The second of two concerts inaugurating the pipe organ are taking place
this weekend in Los Angeles.  Todd Wilson performed Bach, Harrison, and
Saint-Saens No.  3 last week.  Wayne Marshall is performing Strauss and
MacMillan this week.

Those of us who are not organ aficionados should reserve commentary to
the visual and sonic impact of the instrument.  It is a pipterino.  I
am seated about ten feet away from a set of pipes, behind the orchestra.
The upper voices come out sweet and omnidirectional which is surprising
given the closeness.  The bass registers rattle the bones.

The Festival Overture and Also Sprach Zarathustra bookended MacMillan's
Scotch Bestiary.  The composer mentioned the influences of Carnival of
the Animals, Pictures at an Exhibition, and The Enigma Variations in
this work meant, on the surface, to represent a medieval illuminated
manuscript of fanciful creatures.  Like the Elgar, however, he said that
each animal referred to a specific, living person and that in fear of
libel laws, those names would never be revealed.

As promised, Bestiary was a wild, often mesmerizing wild ride through
MacMillan's little list.  When the organ is full-throttle, even the might
of the full-up Philharmonic is blunted.  At least from Terrace View,
looking down on the percussion section.  An often-mentioned strength
of Yasuhisa Toyota's auditorium is how quickly the sound damps from
loud-to-soft.  As the organ pulled back or stopped, the orchestra came
back through.  Bestiary begins with a set of distinct portraits and, in
the second movment, asks what happens when the critters break free and
roam the streets.  This is the work's World Premiere and it is expected
to be performed in England in the near future.  Marshall, whom Macmillan
had in-mind during the composing, will continue to perform it.

The "Toyotasaal" is a great place to hear Strauss.  The heroic sweep
of his works fits there as much due to the visual impact of the space
as to its acoustical properties.  The Festival Overture closed with a
half-a-dozen tuxedoed trumpeters coming out into the side boxes for the
fanfare.  I'd forgotten how much there is to Zarathustra beyond the theme
excerpted by Kubrick.  Martin Chalifour and Evan Wilson (principal viola)
had a large hand in this as did the brass section.  It is not often one
sees nine double-basses firing away, either.  In a fine move at audience
control, Salonen kept the baton up for ten or fifteen seconds after the
last notes of Zarathustra.  That silence, with not a cough or a rustle
to be heard was a very pleasant surprise.  Curtain calls are still a
mystery to many guest performers and to the music director who consistently
forget that about twenty percent of the audience is behind them.  Lang
Lang and one or two others get this concept.  Marshall, MacMillan, and
Salonen didn't.

--- Ravi Narasimhan
Redondo Beach, CA