Name: Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra: Legacy - Debussy + Hamelin
Start: 2024-03-02T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2024-03-02T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Bram Goldsmith Theater

Admin

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Orchestra

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

Instrumentalist

Marc-André Hamelin

Piano

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra: Legacy - Debussy + Hamelin

Los Angeles

United States

Bram Goldsmith Theater

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra: Legacy - Debussy + Hamelin: 6 Sonatas for 2 Violins, op. 3 Leclair, Jean-Marie (+3 More)

Public

Concert

6 Sonatas for 2 Violins, Op.3

3 Pieces for Cello and Piano

Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp

Piano Quintet in F Minor

Ayyappa swamy y

Approved

Marc-André Hamelin has a marvelous, curious mind. While we chatted before his Tiny Desk concert, he snooped around the CD shelves near my desk, commenting on a few rarities and sharing his own eclectic tastes, including a crazy YouTube mashup of all 15 Shostakovich symphonies stacked on top of each other. 
 
The Boston-based Montreal native is regarded as one of his generation’s most technically astounding pianists, but he’s no empty virtuoso. His interpretations are probing, precise and warm — keen to bring out humor when necessary. He routinely performs the world’s most treacherous repertoire with his characteristic ease. I’ve witnessed him practically reduce a concert grand to matchsticks, and I’ve heard him tenderly caress a late Schubert sonata.
 
Hamelin’s colossal breadth of repertoire is on display in this smart set of pieces. He begins in the 18th century with the off-kilter antics of C.P.E. Bach — a rondo that stops, starts and swerves with the spirit of improvisation. His limpid rendition of William Bolcom’s “Graceful Ghost Rag” (from 1970) emphasizes the bittersweet harmonies with unhurried elegance.
 
Hamelin saves the rock and roll for last — a piece of his own based on what he calls “possibly the oldest popular song in existence.” Filtered through his lightning-fast fingers, the medieval tune “L’homme armé” struts mischievously, cascades swiftly and expands to a thunderhead of glorious sound.

Special guest Marc-André Hamelin, a pianist “known for a technical finesse that borders on the supernatural” (The Seattle Times), headlines the final program on Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s popular Chamber Series. He performs Nadia Boulanger’s post-impressionist Three Pieces for Cello and Piano, and Franck’s expressive Piano Quintet in F minor, complementing Leclair’s innovative Sonata for Two Violins in E minor, Op. 3, No. 5, and Debussy’s dream-like Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp. All four composers on the program are united by their contributions to the multi-generational musical pedagogy and landscape of France. They each exemplify the myriad ways in which our lives are continually shaped by the people and circumstances around us.

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Ensemble