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It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

Saw Dutoit and the Suisse Romande at Mondavi Center in Davis, CA last night

Wow. Just wow.

I might as well have picked the program: Debussy's Iberia, Rach's Paganini Variations, Stravinsky's Song of the Nightingale and Ravel's Daphnis Suite #2.

Dutoit walked across the stage the way a compassionate dictator would. Supremely relaxed and confident. Tall, too. He didn't conduct many beats but rather just shaped the music at certain points...or danced to it (!).

During Iberia, it was fascinating to watch him handle the famous gradual transition from "Fragrance of the Nights" to "Morning of Festival Day." He'd turn away from the sustained strings and prepare the chime/castanet players, etc. with a few allegro beats on the down-low, then he'd usher the strings back in by making "cloud" shapes with his hands while letting the "rhythm" section fade out "naturally." Strings were gorgeous during the night music.

The Rach followed with Lugansky as the soloist. I've never had a problems with the composer's so-called "hollywood slickness" and "old-school" style, but it was hard to ignore after the Debussy! That said, from the 18th Variation on, what visual and aural fireworks!

The Song of the Nightingale seemed a bit much for the audience; I loved the cartoonish, colorful if endlessly tart music. Dutoit was having the time of his life; miming, dancing...most of the audience was stone-faced.

Hearing Ravel's "Daybreak" for the first time "live" was something I'll never forget. The orchestration has to be one of the most imaginative scorings of all time, from the opening gurglings of the harp/celesta to the woodwinds imitating seagulls over glowing open 5ths in the strings. The music surely has the power to dissolve cancerous tumors. The final crashing chord of Orgy music is what "dynamic range" is all about. The (youngish-looking) Suisse Romande packed a wallop indeed.

One thing I found a bit depressing was watching fellow audience members (mostly of the gray-haired sort) sitting absolutely stiff and seemingly unmoved during the final Orgiastic Dance. No one's head was bobbing, unless it was a natural occurrence due to advanced age. I could barely keep my hands and feet still.

The Mondavi Center really projects the sound. We were seated towards the very front of the first tier. Bass was great, and the music really slammed.

For you audiophiles, I must say: the treble didn't sparkle as much as it should; bass could get a little muddy sometimes, and thickly-textured passages weren't always clearly delineated.



Edits: 02/14/15

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Topic - Saw Dutoit and the Suisse Romande at Mondavi Center in Davis, CA last night - jdaniel@jps.net 10:10:57 02/14/15 (15)

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