Gustavo Dudamel, the wunderkind Venezuelan music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was the star of LA Phil Live, the performance from Disney Hall that was beamed into movie theaters Sunday afternoon. It’s an effort by the orchestra to replicate the success of the Metropolitan Opera’s simulcasts, though without the obvious theatricality of opera.
There were 25 or 30 people in attendance at the Pinellas Park Regal multiplex, and they seemed to enjoy the experience, applauding at the end of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, which was indeed given a terrific performance. The orchestra has a way to go to catch up to the Met. The day before at the same location, the simulcast of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West played to a sold-out theater plus a second one for the overflow crowd.
Dudamel was a charming loose cannon in his backstage interviews with glamorous host Vanessa Williams — at one point, playfully covering the camera lens with a towel — but I could have done with a lot less of the pointless banter. The prerecorded material was more interesting, such as footage of the conductor in rehearsal or composer John Adams describing the L.A. Philharmonic as “the Ferrari of orchestras.’’ Adams’ Slonimsky’s Earbox opened the program.
The highlight of the concert was Kelley O’Connor (pictured), the dark-eyed mezzo-soprano who sang the solo “Lamentation’’ of Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah. After a while the close-ups of orchestra members became tiresome distractions — where did the bassoonist get those funky eyeglass frames? — and the electronic amplification only reminded me of how indispensable hearing music live and in person is. The lines of Frank Gehry’s architecture looked great against the blue California sky.
There are two more Sunday afternoon Philharmonic theater-casts, on March 13 (a Tchaikovsky program) and June 5 (Brahms).