Rubes meet Rachmaninoff

STEVE SMITH

The tickets were a last-minute decision. I didn’t even ask my wife

whether I should buy them. Sometimes you have to live on the edge.

So around noon two days ago, I wandered over to the box office at

the Performing Arts Center to get a pair of seats for the evening’s

performance. That night, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra was scheduled

to play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with James Ehnes, a

28-year-old violinist, making his debut with the orchestra.

As I walked away from the box office, I noticed the construction

across the street and took a few minutes to stare. Then I looked over

at the building housing South Coast Repertory, where my daughter

first learned how to perform, and back at the Performing Arts Center.

Walking away, it struck me that this is a fantastic time to be

living in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach.

That night, we sat in seats in Tier 2, which I prefer for concerts

along with Tier 1 because of the acoustics. We were one row from the

front and I could not help but notice that there were too many empty

seats down in the front row of the orchestra section.

Thirteen empty seats, to be exact. What a waste.

The sight of so many empty seats for an important performance made

me wonder whether the folks in the area had truly shed our past

reputation as a bunch of rubes who don’t know a cello from a

concerto. Those seats should have been filled.

The real test of that always comes later, during the performance.

That night, the voice of Rich Caparella, the morning host of radio

station KMZT-FM asked guests to turn off cell phones, unwrap candy

before the show and -- ugh! -- to “hold your applause until the end

of the performance.”

Ask any classical music snob, and he’ll tell you: Holding applause

between movements is the barometer. It determines whether the

audience is haute or hayseed.

The first test was the “Concerto for Orchestra” by Bela Bartok.

There were several breaks during the performance, each one a test of

our culture. It may have been Caparella’s recorded request, maybe

not, but no one applauded until the piece was finished.

The violin concerto was another story. It is about 30 minutes

long, broken in two by what sounds like two completely different

compositions. The first half is a very difficult test of a

violinist’s skill; in fact, when Tchaikovsky first offered the

concerto, Leopold Auer -- head at the time of the violin department

at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and Court Violinist to the Czar --

he returned the piece, calling it “unplayable.”

This is one of the few classical pieces in which a listener may be

excused for applauding between movements. That’s not an excuse for

what most people did that night; it’s just the way it is. I have to

believe that even the stuffy New York City crowd would be clapping at

Kennedy Center halfway through the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

There are enough people in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and other

parts of Orange County who believe that we’re ready for more of the

same. Thanks to a major push by the Segerstrom family, we are about

to be graced by a new concert hall -- the 2,000-seat Renee and Henry

Segerstrom Concert Hall -- as well as the 500-seat Samueli Theatre.

Both projects will be completed in 2006 and will be located

directly across the street from the Performing Arts Center. Upon

completion, a block of Town Center Drive will cease to exist. In its

place will be a plaza, perfect for strolling. I was told that the

complex will include a long overdue on-site restaurant.

The development promises “more venues, more performances, more

educational opportunities and more lives to be enriched.”

Heady stuff, to be sure. But are we ready for all this culture?

After all, this is still the place where pig races are the big draw

during the county fair.

I think we are. I sure hope we are.

I’m buoyed by Thursday night’s applause litmus test but concerned

about the empty front row seats. I believe, however, that I’ve found

a solution for those premium chairs. If you’re reading this, and you

have access to those seats, or know someone who does, at least two of

them, sometimes four, can be filled on a regular basis by an

appreciative family. Just e-mail them the will-call information at:

[email protected].

You’ll be going a long way toward eliminating the impression that

funnel cakes rule over violin concertos.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to [email protected].