Review: The environmental impact of composers Ellen Reid and Gabriela Ortiz, indoors and out
The plan was this: An only-in-L.A. Sunday promised two major environmentally themed premieres by two celebrated composers who have long and special associations with the town’s two most prominent orchestras, along with a soundwalk thrown in for good environmental measure.
“Floodplain,” commissioned for the end of the 2019-20 season, fell victim to pandemic cancellations, which meant, Reid told the audience, that she put off writing the score for two years. By that time, her sense of what “a lush and incredibly dangerous floodplain” might represent had “totally changed.” Unpredictability led, she said, to a very different score than originally planned.
The warnings came as no surprise to LACO. The orchestra found itself in the position of having to offer refunds to patrons not willing to risk Royce, as well as needing a last-minute replacement for Martín, home in London with COVID-19 and unable to finish out his first full season after all.Yet in an incredibly lucky instance of unpredictability, LACO was able to engage the outstanding new music specialist, Stefan Asbury, who quickly mastered Reid’s score.
The soundscape evolves with its own inevitable unpredictability. Heading past Royce and distractedly chilling to an electronic drone, I nearly collided with a creepy, if cute, robot rolling by that read: “I deliver to Bruins.” The score reached a warm climax, then cut off, as if with dramatic purpose, just before I reached the Ronald Reagan hospital, where they are presumably preparing for an increase in COVID-19 patients.
At the L.A. Phil on Sunday, Ortiz also listened to the harmonies of the environment, as she has been doing in her nearly two-decade relationship with the orchestra. That began with Esa-Pekka Salonen giving the premiere of her 2002 “Altar de Piedra” , a vibrant concerto for three percussionists and orchestra. The latest in her “Altar” series, “Altar de Cuerda,” is now her sixth commission from the orchestra. Her fifth, “Kauyumari,” spectacularly opened the L.A.
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