We went to the Hollywood Bowl to see Verdi's Requiem as conducted by Gustav Dudamel. For those of you not up on your classical music snobbery, Dudamel, the acclaimed conductor of the LA Philharmonic has spit on Los Angeles and is moving to NY and the NY Philharmonic. The political and cultural issues here are mind boggling and you may as well have a subway series between the Mets and the Dodgers for all the hatred and polarization this invokes in certain circles.
As for the Opera, I was determined for once to follow along and one more time, even with English subtitles, I was thwarted. It seems to be a tradition to give the fake text to the audience and the real text to the singers in order to hide the banality and all the repetitions. Listen, people, I get it. You are trying to spare us but don't spare us. I could track the Latin for several seconds ("Kyrie Eleison") but that is no great feat. Also the meaning is usually pretty clear.
We had a lot of "Lord Have Mercy", in Latin of course, and "Raise them up from the dead, Oh Lord, raise them up from dirt, then judge them and send them to Hell for all Eternity". Lovely sentiment, and I appreciated hearing that over and over again. This will probably be the last time I try to endure a classical opera without a fast forward button. Yes I know, Pearls before Swine, but who is the pearl and who is the swine?
But it was a lovely night, the bowl is always a great place to hear music, we had box seats (courtesy of composer Jill Fraser), and great company. The bowl has had a huge upgrade of ancillary amenities. The gift shop sells recordings in vinyl! Yes, that fabulous analog LP (long playing) contact technology. Everything old is new again.
There has been major audio engineering at the Bowl. I don't know any details but there is massive, exotic hardware above and in front of that stage. Some of it is for lighting, no doubt, but much of it is for audio. There are two towers and three audio arrays that can be adjusted in height. I am sure there are some interesting stories there.
Do we really not have a "no fly" rule over the Greek Theatre and the Hollywood Bowl? I mean, pardon me, but what the fuck?
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