By Jim Ruggirello | Posted: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 10:55 am at gazettes.com
Roll out the red carpet.
Time once again to present the awards for best musical events of the past season.
In what was overall a very good year for music in Long Beach, with a number of stellar performances
and no real duds, I’ve managed to winnow my choices down to a top five. Sort of.
Number one has to be the recital at the Carpenter Center by Joshua Bell. A top international star of the
violin, Bell gave a recital in collaboration with pianist Sam Haywood (who, with the piano lid all the way
up, was an equal partner in the musical excellence) that was as good as it gets.
A serious program of Brahms, Schubert and Grieg kept the audience spellbound with the sheer
gorgeousness of the whole thing and the fabulous execution of every little detail. Dear Carpenter Center:
do this sort of thing more often.
Long Beach Opera gave four important performances of four important works, and reached a
consistently high level throughout. If I had to pick one above the rest, it would be “Medea.” In the
unconventionality of the venue (the old EXPO building on Atlantic), the striking staging by Andreas
Mitisek, and, among a strong cast, a standout performance by Suzan Hanson in the title role, LBO
managed to turn Cherubini’s little potboiler into a shattering musical theater experience.
The Long Beach Symphony’s dilemma this past season can be summed up as the achievement of
financial stability at the expense of rehearsal time. There were too many sloppy, under-rehearsed and
uninspired performances, but, miraculously enough, there were also two really fine ones. Both featured
soloists: Ilya Kaler’s old-school, patrician and thoroughly masterful reading of the Tchaikovsky violin
concerto and pianist Haochen Zhang’s incendiary Prokofiev No. 2. The orchestra and music director
Enrique Arturo Diemecke rose to both occasions, and both gave LBSO audiences hope for a better future.
I can’t give one choral award, there was too much good stuff. Eliza Rubenstein and Long Beach
Chorale’s spring concert featuring Vaughan Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem” probably wins on musical
merits, but the Camerata Singers under Rob Istad are no slouch these days, and their “Bach to the Blues”
concert with the Dirty Sugar Band was innovative programming at its best. And keep an eye on South
Coast Chorale, which is doing some really fun and exciting things at one of my favorite venues, the
Scottish Rite Theater. Finally, Jonathan Talberg led the massed forces of the Bob Cole Conservatory in a
completely satisfying Brahms Requiem. Call this one a four-way tie.
Lastly, Steven Reineke has the Long Beach Symphony POPS! on a roll. Their slogan is “This Ain’t
Your Daddy’s POPS!” (which they stole from me, by the way), and it sure ain’t, er, isn’t. The John
Williams concert this past season was a fine example of Reineke’s clever programming and the
distinguished playing of the LBSO under his leadership.
I didn’t get to any of the Music Guild concerts, and there were probably a couple other gems I missed.
Suffice it to say you didn’t have to go out of town to hear some really wonderful performances of great
music.
We’re looking forward to next year.