“In January 1961, a glamorous 24-year-old Zubin Mehta, who was already taking classical music by storm, made his West Coast debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,” writes Mark Swed in Monday’s (1/13) Los Angeles Times. “Included in those L.A. Phil programs was Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra…. A year later, Mehta became music director of the L.A. Phil…. As conductor emeritus of the L.A. Phil, Mehta has done it again. Mehta seemed to get the public at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Saturday night to like this important early 20th century score of music reduced to pure, enchanted atmosphere…. There were excerpts from the last of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ operas, Gotterdammerung, on the first half of the program [with] soprano Christine Goerke [as] soloist. This offered the kind of breathtaking sonic spectacle that Mehta has always been known for.” Also on the program were Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 and Webern’s Concerto for Nine Instruments. “Mehta made his comeback here last season … Now, stronger, he appears to be more his old self…. In his majestic Wagner, Webern and Schoenberg program this past weekend, he achieved grandeur without the grandiosity.”
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