Too Good To Be True

Last night I attend the inaugural concert of the Glendale Philharmonic Orchestra. The musicians, about 20 string players, gave a wonderful performance, especially considering that this was there first concert. The program had a bit of a rough beginning with a stylistically odd arrangement of Bach's Prelude from the Violin Partita No. 3. After that it continued well with Karl Jenkins' Concerto Grosso "Palladio," Andrey Rubtsov's Andande Dolente & Scherzo for Two Cellos (world premiere), Arno Babajanian's Aria, and Edward Mirzoyan's Symphony.

The group was highly disciplined and very responsive to their conductor, Mikael Avetisyan. And yet . . .

Leaving the concert I was reminded of something I heard the former conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Paul Salamunovich, say (and he may have been quoting someone else), "The audience should never see the dynamics on the page." I saw them last night.

Now, admittedly this is an unfair criticism. It was their first concert, it could have been my mood, I would be hard pressed to tell them specifically what to fix, and I didn't notice it all the time. But there were times when the dynamic changes seemed stiff and mechanical, almost geometric in their plot. Technically they were done well, yet they didn't have the feeling of growing organically out of the music. Things were a little too tightly controlled.

This contrasted with the times when the music did have a more natural quality. The few short solos by the concert mistress, Limor Toren, were a good example of this. There was subtlety in her phrasing. One got the sense that she felt and enjoyed the music. It seemed to emanate not from the notes on the page, but from within her.

As I implied, this is all very subjective. Still, it brings up the issue of how a conductor can find the balance between control and spontaneity, between precision and flexibility. What does one say, "Be more spontaneous, now!?"

Clearly these are excellent musicians under a very talented conductor. Perhaps it is just a question of time and trust before they relax into the music, have fun with it, and allow it to flow more naturally. I look forward to hearing them at their next concert.