Review: Dudamel's Disney Hall send-off became more than a mere party
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When Gustavo Dudamel instructs the Los Angeles Philharmonic to stand at a curtain call, the players stand.He motions, sit; they sit.Sunday afternoon, they wouldn’t stand.
Again and again, they stubbornly refused.With an encouraging smile, Dudamel took the concertmaster’s arm, gently lifting him to his feet, but he sat back down when no one in the orchestra followed.
Dudamel never looks nonplussed.He looked dumbfounded.This was Dudamel’s moment, his last concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall as L.A.
Phil’s music and artistic director.Those who were standing comprised the capacity audience, their cheers deafening.
The orchestra lustily applauded like everyone else.It turns out that Dudamel is both adept at saying goodbye and just as good at not meaning it.Eras don’t end for him so much as become transition points.
There was reportedly Champagne flowing in the dressing room after Sunday’s matinee, but the L.A.Phil needs to buy its bubbly in bulk.
Dudamel’s contract continues through the summer, and the orchestra will still see plenty of him.In August he takes the L.A.
Phil on tour to the Proms in London and the Edinburgh International Festival in advance of four big nights at the Hollywood Bowl.Dudamel then returns to Disney in December to conduct the L.A.Phil, though with three lofty new titles to his name: Oscar L.
Tang and H.M.Agnes Hsu-Tang music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, L.A.
Phil Diane and M.David Paul artistic and cultural laureate and Michael Eisner founding director and conductor laureate of Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA).
He’s going to need new business cards the size of an iPhone Pro Max to fit all that in.But the effort to get his orchestra on its feet was not an idle gesture.Dudamel’s Disney “finale,” however momentous, lacked nearly all the trappings of pomp.
In a Thursday night marathon, he paid tribute to the...