Music review: Neeme Jarvi, Ralph Kirshbaum and L.A. Phil at Disney Hall

This post has been corrected, as indicated below.

There are two interlocking storylines at Walt Disney Concert Hall this weekend: the culmination of the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, and the belated return of Estonian-born maestro and patriarch of a conducting dynasty, Neeme Järvi.  

A prolific recording conductor, to say the least -- you name it and it’s probably in Järvi’s discography somewhere -- and once a frequent visitor here, it seems that Järvi hasn’t led the Los Angeles Philharmonic since a 1990 Hollywood Bowl date, and hasn’t conducted the Phil downtown since 1989.  So the orchestra is taking advantage of Järvi’s versatility in a most unusual and festive way: He is accompanying three different cellists, one per concert, in five different pieces.

The first cellist out of the gate Thursday night was Ralph Kirshbaum, tackling the signature cello concerto of the repertoire, that of Dvorák.  Deadly routine can set in with a piece played as often as this, but Kirshbaum gave it an extra push -- not always precisely in tune yet full of gutsy expression and, particularly toward the end, drawing us in with varying tone colors. 

Next up: Mischa Maisky on Saturday and Alisa Weilerstein on Sunday.

Järvi -- now 74 and, as ever, a master of economical, telling gestures -- opened the concert with a Dvorák “Carnival” Overture whose outer sections ripped and roared as much as you might want, delivered with bracing clarity by the Philharmonic. 

The main orchestral course was Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.  Järvi, wouldn’t you know it, has recorded all 15 symphonies, if somewhat unevenly, but the Fifth was one of his best recordings in that cycle. Thursday’s performance more-or-less confirmed Järvi’s sane way with the Fifth -- tempos right down the middle, the argument unfolding logically with textural clarity, missing just the last ounce of intensity.  Also, Järvi’s treatment of the Finale’s controversial coda has brightened a bit, no longer quite as slow and beaten-down.

[For the record, 2:40 p.m., March 16: An earlier version of this story said that Järvi hadn't conducted the L.A. Philharmonic since 1994. His last appearance with the orchestra was in 1990.]

ALSO:

LACMA building 700-ton crane to install 'Levitated Mass' boulder

Theater review: 'Why We Have A Body' at Edgemar Center for the Arts

San Francisco Symphony performs John Cage

-- Richard S. Ginell

 Los Angeles Philharmonic with Neeme Järvi; Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; $57-$180; (323) 850-2000 or www.laphil.org.

Photos: Top left: Neeme Järvi. Credit: Frederick Stucker. Top right: Ralph Kirshbaum. Credit: Henry Fair.

Opera Review: 'Albert Herring' at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Aficionados of big voices have been waiting for Christine Brewer to appear in a Los Angeles Opera production for a long time.  Indeed, there were a couple of occasions where she was dangled tantalizingly before us, singing song recitals somewhere in town while Wagner’s “Ring” operas -- her natural habitat -- were playing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. 

But Brewer’s LA Opera debut finally came Wednesday night in a most unorthodox way -- slipping into the cast of Britten’s chamber opera “Albert Herring” toward the end of its run.  That’s right -- a chamber opera, and a comedy at that, written for an ensemble cast of equals. 

Fortunately, Brewer’s part -- that of the lordly arbiter of small-town morals, Lady Billows (which she sang in the Santa Fe edition of this production in 2010) --  can sort of lend itself to a Wagnerian soprano. Britten used one, Sylvia Fisher, on his own recording of “Herring.” 

Arts on TV: Chris Botti; Ann Hobson Pilot; Idina Menzel

“Exploring the Arts With Gloria Greer” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, KVCR: Jackie Autry's Private Collection: The veteran journalist chats with art experts in Palm Springs.

“Chris Botti in Boston, Part II” 7 and 11 p.m. Thursday, KOCE: A continuation of the trumpeter's performance with the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart includes guests Sting, Steven Tyler, Josh Groban and Yo-Yo Ma.

“Open Call” 9 p.m. Thursday, KCET: Live at the Ford-Angel City Jazz Festival.

“L.A. Tonight with Roy Firestone” 10 p.m. Thursday, KCET: Chris Botti. 

“Celtic Woman -- Believe” 9:30 p.m. Friday, KVCR: Classic Irish songs, pop anthems and inspirational songs; from the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

“L.A. Tonight with Roy Firestone” 10 p.m. Friday, KCET: Steve Tyrell. 

“Inside” 6 p.m. Saturday, KSCI: The Emperor's Treasure: Taiwan's National Palace Museum houses an art collection of more than 600,000 objects that gives a new perspective on China's cultural history.

“Smart Travels: Pacific Rim With Rudy Maxa” 6:30 p.m. Saturday, KLCS: Chinatown and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco; Alcatraz Island; Napa Valley wine country; vegetarian food; wine tasting.

“The Artist Toolbox” 8:30 p.m. Saturday, KLCS: Chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud discusses the art of French cooking and running his business.

“Clannad Live at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin” 9 a.m. Sunday, KVCR: The five original founding members of the family group Clannad mark the band's 40th anniversary with a performance in Dublin. With Anúna and Brian Kennedy.

“Great Performances” 6 p.m. Sunday, KOCE; 7 p.m. KVCR: Tony Bennett sings his greatest hits with contemporary artists. Performers include Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Norah Jones, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood and Willie Nelson.

Movie: “Rembrandt” (1936) 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, TCM: Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester. Alexander Korda's fact-based account of the later years in the life of the great 17th-century Dutch artist.

“The Wendy Williams Show” 11 a.m. Tuesday, Fox; midnight, Tue./Wed. BET: Audra McDonald.

Movie: “Lust for Life” (1956) 1 p.m. Tuesday, TCM: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn. Tormented Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh meets French painter Paul Gauguin.

“The Wendy Williams Show” 2 p.m. Tuesday, Fox: Nick Jonas; Ruben Studdard performs.

“L.A. Tonight With Roy Firestone” 10 p.m. Tuesday, KCET: Debbie Allen.

“A Harpist's Legacy: Ann Hobson Pilot and the Sound of Change” 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, KCET: The life and career of Ann Hobson Pilot, former principal harpist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

“L.A. Tonight with Roy Firestone” 10 p.m. Wednesday, KCET: David Foster. 

“Idina Menzel Live -- Barefoot at the Symphony” Midnight Wednesday, KVCR: Menzel performs Broadway classics, her own selections and contemporary songs with Taye Diggs and composer Marvin Hamlisch.

-- Compiled by Ed Stockly

 Photo: Idina Menzel. Credit: Robin Wong / PBS

Piatigorsky Cello Festival blends learning with performance

Niall Ferguson’s YouTube tastes are admittedly a little bit different from his peers at Santa Monica High School.

“I search cellists on the Internet and whatever pieces I’m interested in hearing, and I’ve created a library of my favorite cellists,” says Ferguson, a senior.

The 17-year-old recently added himself to the cellists on YouTube as part of an audition for a spot in the inaugural Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, a 10-day extravaganza that began Friday night. Ferguson will be one of 110 cellist performing at Walt Disney Concert Hall in the finale of the festival.

“This is the first time I’ve ever put anything of myself playing solo out there for the world to see,” says Ferguson, dressed in a pressed black button-down shirt and matching trousers before a chamber music performance at the Colburn School. “You upload those two pieces, and they watch it, and you hope you get it.”

Steve Martin to score Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'

If all the world’s a stage, then Steve Martin might be one of its biggest talents. 

The comedian-actor-author-musician has been tapped to compose original folk-style music for the Shakespeare in the Park production of “As You Like It” at the Delacorte Theater June 5 to 30 in New York's Central Park.

If you think the Bard and twang don’t mix, director Daniel Sullivan has relocated Rosalind, Orlando and their enchanted Forest of Arden to the American South of the 1840s, complete with live bluegrass band. On stage, Lily Rabe will lead the cast as Rosalind. 

The banjo-strumming Martin won a Grammy for his 2009 debut bluegrass album “The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo” and was nominated again this year in the same category with his band the Steep Canyon Rangers, although this year the award went to Alison Krauss and Union Station.

After the ceremony, Martin took to Twitter to take stock of his still ample trophy collection writing, “Emmy: check. Grammy: check. Tony: eat me. Oscar: shove it. Pulitzer: who cares.”

ALSO:

Quick Chat: With Steve Martin

Art Review: 'Ellsworth Kelly: Prints and Paintings' at LACMA

Big show in New York, But Little in L.A. for Quake Benefit

--Jamie Wetherbe

Photo: Steve Martin. Credit: Sandee O / PBS

Arts on TV: Placido Domingo; Oscar Hammerstein; Il Volo; 'Phantom'

"Open Call" 9 p.m. Thursday, KCET: Kenny Burrell 

"SoCal Insider With Rick Reiff" 7:30 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m., Sunday, KOCE: "Greatest Living Tenor": Interview with opera legend Placido Domingo.

"The World's Greatest Musical Prodigies" 8 p.m. Friday, KLCS: Alexander meets and auditions four pianists age 8 to 12.

"Great Performances" 8:30 p.m. Friday; 12:30 p.m. Sunday; 7 p.m., Wednesday, KOCE: "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Royal Albert Hall : Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess star in a fully-staged production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," from London's Royal Albert Hall.

"Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" 12:37 a.m. Friday, NBC: Actor Paul Rudd; actress Gabrielle Union; performance from "Sister Act."

"The Voice" 4 p.m. Saturday, E!: The Blind Auditions, Part 5 : More vocalists audition for the judges. (Part 5 of 5)

"Il Volo Takes Flight" 5:30 p.m. Saturday, KOCE: The Italian teen vocal group performs classical and traditional Italian songs at the Detroit Opera House.

"The Artist Toolbox" 8:30 p.m. Saturday, KLCS: American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky discuss the rigors of being a professional dancer.

"Yanni -- Live at El Morro" 9 p.m. Saturday, KOCE: Yanni performs with his 15-piece orchestra at El Morro, a 16th-century citadel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"Oscar Hammerstein II -- Out of My Dreams" 7 p.m. Sunday, KOCE; 8:30 p.m. Sunday, KVCR: Lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II worked in theater for more than 40 years, writing lyrics to more than 1,000 songs and the books of 45 operettas and musicals.

"Idina Menzel Live -- Barefoot at the Symphony" 8:30 p.m. Sunday, KOCE: Menzel performs Broadway classics, her own selections and contemporary songs with Taye Diggs and composer Marvin Hamlisch.

RELATED:

"Oscar Hammerstein II: Out of My Dreams" details Broadway pioneer

-- Compiled by Ed Stockly

Photo: "The Phantom of the Opera" stars Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom. Credit: Alastair Muir

Influences: Singer-songwriter Stew

This post has been corrected, see note below.

Even before his improbable transformation into a New York theater figure by his Tony-winning musical “Passing Strange,” the musician who calls himself Stew was confounding people with his odd mix of ingredients. Here was a songwriter who’d been part of an abrasive Berlin underground who came out in the '90s as a “closet pop freak.” The leader of the Los Angeles-based band the Negro Problem, he was a large black man whose deepest passions emerged, apparently, from music with very limited African American roots: XTC, Burt Bacharach, neo-psychedelia and so on.

The L.A. native, born Mark Stewart, will be back in town Friday, with bandmate Heidi Rodewald, for a performance at UCLA’s Royce Hall that will include a series of songs about Los Angeles and to support their new album, “Making It.”

Apparently the ravenous spirit of his interests goes way back. “I used to ditch school, at Fairfax High School, and go down to the downtown library,” he says. “This was my way, if I ever got busted by my parents, I could tell them I was educating myself.”

We spoke to Stew –- who says he and Rodewald have become, uneasily, “show folk” -– about the artists outside the rock/pop traditions who have inspired him.

Music review: Pablo Heras-Casado, Martin Chalifour and L.A. Phil

The career of Pablo Heras-Casado has been rocketing along as of late –- a debut with the Berlin Philharmonic last October, landing an American post as principal conductor of New York’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s in December, and so forth. He has a lot on his plate -– chamber music, early music, opera, standard symphonic repertoire -– yet seems to be most celebrated for his work with new music.

So in his return to Walt Disney Concert Hall on Saturday afternoon, Heras-Casado offered something new -– the West Coast premiere of a violin concerto by James Matheson, director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Composer Fellowship Program –- following a rather blunt, lean-and-mean rendition of Beethoven’s “Egmont” Overture with the orchestra.  

The Matheson concerto was first performed in December by Esa-Pekka Salonen (who recently wrote an impressive violin concerto himself) and the Chicago Symphony. It must be a coincidence that both Matheson’s and Salonen’s concertos open in a similar way, with perpetual-motion violin right from the starting gate. 

Arts on TV: 'Open Call'; 'The Phantom of the Opera'; Idina Menzel

“Open Call” 9 p.m., Thursday KCET: The Colburn School Conservatory of Music: Auditions for reality shows.

Movie: “Exit Through the Gift Shop” (2010) 9:30 p.m., Thursday Showtime: Narrated by Rhys Ifans. A French shopkeeper and a filmmaker try to document the graffiti artist known as Banksy, only to have him turn the camera back on them.

“The Rosie Show” 7 p.m., Friday OWN: "Porgy & Bess" stars Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis.

“Celtic Woman -- Believe” 8 p.m., Friday KVCR: Classic Irish songs, pop anthems and inspirational songs; from the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

“Great Performances: Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park” 8:30 p.m., Friday KOCE: The Italian tenor performs classical favorites and his popular signature songs.

“Trans-Siberian Orchestra: The Birth of Rock Theater” 10 p.m., Friday and 8 p.m., Wednesday KVCR: Founder Paul O'Neill outlines the past, present and future of the orchestra.
 
“The Artist Toolbox” 8:30 p.m., Saturday KLCS: Architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen has designed more than 400 private houses.

“Idina Menzel Live -- Barefoot at the Symphony” 10:30 p.m., Saturday KVCR: Menzel performs Broadway classics, her own selections, and contemporary songs with her husband,Taye Diggs, and composer Marvin Hamlisch.

“Soul Mates: Dr. Maya Angelou & Common” 10:30 a.m., Sunday BET: Hip-hop artist Common; Dr. Angelou honored by President Obama.

“Great Performances” 5:30 p.m., Sunday KOCE; 7 p.m., Sunday KVCR: "Phantom of the Opera" at the Royal Albert Hall: Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess star in a fully-staged production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's “The Phantom of the Opera,” from London's Royal Albert Hall.

“Great Performances” 8 p.m., Monday KVCR: "Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk -- A Celebration of New Orleans Blues": Actor Hugh Laurie performs New Orleans blues and jazz with Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and Tom Jones.

“Il Volo Takes Flight” 11 p.m., Monday KVCR: The Italian teen vocal group performs classical and traditional Italian songs at the Detroit Opera House.

“Yanni -- Live at El Morro” 7 p.m., Tuesday KOCE and 10:30 p.m., Wednesday KVCR: Yanni performs with his 15-piece orchestra at El Morro, a 16th century citadel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“Il Volo Takes Flight” 8:30 p.m., Tuesday KOCE: The Italian teen vocal group performs classical and traditional Italian songs at the Detroit Opera House.

ALSO:

Gioachino Rossini, rock star of opera, gets a Google Doodle

Occupy Wall Street calls for cancellation of Whitney Biennial

Kid Rock to show support for Detroit Symphony

-- Compiled by Ed Stockly

 Photo: 'Open Call' students from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music. Credit: Philip Pirolo / KCET

Arts on TV: 'Anything Goes'; 'Memphis'; Cab Calloway

“BET Honors 2012” 10 p.m. Thursday, BET: At the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., Maya Angelou, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Spike Lee, the Tuskegee Airmen, Beverly Kearney receive honors for contributions to their respective fields; host Gabrielle Union.

“Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” 12:37 a.m. Thursday, NBC: William Shatner; Padma Lakshmi; performance from “Anything Goes.”

“Great Performances” 9 p.m. Friday, KOCE and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, KVCR: "Memphis": Set in the 1950s, the Broadway play recounts the story of a white disc jockey who helps a black female club singer get her big break.

“Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” 12:37 a.m. Friday, NBC: Paul Rudd; Gabrielle Union; performance from “Sister Act.”

“The Artist Toolbox” 8:30 p.m. Saturday, KLCS: Massimo & Lella Vignelli: Italian-born designers Massimo and Lella Vignelli discuss the art of balance and problem-solving.

“Bobby Jones Gospel” 9 a.m. Sunday, BET: Vickie Winans; Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir; Joy Boyz.

“In Performance at the White House” 9 p.m. Monday, KOCE: "Red, White and Blues": The musical form known as the blues holds deep roots in Africa and slavery and has influenced modern American music from soul to rock 'n' roll; host Taraji P. Henson. Performers include Troy “Trombone” Shorty Andrews and Jeff Beck.

“Smash” 10 p.m. Monday, NBC: "The Cost of Art": Karen must learn how to get ahead in the world of Broadway; Derek throws a party for a hot, young celebrity (Nick Jonas); Eileen tests a new fundraising strategy; Tom goes on a date.

“American Masters” 10 p.m. Monday, KOCE: "Cab Calloway": Singer, dancer and band leader Cab Calloway led one of the most-popular black big bands during the 1930s and '40s. (N)

-- Compiled by Ed Stockly

Photo: "American Masters" looks at Cab Calloway. Credit: Artline Films / PBS