James Watson and biophysicist Francis Crick’s successful model of the double helix. Franklin did not know that her research partner Maurice Wilkins had showed Watson and Crick the photo, and therefore had no regrets that she had lost the race to discover the “secret of life,” in which Caltech’s Linus Pauling, another famous male scientist, was also a competitor. When Watson, Crick, and Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize in 1962, Franklin again had no regrets – she had died four years earlier of ovarian cancer at the age of 37.

Aria Alpert is properly stoic as our heroine, who arrives at King’s College in London in 1951 and rather quickly puts her weaker colleague Wilkins in his place. But Alpert rarely seems to break from that emotional indifference. I wished the script could have revealed more of the private side of Franklin, because, as it’s written, Alpert is barely able to give us glimpses of that in the soliloquies. Though this is Franklin’s story, her character remains something of a mystery to us.

Daniel Billet’s socially awkward Wilkins elicits some sympathy as the rejected love interest who never falls out of love with Franklin. When he secretly shares her photograph with Watson and Crick, who constantly pump him and Franklin for any information they can get, he does so out of excitement rather than an attempt at sabotage. But when he calls the ambitious Watson (an entertaining, high-energy Ian Gould) and Crick (a comparatively reserved Kerby Joe Grubb) “rogues,” it’s hard not to think he is no less of one, or maybe more of one, for keeping the woman he loves in the dark and, later, not making sure her extraordinary contributions are recognized.

It’s not as if Franklin is a stereotypical asocial lab scientist. Doctoral student Ray Gosling (Graham Norris) gets along with Franklin remarkably well in the lab and talks to the audience (perhaps unnecessarily) while adding some moments of humor. Ross Hellwig is the gallant Don Caspar, the Yale scientist with whom Franklin corresponds through letters and finally has a date.

The play ponders whether Franklin was a victim of a sexist system or of her own failure to establish professional relationships. But it is indeed difficult to fault Franklin for her desire to work alone and analyze her own data in a world where King’s College had a dining room that did not allow women, Watson and Crick are shown analyzing her looks while she gives a scientific presentation, and Wilkins, despite his personal feelings, never seemed to respect her as a colleague.

Director Simon Levy effectively steers the actors through a human drama, and there is an emotional swell at the end. Yet there is also a sense of disappointment. It is oddly jarring to have all five male characters surround the deceased Franklin and throw out possible reasons she failed to be recognized for her work. Furthermore, the final dream sequence with a sorrowful Wilkins trying to figure out where he went wrong loving her is a strange note on which to end the show, further emphasizing how we learn much more about his private thoughts than our heroine’s.

For more information, see the April 2 post.

Photo of Aria Alpert holding Photograph 51 (with Graham Norris in background) by Ed Krieger/courtesy of Fountain Theatre

Dracula Extended!

"Dracula" has been extended through April 26 at the NoHo Arts Center. No surprise -- it's incredible. See our review.

Celebrate Verse

There is a time to celebrate just about everything in this country. Among the more obscure celebrations listed in my calendar are National Teacher’s Day (May 5), Adopt a Cat Month (June), Parent’s Day (July 26), and Kiss and Make Up Day (Aug. 25). I mention those because National Poetry Month may be just as obscure to some. Nonetheless, there are plenty of readings and events this April to keep word and verse lovers happy.

Of course, I haven't forgotten the two environmental days this month: Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 24). We'll post more on those later.

Vroman's Bookstore
Fri., April 10, 6 p.m.
Vroman’s Bookstore celebrates National Poetry Month with a group reading, featuring Colette LaBouff Atkinson, Marcia Arrieta, Carine Topal, and Kim Triedman. In her first book, "Mean: Poems," Atkinson writes about everyone from John Milton to her husband's ex-wife who happens to be a stripper. Arrieta's latest collection is "An Uncommon Accord," and Topal has published her third volume of poetry, "In the Heaven of Never Before." Triedman, the only poet not from the LA area (she lives in Boston), spent many years writing fiction before turning to poetry. She will read from her first collection of poetry, "bathe in it or sleep."

Vroman's Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, 91101, (626) 449-5320, www.vromansbookstore.com.

Skylight Books
Sat., April 11, 5 p.m.
Skylight Books presents a Spoken Word event headlined by Saul Williams and Douglas Kearney. Williams is a multifaceted artist -- poet, musician, performance artist, and actor -- who helped define Spoken Word. He wrote and starred in the movie "SLAM." His latest album, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!," blends industrial, spoken word and hip-hop. In creating that album, Williams adapted poetry from his 2006 book "The Dead Emcee Scrolls" and worked closely with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.

Kearney's first full-length collection of poems, "Fear, Some," was published in 2006 by Red Hen Press. He recently collaborated with composer Anne LeBaron on the surreal, postmodern opera "Sucktion," which premiered at REDCAT's New Original Works Festival in Los Angeles last year. Kearney teaches at CalArts, where he received his MFA in Writing.

Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz 90027, (323) 660-1175, www.skylightbooks.com

ALOUD at the Central Library has scheduled a series of poetry events this month, including the following:

Wed., April 22, 7 p.m.
Linda Gregerson, Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Muldoon, and former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky -- all selected as judges of the Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry prizes (administered by Claremont Graduate University and to be awarded on April 23) -- will read from their own poetry.

Tues., April 28, 7 p.m.
National Public Radio commentator and surrealist poet Andrei Codrescu talks about his humorous "Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess" with "Transylvanian Yankee poet" Oana Sanziana Marian.

Wed., April 29, 7 p.m.
Continuing its celebration of new local talent, ALOUD presents Newer Poets XIV, an evening of readings by Billy Burgos, Peter Eirich, Erica Erdman, Ro Gunetilleke, Cathie Sandstrom,
and Mary Torregrossa. This event is co-presented by Beyond Baroque Literary Center and the Los Angeles Poetry Festival.

ALOUD events are free, but reservations are strongly recommended.

Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium, Fifth and Flower streets, Los Angeles.
For more information, (213) 228-7025, www.libraryfoundationla.org/aloud,
directions and parking information

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
Sat., April 25, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sun., April 26, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Numerous poets will participate in panels, sign books, and read their work at the Poetry Stage throughout Saturday (including Robert Pinsky and Carol Muske-Dukes) and Sunday (including Kim Addonizio and Jeffrey McDaniel). The Times' 14th annual festival devoted to all things book-related is one of the largest in the nation, and brings tons of authors, booksellers, food, and entertainment to the UCLA campus.

UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles 90095, www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/

Tune in for Salonen on KUSC

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s final season as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is called Celebrate Salonen, and Classical KUSC 91.5 FM has taken that mission to heart. The nation’s largest non-profit classical music radio station has planned a series of broadcasts celebrating Salonen’s 17- year tenure with the orchestra.

Included in KUSC’s programming lineup are a new documentary about the career and influence of the LA Phil’s longest-serving music director, live broadcasts of Salonen’s penultimate and final concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the re-broadcast of the music director’s U.S. conducting premiere with the LA Phil in 1984.

After those special programs, a new LA Phil broadcast season (with concerts from 2008-2009) begins on Sun., April 26, with Salonen conducting music of Falla, Debussy, and Ravel. Brian Lauritzen will be the new sole host and producer, as Program Director Gail Eichenthal, who began hosting LA Phil radio broadcasts at KUSC in 1978, turns over the mic.

Sun., April 5, 4 p.m. (repeat broadcast Sun., April 19, 4 p.m.)
“E-P in LA: Reinventing the Los Angeles Philharmonic,” a two-hour documentary on Salonen’s tenure as music director of the LA Phil, features interviews with Salonen and some of his closest collaborators such as Frank Gehry, Peter Sellars, Deborah Borda, Ernest Fleischmann, and LA Phil musicians. Documentary host and producer Lauritzen has also included recordings of LA Phil concerts.

Sat., April 11, 8 p.m.
Hear a live broadcast of Salonen’s penultimate concert, in which violinist Leila Josefowicz performs the world premiere of Salonen’s Violin Concerto. The LA Phil also plays Ligeti’s “Clocks and Clouds” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Eichenthal and Lauritzen co-host.

Sun., April 12, 4 p.m.
Go back in time for Salonen’s U.S. conducting debut. As guest conductor with the LA Phil in 1984, Salonen led a program featuring Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, and the West Coast Premiere of Lutoslawski’s Symphony No. 3. A younger Eichenthal was the host.

Sun., April 19, 2 p.m.
Salonen’s final concert will also be broadcast live from Disney Hall. The LA Master Chorale joins the orchestra for a semi-staged version of Stravinsky’s “Oedipus Rex” as well as Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms,” with Peter Sellars directing. Eichenthal and Lauritzen co-host.
(At 4 p.m., catch a repeat broadcast of KUSC’s documentary “E-P in LA: Reinventing the Los Angeles Philharmonic.”)

For more information, www.kusc.org.

photo by Mathew Imaging/courtesy of LA Phil

What on Earth?

On Monday, April 6, George Preston, director emeritus of the Carnegie Observatories, talks about that stuff that covers two-thirds of the Earth’s surface and rarely falls from the sky in LA. His Carnegie Astronomy Lecture at the Huntington Library is titled “How the Earth Got Its Water.” A reception begins at 7 p.m., and the lecture starts at 7:30 p.m. in Friends’ Hall. And, unlike water, this event is free.

The next lecture in this series, focusing on NASA’s Messenger probe that has made two flybys of Mercury, is scheduled for Monday, May 20.

Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino 91108, (626) 405-2100, www.huntington.org.

A Play With Good DNA

James Watson and Francis Crick received the Nobel Prize for their model of DNA, but biophysicist Rosalind Franklin, whose research (specifically the X-ray diffraction image that gives this play its name) aided that scientific breakthrough, died in relative obscurity. It sounds like the stuff of good drama, and indeed it is in Anna Ziegler’s “Photograph 51.” Simon Levy directs and Aria Alpert (daughter of Herb Alpert and Lani Hall) stars in the West Coast premiere, which continues at the Fountain Theatre through May 3.

“Photograph 51” comes with a scientific and dramatic stamp of approval. The winner of the 2008 STAGE (Scientists, Technologists and Artists Generating Exploration) award for Best New Play about Science and Technology, Ziegler’s play was chosen from nearly 150 entries by a panel of judges that included Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner David Auburn; Tony, Olivier, and Obie Award winner John Guare; Nobel Laureate in physics Sir Anthony Leggett; Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire; and Nobel Laureate in physics Dr. Douglas Osheroff.

The Fountain Theatre itself is no stranger to prestigious awards. It has won more than 160 for theater excellence, including every major theater award in Los Angeles.

Performances run Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $25 (Thursdays and Fridays), $28 (Saturdays and Sundays), $23 for seniors over 62 (Thursdays and Fridays only), $18 for students with ID (Thursdays and Fridays only). Parking is $5.

The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. (at Normandie), Los Angeles 90029, (323) 663-1525, www.FountainTheatre.com.

photo of Graham Norris and Aria Alpert by Ed Krieger/courtesy of Fountain Theatre

Cool Science

NHM Celebrates “Darwin Year”
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is doing it up right for Charles Darwin’s 200th with a series of First Fridays celebrating the famous discoverer of evolution. First Fridays feature tours, lectures, DJs and bands on, you guessed it, the first Friday of every month (January through June).

On April 3, arrive early (space is limited) for a tour of the entomology collections (that’s bugs to the rest of us) at 5:30 and 6 p.m. Then at 6:30 p.m., USC’s Dr. Michael W. Quick moderates a discussion with Dr. Michael Ryan, a scientist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and zoology professor at the University of Texas, Austin. The focus of the discussion is Darwin’s other theory, sexual selection, and Ryan will explore how males and females of various species (humans included) differ. Have your questions ready. Then grab some food and drink and enjoy the music from 7 to 10 p.m., as Phatal DJ and T-Kay spin tunes, and Bus Driver and Tim Fite perform.

The next First Fridays event on May 1 brings Dr. Donald C. Johanson, who as the founder of "Lucy," a 3.2-million-year-old hominid fossil, could definitely be called a science celebrity.

Tickets are $9, and $6.50 for students with ID.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles 90007, (213) 763-DINO, www.nhm.org.

Schiff Mesmerizes in His Final Recital

Last night, András Schiff wrapped up his complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas. Henry Schlinger, who has attended the recitals since the musical event began at Disney Hall in Fall 2007, provides a closing review.


On Wednesday, April 1, pianist András Schiff concluded his two-season odyssey through the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at Disney Hall with mesmerizing performances of the Op. 109, Op. 110, and Op. 111 sonatas.

In his last recital, perhaps more than any of the previous ones, Schiff became Beethoven, demonstrating not only the technical prowess necessary to play these pieces, but, much more rare, the intellectual and emotional understanding of the sonatas. As with the recital on March 25, Schiff played these three sonatas without intermission in a program that lasted only a little more than an hour. But what an hour it was.

It is difficult to describe Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas without using superlatives. Collectively, they may be the greatest single musical achievement in Western music -- although the Mozart piano concertos and the Haydn string quartets may be a close second. Many of the sonatas are masterpieces in their own right, and the Op. 109-111 certainly stand on their own as pillars of the art form. But one probably cannot fully appreciate them either individually or as a group unless one is familiar with the 29 that preceded them.

Beethoven was a bit like Picasso; he continuously redefined himself in his music. He wrote revolutionary symphonies, concertos, string quartets, and, of course, piano sonatas. But Beethoven had to define what was revolutionary for himself because he had no contemporary equals and therefore could only rebel against his own musical standards. So it is with these last six sonatas, especially the last three. In each, Beethoven includes movements that are stripped down to their bare essentials with simple, controlled melodic lines that seem more appropriately written for voice and chordal accompaniment. In the Op. 109 and Op. 110 sonatas, the first movements end on the quietest piano and are immediately followed by dramatically contrasting second movements that display what Schiff described in a conversation with Martin Meyer as “demonically agitated energy” and “boisterous anger,” respectively. There are large intervals between the lowest bass and the highest treble keys. There are instances of contrapuntal writing and fugues, most notably in the third movement of the Op. 110, harking back to Bach and Handel. And there are sections in all three sonatas that are downright hymn-like, maybe because he was simultaneously working on his “Missa Solemnis” (Solemn Mass).

Schiff said to Meyer that his favorite movement in all 32 sonatas is the third (theme and variations) movement of the Op. 110. It’s hard to disagree with him on this, although my preference is for the second and final movement of the Op. 111. And it’s not just because it is the concluding movement of all the 32 sonatas. The movement is also a set of variations in C major (in contrast with the dramatic and fateful key of C minor [like the Fifth Symphony] in the first movement), including one that incorporates a jazzy rhythm. But the variations dissolve and the remainder of the movement is characterized by pure sonority, including trills and double trills at the piano’s high registers that become ethereal (and anticipate Ravel and Debussy) before concluding with a simple C major chord -- a fitting conclusion not only for this monumental sonata, but for all 32.

I wished that after each sonata, especially the Op. 109 and Op. 111, the audience wouldn’t have applauded for at least a few minutes so as not to disturb the profound and solemn mood. I know that Schiff agrees because he said to Meyer about the Op. 109: “After a conclusion of that kind, applause should really not be allowed.” One could tell that Schiff felt this way because in the Op. 109 and Op. 111 sonatas, both of which conclude very quietly, Schiff left his hands on the keyboard for several seconds after the last notes sounded. Unfortunately, at the conclusion of the Op. 111, the applause began before Schiff’s hands left the keyboard, but quickly subsided when he didn’t move his hands. It was clear that Schiff was still in the throes of the emotional struggle of not only that sonata but the totality of the three together and perhaps of all 32 he had performed over the last two seasons. This also explains why, despite a standing ovation and several curtain calls, Schiff did not include an encore. What, after all, can follow these three sonatas?

Master Chorale Inspires With Folk Songs

Classical reviewer Theodore Bell checked out the Los Angeles Master Chorale on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale presented an inviting folk anthology on Sunday, March 29, in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Grant Gershon led a fascinating musical exposition on themes sampled from Béla Bartók’s “Slovak Folk Songs,” Veljo Tormis’ “Forgotten Peoples Cycle,” Francis Poulenc’s “Chansons Françaises,” and Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs.” Assistant Conductor Ariel Quintana added the complete “Zigeunerlieder” of Johannes Brahms.

In a pre-concert discussion with KUSC’s Alan Chapman, Gershon explained that because the musical traits of folksong are intimately tied to the language and culture where they originated, they do not translate so well. Thus, the Choir had the additional technical challenge of singing in five languages (including Slovak and Karelian).

Bartók’s four “Slovak Folk Songs” (Sz. 70) fit the Master Chorale to perfection. The gently flowing “Thus Sent the Mother” was ethereal at times, having a blend that was organic in a way one can only feel. As Gershon noted, Bartók took these folk melodies and “raised them to the level of art song.” The 5/8 meter of “Where the Alps Soar so Free” comfortably flowed with graceful balance, and the lively “Food and Drink” and sanguine “Bagpipes Are Playing” snapped nicely with their brisk cadence.

Tormis’ “Forgotten Peoples’ Cycle” was based on the ancient songs of vanishing Baltic and Finnic cultures. Only one of the six groups of the larger work was sung on this program, “Karelian Destiny.” This novel regional musical argot contains harmonic and rhythmic components that sound arcane to the Western ear, but Tormis’ contemporary style easily accommodates. “The Weeping Maidens” was melancholy but warm, and the altos gave a solid performance as they were featured here and in several other songs. Alicia Kirwin Murray sang the closing lullaby so sweetly that there was no need to follow the translation to understand its sentiment.

Brahms was less the musicologist and more the entertainer in the 11 songs of his faux-folk “Zigeunerlieder” (“Gypsy Songs”), Op. 103, with its distinctively Hungarian-flavored melodies. Quintana capably guided the Master Chorale through the homeland, squeezing every bit of the intensity packed in this pithy passion-filled trek through mania and melancholy, and all of the twists between. The piano accompanist, Lisa Edwards, was outstanding, deftly supporting the Chorus at every turn while navigating Brahms’ demanding virtuosity. The ideal acoustics of Disney Hall faithfully transmitted every syllable of the sumptuous “Lieber Gott” through every forte and piano, and the sullen text of “Horch, der Wind” had nary the least bit of sibilant muddle.

Quintana and the Chorus delivered an inspired performance. But in the overall modernist context of the program, “Zigeunerlieder” somehow felt out of place; relative to the other selections it was like a musical first cousin once-removed. Also, the turning of pages in awkward unison as the audience followed the translations was distracting at some critical moments in the first half of the program, and the undimmed lights significantly diminished the ambiance.

The house lights were dimmed for the second portion of the program. Gershon skillfully painted Poulenc’s saturated colors and horizontal harmonies as he leaned into the composer’s surrealist manners. The Chorale flickered bright and dim, evoking moods light and dark, as they sang the eight a cappella “Chansons Françaises.” Gershon had earlier portrayed the music of Poulenc as “unpretentious,” and “distilled down to the essence.” The solo bass unfortunately was overwhelmed at times in the rhythmic male-only march, “Clic, clac, dansez sabots,” although the men sang “La Belle si nous etions” with a rapid, deliberate rhythm, detaching each syllable, and impressing a penetrating earthy quality.

Copland’s collection of "Old American Songs” was obviously the most linguistically and culturally accessible. I lamented that the iconic “Simple Gifts” was not included on the program, but I found myself delighted to be “in that place just right” anyway, as Abdiel Gonzales sang in the “Boatman’s Song.” The sheer horsepower of his piercing voice shook you in your seat without distracting from the simplicity of the text. Gershon’s tempos were familiar and seamless in transition, and the lovely "Little Horses" lullaby was sweet, without a trace of saccharine sentimentality. The minstrel tunes, "Long Time Ago," "At the River," and especially "Ching-A-Ring Chaw" were vigorously expressive in a vernacular the audience understood – iconic Americana.

The familiarity and unmistakable appeal of Copland’s music provided the highpoint of the concert, yanking at the heartstrings. The encore, Copland’s moving “Shenandoah” (Across the Wide Missouri), was especially fine. The delicate sound of lapping waves pulsed from the a cappella counterpoint, and as the rhythmic flowing melodies wound down to a precise pianissimo, we were left with a most gentle comfort to savor.

The Master Chorale, Gershon and Quintana clearly succeeded with this folk-based program. The inherent humanity of this repertoire resonated loud and clear. We left just a bit closer to each other than when we arrived. Bartók, the applied ethnomusicologist – and the other composers for that matter – would have been pleased.

photo by Steve Cohn Photography/courtesy of LA Master Chorale

"Spamalot"

The Center Theatre Group hosts a Spam fest on April Fool's Day from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Music Center Plaza downtown. Not only will tickets go on sale for "Monty Python's Spamalot," the comic musical that lands at the Ahmanson Theatre July 7 through Sept. 6, but Spamwiches, Spam tacos and mead will be available for purchase at the Patina Spotlight Cafe. That's right: Spam at Patina. It may be the first time in history Spam gets a gourmet pricetag. Be sure to dress accordingly for the Fool's Faire, as 98.7 FM's Josh Venable will host the King of Fools Costume Contest with a grand prize of $350 and a little something for all who enter. Of course, the whole reason for celebrating is the box office grand opening, when for one day (and only in person) you can buy tickets at a discounted rate and get a free gift. We hope it's not Spam.

Music Center Plaza, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles 90012
For more information, (213) 972-4400 or www.CenterTheatreGroup.org.

Weird, Wild Stuff

"TOKYO!"
Head over to the Regent Theatre, get a ticket to "TOKYO!," and let the surreal visions of three filmmakers rain over you. Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), Leos Carax ("Lovers on the Bridge"), and Bong Joon-Ho ("The Host") direct three very different variations on a theme (in Japanese and French with subtitles).

Gondry's short, "Interior Design" -- by far the most elegant -- is grounded in the very real struggles of a young couple who have just arrived in Tokyo. Hiroko is there to screen his first film, an esoteric, stylized piece that goes overboard in trying to be original -- and emphasizes how the very triptych we're watching is surreal but still intelligently crafted. While he is excited about his imagined prospects, Akira is upset that she can't even get a job gift-wrapping packages. One morning, she awakes alone in the friend's apartment where they have outworn their welcome, and a dreamlike sequence reveals her newfound usefulness in life.

Carax's "Merde" takes an immediate plunge into the absurd and metaphoric, when a creature (played by Denis Lavant) resembling a devil, terrifying leprechaun, or evil troll emerges from the Tokyo sewers. At first innocently consuming money, cigarettes, and flowers, he sets off a media frenzy, heightened when he disovers grenades left over from World War II in the sewer and wrecks havoc on Tokyo like a human Godzilla. The gibberish exchanged between the creature and his twin-like lawyer in the prison and courtroom can get tiresome, but the symbolic messages of the film win over.

Joon-Ho's "Shaking Tokyo" returns to the more naturalistic bent of the first short, following a shut-in, or hikikimori, who expereinces an unlikely spark of love at the moment of an earthquake. The hikikimori seems far too mentally healthy for someone who has isolated himself from the world for the past 10 years, and he somewhat easily crosses the threshold when he finds out the pizza delivery girl he fell for has become a hikikimori herself. Despite its flaws, the ages-old story of the lover out to rescue his trapped sweetheart serves as a soothing close to the triptych.

Regent Theatre, 1045 Broxton Ave. (between Weyburn & Kinross) in Westwood, (310) 281-8223, www.landmarktheatres.com.

photo from Carax's "Merde"/courtesy of Liberation Entertainment