CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK
Some performances save the best for last
Local productions of “Parsifal” and “El Niño” benefited from the unexpected.
By Mark Swed
Times Staff Writer

December 21, 2005

The Los Angeles Philharmonic plays most of its concerts three or four times. Los Angeles Opera typically has twice that many performances of its productions. But in any theatrical run, there is no way to know which performance will be best.

The theory goes like this: Opening night is a glorified dress rehearsal, so avoid it. Everything comes together about the middle of the run. By the end, the performers are starting to get a bit bored, and it’s best, once more, to stay away. Oh, and matinees are never as inspired as evening events.

But the situation is not nearly so simple. Last weekend, I caught the end of L.A. Opera’s run of Wagner’s “Parsifal,” on Saturday in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the third of the Philharmonic’s three readings of John Adams’ “El Niño,” at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sunday. Both performances were matinees. Thursday night, I attended L.A. Opera’s penultimate “Tosca.”

“Parsifal” and “El Niño” had pleased me greatly at their openings, but these final matinees rose to an altogether higher level. “Tosca” I had been unable to attend before. I can only guess as to how it might have changed, but this much I could tell: The operatic ship was running on autopilot and was just about out of gas.

Let me propose a new theory: A performance that begins with proper commitment will likely just keep getting better. One that starts out cynically or inherently weak will tend, like a small crack in a windshield, to get only worse.

But it is not that simple either. “Parsifal” — and perhaps “El Niño” — benefited from the unexpected.

I had returned to “Parsifal” in hopes of seeing how Plácido Domingo had settled into Robert Wilson’s abstract staging. It had been a real challenge for this aging enthusiastic Latin tenor to stand inexpressively in stylized poses. He managed it remarkably well, all told, but opening night was his first time in a Wilson production.

Domingo didn’t, however, sing Saturday. He had a cold. As had been the case the previous Wednesday, his understudy, Gary Lehman, was a last-minute substitute. Lehman had the pressure not only of filling a star’s shoes in a demanding Wagnerian heldentenor role but of having to make sure those shoes stood in exactly the right spot, given Wilson’s demand for high-wire precision. On top of that, Lehman, previously a baritone, was making his debut as a tenor.

This prescription for disaster resulted instead in a glowing (literally, given the brilliant lighting) success. The new tenor proved a Wilsonian from stock-still head to unbending toe. Lehman’s voice may not yet have a Domingo-like bloom, but he sounded as secure vocally as he looked physically.

Wilson productions sometimes get sloppy once the director leaves town (which is generally after the first night). But Saturday, I had the impression that everyone in the cast was made especially alert by a new Parsifal. The orchestra, with six performances under its belt, played Wagner’s intricate score beautifully under Kent Nagano. That the baritone Matti Salminen was himself suffering a cold mattered hardly at all. He rose to the dramatic and musical occasion as did everyone else.

No personnel changes affected the Philharmonic’s “El Niño” on Sunday afternoon. Possibly what put everyone on his or her toes, though, was a mishap the night before, when baritone Willard White reportedly came in once at the wrong place. I’m told it was no big deal, that things quickly righted themselves and that few in the audience knew it had happened at all.

But whatever the case — maybe the orchestra just needed a bit more time to feel completely comfortable with the music’s rhythmic complexities — Sunday’s performance of Adams’ deeply affecting Nativity oratorio had what felt like a brand-new emotional punch and sense of musical occasion.

Esa-Pekka Salonen elicited from his orchestra a fervor not quite achieved Friday, and that may have helped the singers feel free. Dawn Upshaw, in particular, gave one of her most memorably nuanced and riveting performances.

I only wish the singers across the street in “Tosca,” if they were still sleepwalking and sleep-singing their way through the last matinee before picking up their paychecks, could have witnessed the commitment of this “El Niño.”

People tell me that “Tosca” did not start out so bad. How then to explain the sheer vacuousness of Thursday? Violeta Urmana mimicked Callas’ vocal mannerisms without revealing any of her theatricality — what a moving Mahler and Wagner mezzo-soprano Urmana was before selling out to money soprano roles in which she has little original to offer. That Samuel Ramey (also fighting a cold) sounded past retirement was less a problem than that he acted as if he was already in retirement.

Tenor Salvatore Licitra was dreariest of all. He had a big moment at the Metropolitan a couple of years ago, saving the day when he filled in for an ill Pavarotti. Now he’s already burning, maybe even flaming, out. I doubt that there was any way this production could have improved over its run, absent a “disaster” to wake everyone up.

Instant Concert CDs Combat Piracy

Technology lets music companies take the bootleg concept legal–and immediate.

Johan Bostrom, IDG News Service
Tuesday, September 27, 2005

The music industry, shaken by decreasing CD sales, is turning to a high-tech and legal version of the old “bootleg” concept of concert recordings.

  
The Instant Live unit of Clear Channel Entertainment’s Music Group, part of the Clear Channel Communications conglomerate, is one of the commercial ventures that have been experimenting with making instantly available CDs of live concerts, by mixing recordings on the spot and selling them to club-goers as they exit concerts. On Monday, Universal Music Group and Instant Live announced a partnership, and the concept of “instant bootlegs” is taking another step.

The partnership is the first of its kind for any of the major music companies, officials at the companies said. It also fits in with Clear Channel’s plans to expand the sale of on-site live concert recording, to allow these recordings to be better edited and distributed online, and then, sometime next year, sold as downloads for MP3 players and other devices.

Better Than Bootlegs
The agreement announced Monday paves the way for production of live recordings with Universal’s various affiliate labels, according to Stephen Prendergast, general manager of Clear Channel Music Group’s Instant Live division. The deal with Universal gives it a sort of “template” agreement for division of revenue and recording ownership it can use going forward, Prendergast said.

“We’re coming out of the R&D phase now, and we’re starting to turn it into a business,” Prendergast said.

Instant Live recordings made with Universal labels will be sold at shows, and also made available on the Instant Live Web site, individual band sites, and also via online retailers, he said.

The concept of selling recordings of live concert echoes what happened in the 1960s, when the underground bootleg industry, operating outside the auspices of the record labels, started to fulfill fan needs by, for example, offering recordings of concerts they could not afford to attend. These recordings also allowed concert goers to relive the live experience. Though music companies also offered live concert recordings, the bootleg industry offered a vastly broader selection, typically at lower prices. However, that underground market was based on unauthorized tapes, and the quality of the unedited recordings varied.

In the last couple of years, technology has made it profitable for artists and companies to record and sell instant live recordings to the audience–all through legal means. Artists like The Dead and The Black Crowes and companies like Live Discs/Sonance Entertainment Group, DiscLive/Immediatek and Clear Channel have further developed the concept, which in the last year has started to reach a larger audience.

Early Success
On The Black Crowes’ last tour in April and May, accompanied by Instant Livea??s mobile unit of recording and CD burning equipment, 24,000 people visited the concerts and 8000 live CDs were sold, according to Prendergast.

The company has microphones placed around venues in order to capture ambient sound, mixes in signals form the stage and instruments in an on-site mixing board, and plans to release Dolby 5.1 live recordings in the fall.

“Sometimes live albums sound too sterile. We want to give you a feeling of audience participation, particularly in your car,” said Prendergast.

Clear Channel wants to take the concept further. Broadband access to the Internet, for example, allows for offsite, centralized studio editing and mixing, for higher-grade recordings than what can be done onsite. Prendergast plans to use broadband-transmission capability to get off-site mixes for the “instant albums” that are offered to concert goers.

“Ita??s much easier for us to take a feed from Cleveland, instead of having a truck or any vehicle there, completing the mix in our studio in Los Angeles and then sending it back to Cleveland where ita??s burned on site.”

Capacity is increasing as well. Today, Instant Live can burn about 1000 recordings a show, having the first CDs available just minutes after the last riff was heard from the stage, thanks to preprinted covers that leave out the set list.

“The challenge is to take it to the arena level,” Prendergast said.

Portable, Popular
When Instant Live started operations in 2003, the equipment filled a 40-foot trailer. Today, everything is contained in a Dodge Sprinter van. One bulky part, the CDs themselves, is expected to be less of a problem in the future thanks to the ability to offer digital downloads.

This summer Clear Channel Entertainment and Verizon Wireless also started offering concert clips to cell phones.

Up to now, the limited edition, instant CDs offered at venues have been popular with concert attendees, despite declining sales of conventional albums. About 17 percent of concert goers who attended venues with the instant CD ability have actually bought the CDs, according to Prendergast. In Clear Channel’s experience so far, US$25 per double CD appears to be the price that concert-goers will accept.

Some recordings even become collectibles.

“Yes, wea??ve seen some of the limited edition discs sell for as much as $350,” Prendergast said.

Competing With Bands?
A patent issue stirred controversy among bands and fans in 2004 when Clear Channel blocked bands from trying to make their own instant albums at ClearChannel venues. Clear Channel claimed that such attempts would infringe to a patent they had on their instant-recording and mixing system. But Prendergast, who came from DiscLive/Immediatek to Instant Live in April, appears to want to make peace with bands that want to do their own recordings, and stressed that he will not use the patent as leverage.

“We want everyone to share it and use it, but we have to do it in a way that is feasible and is financial beneficial to all of us who are involved,” he said. He said Instant Live will take a “service-oriented” approach, offering bands a list of options for on-site recording and production.

Prendergast asks for help with making the production efficient enough to handle an arena concert.

“How do we service a half million people? If you get any ideas, let us know!”

By Michael Kanellos
http://news.com.com/Is+the+affinity+for+music+innate/2100-1008_3-5836298.html

Story last modified Wed Aug 17 05:21:00 PDT 2005

Do we learn to love music, or is it innate? An Internet-based study being conducted by two MIT students may help answer that question.
The Music Universals Study, created by doctoral students Mary Farbood and Josh McDermott, is an effort to determine to what degree musical appreciation is a factor of culture versus an innate part of human behavior. In the study, Web participants listen to different sounds and then answer questions about them. Was the chord pleasing or annoying? Did it make you happy or sad?

The responses of people from various cultures will then be compared for differences and similarities.

“There is a lot (in music appreciation) that is learned. That much is clear. What is less clear is what is shared,” McDermott said. “With the Internet, we’ve got a new tool to probe people.”

Ideally, the study could provide fodder for the long-running cultural debate about the nature of music and the widespread appeal of many pieces of music, such as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

But the results could also help fill in gaps in scientists’ knowledge about human evolutionary history. If some sound combinations have universal appeal, it could turn out that our reactions are rooted in the genetic code. If so, a new question emerges: What stimulated humans to evolve to hear music?

“There is a lot of speculation that music may have piggybacked on language,” McDermott said.

Getting a broad sample will likely be one of the principle obstacles of the study, which kicked off about six weeks ago. The study is currently being conducted only in English, but it will soon be available in Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish and possibly Arabic. Most respondents so far are from North America.

Conducting the survey over the Internet rather than through a field study also likely means that many of the overseas responses could come from people who are more familiar with Western music than the average person living there. A field study, however, would be impractical, and even with an online study the data could still show how or whether reactions to different combinations of notes or sounds remains independent of culture.

The test takes about five minutes. The first set of questions ask an individual to choose which of two sounds is more pleasing than the other, using a seven-point scale. In the second battery, a sound is played, and participants–again, using a scale–grade whether the sound made them happy or sad.

A third set of questions ask listeners whether they think a string of sounds or musical notes seems to be “going somewhere.” Subjects are asked to choose from a series of pictures that indicate that tension is increasing, decreasing, staying constant or following some other pattern. This portion of the test is the only one that uses sets of sequential sounds, rather than individual sounds.

Both McDermott and Farbood have been involved in other research.

McDermott has conducted studies on the reactions of monkeys to music. So far, he’s found that music doesn’t soothe the savage beast. Although monkeys can recognize tempo changes, they don’t discriminate between sounds that are pleasing or dissonant to us.

“This suggests that a lot of music perception is unique to humans,” he said.

A few years ago, Farbood created HyperScore, a PC application that helps individuals compose music through graphics. Among the compositions created using the application was “Creepy Raindrops,” by then 10-year-old Chelsea O’Hara. The piece was later performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as part of the experiment.