If youÕre like me Ñ and IÕm not saying you are Ñ
youÕve viewed the L.A. PhilharmonicÕs summer series of concerts at the
Hollywood Bowl featuring guest rock and pop performers with a mixture of
goofily naive rock-fan exhilaration and slight dubiosity. The idea seems a
good one, where the rock bands get a chance to present fully fleshed-out
versions of familiar songs Ñ another kind of remix Ñ allowing us to hear
what our imaginations might have only hinted at in the original versions.
ItÕs also just good fun to watch the
electric bands get the opportunity to come off larger than life in a way
that a mere small set in a dingy nightclub couldnÕt possibly convey. Call
it the gawrsh factor Ñ youÕre
cheering the bands on as they scale the highest heights, and it makes you
feel like maybe you too could be up on that stage in a star-studded shower
of grandeur and majestyÉ
Then again, you might be one of
those picky types who fret about how that essential hard-hitting rockness,
you know, of your fave bandÕs songs is going to get messed with, like: Is
laying a ton of strings and horns on top of that edgy savage teenbeat going
to turn it into a big soft pile of adult-oriented mush?
Several factors figure heavily in
the equation for a successful pairing at these Hollywood Bowl shows, not
the least of which is the sound mix. The potential problems are obvious:
Without a proper sound balance, the rock bandÕs going to obliterate the
orchestra, or the ork is going to bury the band in great globs of symphonic
goo. To my ear anyway, theyÕve done a pretty good job of it at the Bowl
this summer; the DecemberistsÕ pointyhead art-pop was ideally served in an
even more heavily romanticized soundscape; Cheap TrickÕs performance of Sgt.
Pepper was very good too, having
been aided on the sound-mixing desk by
the Beatles albumÕs original engineer,
Geoff Emerick.
Our next opportunity to hear the
sound of oil and water mix into a bubblingly new compound will be on
September 29, when Conor OberstÕs heartland indie-rock ensemble Bright Eyes
will be joined by the Phil at the Bowl. The bandÕs recent Cassadaga album frames OberstÕs literately impassioned
songs in increasingly more sophisticated musical settings, and the newer
songs would thus seem perfect for orchestral elaboration. The bandÕs longtime
producer, Mike Mogis, achieved a fantastically varied and even epic sound
on the disc of otherwise country- and folk-inflected rock, and band member
Nate Walcott did several excellent string arrangements. I wondered how they
went about transforming the material for a performance with an orchestra.
ÒWeÕre really into not repeating
ourselves,Ó says Oberst on the phone from his tour stop in Denver. ÒI
always figure if we keep pushing ourselves to do something new for
ourselves, then hopefully itÕll translate into something interesting for
the audience.Ó
Bright Eyes will be the first band
at the Bowl this summer to have orchestral arrangements written by a member
of the group. Oberst wishes to point out that he thinks of Bright EyesÕ
Bowl performance as ÒNateÕs time to shine. I think he deserves to have one
of the greatest orchestras in the world play his music.Ó Wolcott has
apparently been working himself sick for the last four or five months to
make sure that the translation of the Bright Eyes sound comes off as
non-treacly and un-saccharine.
ÒA lot of the stuff we have charts
already made for when we recorded with an orchestra on Cassadaga,Ó says Oberst. ÒHeÕs making minor alterations to
them, but heÕs gotta make all-new arrangements for a bunch of new songs
too. When Nate was arranging the songs, especially the older songs that
were never really intended to have an orchestra on them, he was very
careful to not do anything thatÕs too grandiose. It should feel like a part
of the song and not something thatÕs just laid on top of it. That was
something that weÕve been pretty conscious of.Ó
Suzie Katayama, who conducted the
orchestral parts on the Cassadaga
sessions, will be leading the L.A. Phil at the Bowl. ÒSheÕs a friend of
ours and totally understands the music and is well-versed in what weÕre all
about,Ó says Oberst, Òso having her at the helm makes me feel a lot better
about everything.Ó
Well, Conor, there you are at the
Hollywood Bowl, with the greatest orchestra in the world behind you, andÉ
ÒI mean, itÕs certainly
daunting,Ó he says, Òand I feel nervous about it, because we donÕt really
have any time to rehearse with them, pretty much get like one rehearsal and
then go out and do it. The idea is, you donÕt ever mess up. [Laughs] I guess it works out.Ó
The Bowl orchestra comprises many players who are
regularly called upon for film-scoring sessions; theyÕre used to getting
arrangements together fairly quickly. The PhilÕs concertmaster, lead
violinist Bing Wang, says the experience of collaborating with pop artists
at the Bowl is not terribly difficult to do with finesse, and, in fact, for
the most part itÕs a lot of fun.
ÒAll of these shows are put together
in one rehearsal,Ó she says. ÒAnd sometimes we donÕt even use up the whole
three hours!Ó She laughs. ÒMost of the time, our lines are pretty much
background music, and we have fairly easy parts. When I received the violin
parts to the Bright Eyes, I suggested to the librarian to get tempo
markings, metronome markings, from the orchestrator from the band, because
I need to know how fast it should go, so that we have the right bowing.
ÒThe key for us is to have a
conductor who really knows how to work with us, give us the right cues,
because we donÕt know the music. Sometimes we have a vamp, where they just
go on, where they talk or where they sing, and we need good instructions on
where we should come in, how fast we should play. If we have a very good
conductor, itÕs no problem for us at all.Ó
The L.A. Phil players have been
blessed to work under no doubt the most rhythmically adept conductor on the
planet, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and this has been excellent preparation for the
orchestraÕs collaborations with the beat-heavy bands at the Bowl.
ÒSalonenÕs rhythm technique is the
greatest IÕve ever seen,Ó Wang says. ÒAnd this really affects the
orchestra. The articulation is really good; we have good, sharp rhythm,
especially where we have to interpret music written in the 20th century, or
written by living composers, because they very often write very complicated
rhythms. Now when IÕm listening to somebody play, I have a higher
rhythmical expectation Ñ I want it to be more accurate and clean.Ó
She says to offset the roar from the
electric band onstage at the Bowl, the orchestra indulges in a little audio
trickery, such as employing individual mikes clipped behind the bridges on
the stringed instruments; the winds are miked very close to the instrument,
and the sound engineer adjusts and shapes the sound from their combined
output.
ÒThese shows can be on the louder
side,Ó she says. ÒWe have to put baffles around the drum set, just to block
some of the sound out. [Laughs]
Sometimes we have to wear earplugs; I donÕt particularly want to be seen
wearing earplugs onstage, but it could be very loud, sitting next to these
musicians, and we cannot hear ourselves so well.Ó
To best fit the rhythms and dynamics
of the electric band, Wang says the orchestra makes small adjustments in
its playing style as well.
ÒSome conductors like to conduct ahead
of the music, so symphonic musicians tend to play after the beat,Ó she
says. ÒWith them [the electric band], I know theyÕre spot-on, so we have to
be more on the beat, or we just hear the drum set really ahead of us all
the time. And sometimes, because we need to swing a little bit or we need
to do this or that, we react accordingly.
ÒAnd when everything else is louder,
we definitely play louder!Ó
