Members of the LA Chamber Orchestra and others will perform five pieces at this event. Andrew Norman is leading the first one.  Four Larks, an adventurous local opera company, is part of this program as well. The event promises the opportunity to “hang” with the artists, a ticket for a free brew and there will also be food trucks at the venue. The goal here is to change the perception of classical music, where it is performed and that it is untouchable.

The series will continue in the fall with an evening with LA-based composer Derrick Spiva, Jr.; the winter with Matthias Pintscher and in the spring with wild UP’s Christopher Rountree.

Due to the location of this event audience members must be 21 and over to attend.

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Born in the Ukraine in 1920, Arkatov’s family moved to San Francisco. He began playing the cello at age 9 and gave his first concert at the age of 13. His interest in chamber music started around that time when he met a fellow young musician who played the violin and they formed a string quartet. That’s how he met his lifelong friend Isaac Stern.

When he moved to Los Angeles Arkatov found himself playing on sessions for film scores and popular music. He worked with such film composing legends as Bernard Herrmann, Miklós Rózsa and Elmer Bernstein. His cello playing can also be heard on such recordings in the pop world as Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Song Books, Frank Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours and Prince’s Parade (which was the soundtrack for his film Under the Cherry Moon.)

I spoke with Arkatov in his beautiful home in Bel-Air which is filled with spectacular art and many of the photos he took throughout his life. Oh yes, he’s also had two books of his photography published. As we talked, his wife, Salome, listened to stories she’s no doubt heard countless times. And she was beaming with pride the whole time.

When you looked at the cultural landscape of Los Angeles in 1968, what was missing that prompted you, Richard Colburn and Joseph Troy to launch the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra?

The chamber orchestra had a particular type of compositions written for it, which were not exploited to the fullest extent by whatever group we had in town. We were able to perform the chamber work which also extended into the symphonic range. We thought there was a demand for the type of music we wanted that did not conflict with other groups that were around.

Why did the three of you feel it was important to give back to the city of Los Angeles by starting this orchestra?

I don’t know except that we wanted to do it.  I had a string quartet that used to meet every Saturday and Colburn was in the quartet. So was Si Ramo the industrialist. Si named the quartet the Procon Quartet because it was the cons that conned the pros into playing with them. When I first had this idea about a chamber orchestra, I approached Richard and he was very generous and gave the first donations to the foundation of the orchestra. With Joe Troy, I had an attorney I had asked to put together the foundation of the orchestra and he was unable to do it. But he recommended Joe . He did a lot of the important work of setting up the foundation for the orchestra and in many other areas he was very involved. [Simon “Si” Ramo was, amongst other things, a major participant in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles]

Do you remember the first concert? How did you feel?

I was delighted, of course. We had a fond response from the audience and they appreciated the conductor [Sir Neville Marriner of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields] and the program. And so we grew from there. We started out at the Mark Taper Forum because I felt that would be an intimate auditorium for the people who could enjoy the music on an intimate basis.

Note:  On the program at LACO’s first concert was: Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso in D Minor; Bach’s  Harpsichord Concerto No. 6 in F major, Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major, K. 136, Handel’s Harpsichord Concerto in B flat Major, Op. 4, No. 6 and Roussel’s Sinfonietta, Op. 52.

What do you think the key to LACO’s success has been over these 50 years.

I think that’s fairly simple. We are a quality organization and they have good people running it. The programs they give are outstanding and the public seems to be very happy with the programs they get. So the organization has grown in quality and numbers.

This year’s season is the first without a music director. It must speak to the strength of the organization that it can go a full season without a music director and still thrive.

We were very careful when our current director retired [Jeffrey Kahane] because we have had a distinguished history of music directors. So we had a series of guest conductors and we finally chose one that we feel will carry forth the best tradition of the chamber orchestra. [Previous music directors were Marriner, Gerard Schwartz, Iona Brown, Christof Perick and Kahane. Jaime Martín is the new music director.]

Beyond your interest in chamber music is your work with artists like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. Your work will live on forever on these classic recordings. What were those sessions like?

I always admired Sinatra as an outstanding artist. He was a great musician as well as an artist. I admired his work. I did a lot of recording with him.  Ella was special. She was an unusual personality and her voice and her personality combined to give us a unique approach to music.

There’s no way you could have predicted that the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra would still be going after fifty years. How does that feel?

It feels very good. I’m very proud of all that they have accomplished in their first 50 years. I wish them a long and adventurous future.

And will you be attending the concert and the gala on Saturday?

You bet. Wouldn’t miss it.

Except as noted, all photos courtesy of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

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Silent film star Buster Keaton knew how to tell a story. Widely considered to be amongst his greatest achievements is The General. Released in 1926, this Civil War story has enchanted audiences for over 90 years with its story of one man’s daring pursuit of a locomotive through enemy lines.

Jeff Beal, a five-time Emmy Award winning composer (best known for House of Cards), has written a new score for Keaton’s masterpiece. The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will be playing this score live with the movie under Beal’s direction at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel on Saturday.

I recently asked Beal about his work on this film.

When Clyde Bruckman (co-director/co-writer) and Buster Keaton made the film, they did not have an orchestral score in mind to accompany the film. What challenges do you face in not tilting the balance of the movie by adding an orchestral score?

Film history has been very kind to The General, which was commercially and critically unsuccessful in its initial release. The breathtaking imagery, photography and grand scale of the action of this great train chase benefits from an immersive orchestral score. My score isn’t so much nostalgia, but an attempt to make the film play for a modern audience. Much of what Buster Keaton does as an actor was ahead of his time, his use of deadpan and dry humor, and lack of affectation.

There have been other scores written for the film. What was your angle into the film and how does this score different from previous scores for The General?

My goal at the outset was to compose it almost as a symphony to the film. That is to say the level of thematic development and connections are structured in a way to create a sense of the sweep and emotions in the film. A modern audience, these days, has a very heightened sense of music. I didn’t want to write “down” to them or the movie.

Usually a composer has a collaboration with a director. Absent that, what “direction” did you get directly from the film itself? Did you do other research about Keaton and his work on the film?

I originally went to the Motion Picture Academy [library] to see what they had. There were some wonderful stills, new articles, production budgets, etc. But yet, the film itself is often the director and speaks to you after you live with it and study it.

Buster Keaton could make us laugh, but he also had a face that could break your heart. How does the persona of Keaton impact the modern day perception of his performance in this, or any other, film?

Exactly! There is such great range of emotion in his acting. I love working around a great actor’s performance. I did my original work on the symphonic version when I was scoring Monk starring Tony Shaloub and I saw immediate parallels between that character (tragic/comic) and what Keaton created with this lovable conductor Johnny Gray. I spend a lot of time studying their performance, trying to see what I can highlight for the audience, without getting in their way.

This score was commissioned by Florida State University. Looking back on the score are there things you wish you could change? Or did change?

The main change was the size of the orchestration. My original version is for full symphony orchestra, and I created a more intimate orchestration of the piece. I’m excited to see how this works; there is a certain charm to the idea of a traditional “theater” sized orchestra, which silent movie houses in the big cities would have versus a pianist.

In your opinion, what relevance does The General have today?

I think it’s a very pertinent film in some ways. It’s very much in the tradition of war satire films. It’s hard to imagine films like M*A*S*H, Three Kings, or Life is Beautiful, without The General preceding them. The Civil War, at the time of its making (1926), was not the distant memory it is today. Using satire to deflect the tragedy and absurdity of combat, is still audacious and refreshing. Our sense of romance and nobility are lacking in the Snapchat age. There is something quite beautiful and refreshing about a love story that commits to the idea of true love, and risking it all for it. I think the reason that works and is timeless is that it is so honest and committed on Keaton’s part, both as actor and director.

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Photo Credit:  Chris Lee

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This year, the composer selected was 26-year-old Matthew Aucoin, who was also just named L.A. Opera’s Artist-in-Residence and is one of three Dudamel Conducting Fellows with the L.A. Philharmonic. The result of the campaign is piece called Evidence, and you’ll be able to hear it on May 14th at the Alex Theatre and May 15th at Royce Hall.

“It’s very Bernie Sanders, isn’t it?” Aucoin says about the project. “It’s much more personal and I think it’s deeply Los Angeles-specific. There are a lot of art supporters—not all stereotypically super-rich—who want to support music however they can. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a room with so many new music donors as I have been at all of these salons [hosted by LACO in the year preceding the premiere.].”

Aucoin said he came up for the initial idea behind Evidence while in Wales. “I just heard the opening soundscape of the piece,” he said. “It’s kind of a hovering, bobbing motion, like being at anchor in a bay. I was thinking a while ago about the difference between making art and practicing western religion, as music has always felt like a religious practice—engaging with the unknown with whatever means you have, and meditating on it. I realize that most major faiths are not fond of evidence. They want you to take it on faith. That’s the deep difference between faith and proof. You wouldn’t trust a composer who said, ‘Take me on faith.’ So I figured I’d call the work Evidence.”

Besides this work, Aucoin is keeping busy, and has already composed four operas including Crossing and Second Nature. During the upcoming L.A. Opera season, he will be conducting Philip Glass’s Ahknaten and will premiere a new score he cultivated and composed for the 1922 silent film classic Nosferatu.

He says he’s excited about the opportunities Los Angeles offers. “I remember reading an article by [New Yorker music critic] Alex Ross where he said the gravitational center of music has shifted westward and Los Angeles was the cause of it,” he says. “As soon as I met the people at the Phil and the Opera and LACO, I sensed their hunger for new work. It just feels like the place to be.”

Although he’s already accomplished a lot, Aucoin says he’s keeping his options open about the future. “When you are a composer you can’t even look one step ahead because you are dealing with the musical problem directly in front of you. I’m not satisfied with any of it, ever. I’m in a state of perpetual growth and change, and I just want to ride that wave.”

Check out some of Matthew Aucoin’s music below. His opera Crossing features the American Repertory Theater.

Photo Credit:  Steven Laxton

The post The L.A. Chamber Orchestra is Trying Something Very Different to Create New Music appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

“It is my intention, my hope, that audiences will come away with a fresh perspective on a piece of music they’ve heard many, many times,” says Kahane. “There are people who’ve heard it 50 to 100 times and some who may have never heard it. The way the evening works, I spend 50 to 60 minutes talking about the piece with the orchestra and a piano and trying to put it in context.” LACO will perform the symphony after the intermission. “As people listen to it they might be able to hear it with fresh ears and have a sense of the philosophical, spiritual, and historical atmosphere in which it was composed. What I’m not going to do is analyze the piece in a technical way.”

Eroica broke new ground on many levels. Kahane explains: “The sheer scope of it dwarfs anything anyone had ever done—in terms of length and emotional content, one might say the spiritual and philosophic content of the piece. It was Beethoven who called it ‘Eroica” and I’m going to talk about the many different interpretations of that. Who is the hero? Was there more than one? What have others thought?”

Kahane has definite ideas about the identity of the hero. “In particular I’m going to focus on the myth of Prometheus, which is deeply connected to this piece.” According to Greek mythology, Prometheus was responsible for molding man from clay, being man’s protector and giving mankind fire. Kahane continues his theory, “The theme of the last movement, it is the only theme he used in four different pieces. It is always important when a composer quotes himself in one piece. Beethoven did it four times. I’ll also talk about how the myth evolved from the ancient Greeks to Beethoven’s contemporaries, who wrote important poems about Prometheus. Goethe, whose work he knew well was one. The other is Percy Bysshe Shelley whose Prometheus Unbound is important. It’s interesting to look at two interpretations of the myth written at the same time as Beethoven’s musical interpretation.”

One his presentation has concluded, the real work begins for Kahane and LACO. “Anytime you are confronted with a masterpiece of this order it’s a humbling and intimidating experience. You have to do the best you can to channel the incredible energy. Maybe the greatest challenge is to inspire the orchestra to rise to the energy that’s in the music. It doesn’t get any more difficult. The Eroica is challenging in terms of sheer endurance.”

Kahane believes Symphony No. 3 along with the rest of Beethoven’s oeuvre will forever be a part of classical music. “It’s incredible to think that many of this man’s works entered the repertoire the day they premiered and have never left it. He is a cosmic genius in a sense. He encompasses the whole world and that’s what he set out to do. Beethoven is referred to as the universal composer. It sounds like a cliché, but I think there’s profound truth in it. It explains why his music, more than others, is so beloved everywhere in the world and why people turn to his music in times of great upheaval, crisis, and epochal change.”

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