LA Phil tickets...

[AB68]

I am going to be in Los Angeles from Dec 6 through the 12th.
I see Dudamel is conducting, but of course it's sold out.
Does anybody know of a ticket reseller- website that might have tickets for these concerts?
And also, what is the best section to be seated (sonic wise) in the venue?

[bhodges]

You might try www.Stubhub.com, which I hear is excellent.  I haven't used it yet, but it is the only "officially endorsed" ticket reseller that I know of.  (I have friends who use it all the time to get tickets for sporting events.)

As far as sound, pretty much any place in the hall is good, even the seats up high (although you'd probably want to bring binoculars).  If price is no object, I like the back of the Orchestra and the Terrace, just for a more involving, close-up view of the performers, but you would probably be pleased sitting just about anywhere inside.

--Bruce

[Bogey]

You can tell where my thoughts are at....I thought this was a baseball thread about the L.A. Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies baseball series that starts tomorrow.

[springrite]

I thought this was a baseball thread about the L.A. Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies baseball series that starts tomorrow.

...in which case, go to Chavez Ravine around the 5th inning and tell the guy asking you to show your ticket: "Hey, half of the people have left already to beat the traffic. Just let me in and I won't bother anybody."

[M forever]

Dunno about ticket resellers because when I lived in the area and wanted to go to see the LA Philharmonic, I got tickets through friends in the orchestra. But if you do get tickets, be aware that driving into downtown LA can take a very long time, depending on where you are coming from (what area of LA will you be staying in?), and if you want to use the parking beneath Disney Hall, the super-modern organization they have going on there doesn't accept credit cards, so you have to bring cash (IIRC, it's $8 to park there but better bring at least $20 or so to be on the safe side).

As Bruce said, the sound quality is rather even throughout the hall, it carries very well at softer dynamics, so you can hear quieter passages very well anywhere in the hall, but unfortunately, the louder the orchestra gets, the more the acoustics max out and the result is a flat and compressed sound. There are no real sonical climaxes. So the acoustics for symphony concerts are pretty much evenly mediocre no matter where you sit. Just make sure you don't sit too close to the orchestra, because of the hall's ability to carry softer dynamics well, you won't gain much there but you may have to witness how the back desks of the violin and viola sections fumble awkwardly through the more difficult passages. I still remember when I heard Sibelius 5 and 6 there from a seat in the 4th row and I was astonished by how bad and badly together some of the string playing was. And that was with Salonen who still knows how to rehearse a little more than Dudamel does.

If you want to go out after the concert, don't get trapped in the hideously overpriced pseudo-Italian restaurant in Disney Hall. You can go to Otto's across the street beneath Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. Although they don't call it Otto's anymore, I think. But they close early anyway. I would recommend to go to Pete's on the corner of Main and 4th St. That's a really nice bar which is open and has good food until 2am. There isn't much else going on in that area at night, so don't just wander around downtown LA! It is a very dangerous place at night.

You might also check out the Pacific Symphony which plays in the new Segerstrom Hall in Orange County, not very far from LA. That hall has better acoustics than Disney Hall and the orchestra is pretty solid, too. I see they have a program with Holst's Planets and other works by Britten, Pärt and Lauridsen going on near the end of your stay.

[AB68]

Thank you for the excellent information.
Unfortunately $342 was a bit outside my budget, but I'll keep cheking, maybe the price will go down.
I will be staying in Hollywood, so I'll just take the red line if I do get me a ticket.
I will also check out the Pacific Symphony site.
Thanks again.

[AB68]

Well, I guess i won't be attending a concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, because they clearly do not want non-american audiences.
At Stub Hub they only ship within the US. So I decided to book the Dec 12 concert with Alsop instead, so I tried Ticketmaster... no tickets available.
LA Phils website did have tickets in all categories, but guess what? You have to have a US adress to book form their site. '
What kind of nonsense is that?
Well, their loss of revenue. I can see Dudamel in Berlin, so it's no big deal for me, but annoying nontheless. Why make purchasing tickes virtually impossible?

[M forever]

Because there is a minimum degree of intelligence required to purchase tickets. You don't have to have them shipped at all. You can also purchase them for will-call pickup at the BO.

But don't worry, you aren't missing much. Sure you can also see Dudamel in Berlin, but why would you want to? You can see so many so much better conductors in Berlin all the time.

[AB68]

You have to register at their website and fill out a form with your name and adress. You have to fill out your state, and if you skip that field, it won't let you register.
Their is no alternative for outside the US.
So, how do you suggest I use the Will Call option?
I guess I could make a phone call, but why should I have to do that?
As I said, it's no big deal for me, I can see all the concerts I want to in Berlin and other places.
The thing is, the LA Phil is the only major american orchestra I haven't heard live yet, but ... it's not the end of the world.

[springrite]

Call them when you get there. There will always be season ticket holders who can't go on that day. Many of them do call and tell the ticket office that their seats can be re-sold. In fact, season ticket holders are advised to call if they can not attend, so that seats won't be wasted. Much of the last minute tickets sold 2 hours before the performance (or is it one hour now?) and student rush tickets come from these seats.

[The Six]

Contacting them directly (email, phone) would be more helpful than whining here.

[Bruckner is God]

I wouldn't spend money on a concert with Dudamel. He is the most hyped up and overrated conductor out there right now.
Save your money. L.A Philharmonic isn't that great of an orchestra either.

[M forever]

They used to be much better though, and they did have a very characteristic sound. Unfortunately, that has pretty much completely vanished since Salonen took over. Many of the concerts I heard were not that well rehearsed either. That is not going to get better with Dudamel. He doesn't have the experience for this kind of job. It's a little sad to see this orchestra decline. I heard them a number of times in the 80s and early 90s when they were still much better - even with Previn. Most vividly, I remember a devastating Shostakovich 8 they played with Sanderling on tour in Berlin in the early 90s.

[hautbois]

They used to be much better though, and they did have a very characteristic sound. Unfortunately, that has pretty much completely vanished since Salonen took over. Many of the concerts I heard were not that well rehearsed either. That is not going to get better with Dudamel. He doesn't have the experience for this kind of job. It's a little sad to see this orchestra decline. I heard them a number of times in the 80s and early 90s when they were still much better - even with Previn. Most vividly, I remember a devastating Shostakovich 8 they played with Sanderling on tour in Berlin in the early 90s.

Tonight they played in Singapore, i was there. With Yefim Bronfman on Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky's Fireworks + Complete Firebird. Showed no sign of that so called vanishing of quality, maybe because they were on tour and gave much more than usual? I also played in an orchestra which he gave a conducting masterclass with. When he stood on the podium, it was just pure magic...he is a no bullshit conductor...and when i talked to musicians from the LA Philharmonic, they agreed and said that they were glad to have him, and they said that he loves rehearsing, even today before the concert they were still asked to rehearse, THE PIANO CONCERTO...goes to show how much he cared...during the conducting masterclass...he turned around to the orchestra and said:"'You can compromise anything in life, but not the music." (Referring to a conducting student who slowed down to compensate the strings.)

Needless to say...the concert was spectacular and the audience wouldnt let him go. They played 2 orchestral encores.

On a side note: Matthieu Dufour of the CSO toured with them, it was some of the most beautiful flute playing that i have ever heard in an orchestra.

Howard

[M forever]

Tonight they played in Singapore, i was there. With Yefim Bronfman on Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky's Fireworks + Complete Firebird. Showed no sign of that so called vanishing of quality, maybe because they were on tour and gave much more than usual?

Or maybe because you are still very young and impressionable and haven't had too much opportunity to hear a lot of really good orchestras live yet. You can't judge that, especially since you haven't heard the LAP before, in the 80s and 90s. They *are* still a very good orchestra, just not as good as they used to be, and their characteristic sound has pretty much vanished.

Thanks for your nice anecdote there, that totally sounds like something Salonen would say and that would impress kids like you. He is really good at saying stuff like that in interviews, too, part of the whole act. I can imagine though that you have never had the opportunity to play with someone on that level, so I am sure it was a great experience for you.
Oddly, the by far best Salonen concert I heard in LA (I used to live in San Diego which is not far from LA, and I often went there for work or for private reasons, so I had the opportunity to hear the LAP live a lot in the past 6 years or so) was with a youth orchestra, too, the orchestra of the Sibelius Academy which was pretty phenomenal - I am sure they had practiced and rehearsed like crazy before taking the trip to LA to play the Lemminkäinen Suite there. But they played like a true top orchestra and actually reacted very actively to what Salonen was doing on the podium - which was often not the case with the LAP who followed his tempi and basic indications, of course, but I have seen some very odd concerts, especially during the Sibelius cycle last year in LA, in which there was a very visible disconnect between orchestra and conductor and lots of small things that went wrong, insecure and smudgy transitions, especially in the second symphony in which the orchestra almost fell apart at one place in the slow movement. Salonen has a reputation for losing control sometimes when he gets too excited. He almost managed to throw the BP in Sibelius' 7th. Needless to say, they don't like to see him on the podium there.

Anyway, I am happy for you that you heard a nice concert. I am sure The Firebird was good because they have a lot of people in the orchestra who can really play and that is the kind of repertoire he is actually quite good at. But there is a lot of repertoire that shows his limitations as conductor and interpreter very strikingly. Still, if you had a nice concert experience there, I am happy for you. You just can judge the larger context yet with your limited experience and background. Maybe later you will be able to.

[The Six]

But what I really want to know is if their characteristic sound has pretty much vanished or not. Anyone?

[springrite]

I happen to like the LA Phil under Salonen. However, my favorite period would still be the one uner Giulini. Under Salonen, LA has become more or less a specialty orchestra, specializing from Mahler to the beginning of the 21st century. Since 1990, most of the concert I would choose to go to usually are concerts containing such music, world premieres in particular, I love how it went.

My favorite LA Phil concerts in my personal experience:

Giulini's last concert: Das Lied von der Erde (Vicker, Quizar), and Schubert unfinished, featuring Giulini's moving farewell speech (She has devoted all her life to me. It is time now for me to devote some of my life to her.)

Beethoven 6 under Sanderling (pre- Previn year, when the orchestra was director-less)

Giulini Bach Mass in B minor

Le Sacre under Salonen

Saariaho (Du Cristal ... etc.) under Salonen

Mahler 3 under Salonen

La Mer under Salonen

Sibelius 5 under Salonen (first appearance with the orchestra)

Mahler 7 (Gielen), during Previn's reign


Worst:

Beethoven, Schubert under Salonen


I have never heard a single Giulini concert that was anything less than special. Salonen is more hit than miss, but when he misses, he misses badly. Previn was good but seldom memoriable.

Just my impression from my experience, from 1981 to 2002.

[M forever]

Giulini's last concert: Das Lied von der Erde (Vicker, Quizar), and Schubert unfinished, featuring Giulini's moving farewell speech (She has devoted all her life to me. It is time now for me to devote some of my life to her.)

I have a live recording of that concert (but I don't think it contains that farewell speech) which a friend of mine taped from the radio. I heard Das Lied von der Erde with Giulini in Berlin in 1984 (DG recorded that afterwards).

I have never heard a single Giulini concert that was anything less than special.

Same here. In fact, a number of my greatest concert going experiences were with Giulini concerts (in Berlin). He came to conduct the BP in several programs each year. That was always an event. The concerts I particularly remember were Das Lied von der Erde, Bruckner 7,8,9, the Fauré Requiem, Beethoven 9, the Verdi Requiem.

from 1981 to 2002.

So you had to hear all these concerts in Dorothy Chandler Pavillion - sorry to hear that. I only heard two concerts there, but that hall really sucked. Actually, it still does, but fortunately, they don't play there anymore. So you never got to see a concert in Disney Hall?

[springrite]

So you had to hear all these concerts in Dorothy Chandler Pavillion - sorry to hear that. I only heard two concerts there, but that hall really sucked. Actually, it still does, but fortunately, they don't play there anymore. So you never got to see a concert in Disney Hall?

You are right about Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. Imagine I also went to all the opera performances, which can be worse. Unfortunately I left before the Disney Hall was open. Hopefully I will get to go when and if I go back to LA for a visit.

I did not like the venue in OC either. There are a few decent venues in LA. I liked the small one in Clairmont (?) where a few of the LACO CDs were recorded. I guess I haven't been to too many venues with really good sound. I did go to a few concerts in Phillie when I visited a GF there.

PS:That was at the old Academy, not the new place.

[AB68]

I got tickets for the Casual Friday concert on the 12th, and it was very... casual. Apart from a few people in tuxedos and evening dresses, most people showed up in jeans. Even the musicians and the conductor Marin Alsop.
I guess the idea is to attract the non stereotypical classical audience, and I did see quite a few young people.
But with such a short programme (Brahms' Tragic Overture and violin concerto with Nikolaj Znaider) why does the tickets cost the same as the full concerts? That doesn't make sense.
I left the venue wanting more.