There goes the neighborhood? Not exactly. The preservationists retain some clout. But in "Concrete Frequency III" -- the last of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's trio of orchestral programs demonstrating classical music's sometimes noisy and sharp urban edge -- essentially incompatible views of the city past and future jostled.
Technology continually remakes our environment in ways we usually can't predict, frequently dislike but all too quickly come to depend on. And so it was Saturday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall that technology, festival director David Robertson explained, brought together Pierre Boulez's high Modernist ". . . explosante-fixe . . ." with the premiere of "Dystopia," a film by Bill Morrison accompanied by a crazy-wild orchestral score by Michael Gordon.
Boulez's score is a modern classic and a beautiful example of how we urbanites build one thing upon the next. Boulez's example is utopian. He began with a small melodic idea meant as a tribute to Stravinsky, who died in 1971. It grew in 1985 to a short work for solo flute and octet, "Memoriale," in memory of a flutist in Boulez's Paris-based Ensemble Intercontemporain. Eight years later, the composer transformed the piece into the current 37-minute version for three flutes, chamber ensemble and electronics.
This form is probably final but suggests that it could still grow if the 82-year-old composer finds himself so inclined. That fixed original idea explodes into the enormously elaborate "Transitoire VII," the first major section of the piece, and the smaller but still dense "Transitoire V," the second major section. There are two electronic interludes, and then the piece ends with a version of the original "Memoriale."
Complexity reigns in this exquisite music, which never seems to stop fluttering. Dramatic shapes emerge from the silvery detail, but mainly the rich, unpredictable timbres are what dazzle the ear. A solo flute (expertly played Saturday by Emmanuelle Ophele) is mirrored by two subsidiary flutes, causing all kinds of refraction, and the shards are further scattered throughout the orchestra.
The flutes are also electrified, and a computer adds its take on their sound and spreads the results on speakers distributed around the hall.
There is, in all this, a kind of hyperactive tidiness, which is where the utopianism comes in. Boulez reveals a fabulous sonic space that seems to have a limitless capacity. It can hold vast amounts of information, yet room remains for interaction. Stuff literally bounces off the wall and is better for it.
