Los Angeles Philharmonic; María Dueñas, violin; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Platoon)
I know what I’ll be rooting for on Oct. 9, when Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic begin Gabriela Ortiz’s season as the resident composer at Carnegie Hall: namely, something on the level of the spitfire violin concerto “Altar de Cuerda,” which opens this survey of her music, performed by the same orchestra and conductor. Just as the soloist, María Dueñas, ventures from tremulous, weeping articulations to slashing outbursts with impressive security, so too does the Philharmonic snap back and forth with alertness when approaching Ortiz’s contrasting, hurtling designs in the opening movement. In the slow middle movement, the mercurial, slowly morphing orchestral harmonies reach out to American Minimalism and Finnish spectralism alike. And the finale boasts hints of Romantic effusion.
Less successful, to my ear, is what follows. The curtain-raising morsel “Kauyumari” is effective but plainly modest. And the ballet score “Revolución Diamantina” can sound bogged down by its heavy conceptual program, inspired by a 2019 feminist protest in Mexico. The writing seems less instantly memorable than in the concerto. Syllabic dyads for chorus might make you think you’re hearing a distillation of Philip Glass’s “Einstein on the Beach.” The score traffics in rather direct, and extended, references to Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” So, when Ortiz presents a new concerto, for the cellist Alisa Weilerstein, at Carnegie, let’s hope the result feels more like this recording of “Altar de Cuerda.” SETH COLTER WALLS
‘Puccini: Love Affairs’Jonas Kaufmann, tenor; Pretty Yende, Anna Netrebko, Sonya Yoncheva, Malin Byström, Asmik Grigorian, Maria Agresta, sopranos; Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna; Asher Fisch, conductor (Sony)
After establishing himself as the great spinto tenor of his generation, Jonas Kaufmann got a little sidetracked. Movie-music projects and a 140-minute Christmas album were almost defiantly corny. A listener might be forgiven for approaching a record called “Love Affairs” with trepidation.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTIn this tribute to Puccini, on the centenary of his death, Kaufmann’s voice, having lost some of its sheen and youthful vim, is growlier and less swoony than it used to be. Individual notes sound mightily impressive, but whole phrases can feel labored, with bumpy lines and dry, blunt-force climaxes. Still, when Kaufmann rallies, heroic highs and breathtaking diminuendos are reminders of the technique that made him a marvel.
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