Classical Music

I finally made a trip to Walt Disney Concert Hall. It was for the LA Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series where they highlight new classical music and hang green umbrellas from the ceiling (oh those crazy artists). I knew someone playing in the show (and my attendance was courtesy of my friend's parents) and was really excited to see him play and also to check out the interior of the space of the building.

The music was interesting and dynamic, if a bit different, but it was incredible to see a familiar face on stage (one of 4 in the quartet). Unfortunately it was a one night only thing. For more on the show you can check out the LA Times review. Also, if you fancy classical music, check out the Calder Quartet.

As for the hall, I was pretty underwhelmed by the interior space (not the hall itself, but the other spaces in the building). The exterior is stunning from every single angle, but the interior left me hanging like the missing hanger steak at the pre-concert dinner. For one, the carpet looked like it got cleaned with buckets of rotting flowers (this was the best pic I could round up on the interweb). While writing this post I learned that it was designed by Gehry himself, which confused me and drove me to investigate further, where I found the following snippet from an LA Times story.

Los Angeles architect Gehry, however, explained how he designed a floral pattern that adorns Disney Hall's carpets and seats in homage to just one woman: the late Lillian Disney, whose $50-million gift in 1987 set the project in motion. The hall is also flower-like in form and is surrounded by lush gardens. "I told her I'd make a flower garden for her," said Gehry, as he leaned into a clear podium with his hands clasped. Gehry described his role in the project as "a great experience, personally."

So, is that how you honor a $50 million dollar gift - with blood red flower petal carpet? Should I expect more from Frank Gehry? Am I totally missing the artistic and symbolic subtleties -is that carpet seen as beautiful in the land of carpet critics? I have no idea. All I can say is that it was offensive enough to me to generate this response and in a space that glorious on the outside, I expected a little bit more...