Described by many as the quintessentially LA experience, a concert at the Hollywood Bowl is truly a summer delight. We had the good fortune to be invited to join friends for Tuesday night’s performance of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale performing the score of 2001: A Space Odyssey while watching the movie on super big screens around the Bowl. It was an amazing experience to hear the orchestra live while watching the film.
The performance was reviewed by LA Times writer Richard S. Ginell who estimated 11,000 people attended, almost sold out for the Bowl and certainly a huge turnout for a Tuesday night. In his review, Ginell tells the fascinating back story of how director Stanley Kubrick scored the film.
The Bowl is featuring another film this season, Â E.T., The Extra-terrestrial with a special introduction by John Williams, Academy-award winning composer of the film’s score, which will be performed by the orchestra with David Newman conducting. The screening is September 4-6, tickets are available through the Hollywood Bowl’s website.
Actually, it was the Los Angeles Philharmonic itself, but indeed with the L.A. Master Chorale; and it seemed to me the crowd was larger than the 11,000 reported. In any case, it was a superlative performance of the music (all classical), and a great showing of a cinematic masterpiece. The special effects don’t seem to have dated all that much in 47 years, no matter how spoiled we are by CGI