Good-sized Crowd Greeted Cal Phil’s First Summer Concert

A good-sized audience turned out for the opening concert of the California Philharmonic Orchestra’s 15th year to hear “America the Beautiful” as a pre-July 4 tribute in a highly entertaining program chocked full of a variety of musical forms. Everything on the program had an American platform, including, as Cal Phil’s conductor, Victor Vener explained, Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture, a war that America was deeply involved with.
Vener led a disciplined orchestra through mostly repeated music that had been heard one or more times throughout the 15 year history of the Festival on the Green held at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Gardens in Arcadia. New to the Cal Phil stage was singer/actor/composer Brian McKnight and a playing of William Schuman’s “New England Triptych”. A returning guest artist was Bryan Pezzone who soloed in George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”.
After a sluggish opening with a rather plodding version of Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” (that left the conductor with the duty of, as he remarked, waking up the audience from their after-picnic stupor) Vener raised the bar with a snappy take on Sousa’s “Hands Across the Sea”.
McKnight appeared three times on the program: to sing his arrangement of “America the Beautiful”, narrate the “Lincoln Portrait” and a solo spot with him singing at the piano. McKnight is a distinguished, dapper fellow whose arresting charm melted the audience with his warmth. He possesses a pleasant voice but his self-accompaniment at the piano during a three-song set demonstrated his unusual keyboard talent. He is as close to Art Tatum’s playing that I believe I have ever heard.
With a completely different style, Bryan Pezzone soloed in George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. Pezzone presented the piece in a distinctive jazz nuanced interpretation. He has done this before—in 1999 at Pasadena Pops under Jorge Mester and in 2005 with California Philharmonic, but those turned out to be quirky. This time, with firmness, Pezzone lovingly addressed the jazz-tinged chords and added a new twist, a cadenza, that refreshened the well-known music and updated it. Opening clarinet by principal clarinetist Michael Arnold set the mood well. Vener’s slower tempo seemed right for Pezzone’s style.
The orchestra was on target with “New England Triptych”. A playing of a small portion of Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and the finale piece, “1812” Overture, fell to a seeming mix-up of signals between conductor and orchestra leading to some less than pristine sections. The evening finished with bright fireworks sending a happy audience homeward. Vener invited everyone to return to the Festival on the Green or to Walt Disney Concert Hall for their next program, “Andrew Lloyd Webber Goes to Italy” on Saturday, July 10 and Sunday, July 11. Guest artists Angel Blue, Mathew Edwardsen, Ralph Cato, Emily Dyer and the Cal Phil Chorale will perform the music of Webber, Puccini and Verdi.

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