Review: Vilde Frang with the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel
If ever there was a violin concerto made for the Hollywood Bowl, it would have to be the one written by Erich Korngold, based on themes from the film composer's most famous scores - lush orchestrations that were deeply influential on film music for decades to come. The concerto was completed in 1945 and premiered by Jascha Heifetz in 1947.
On Thursday night, the fantastic Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang brought this shimmering and cinematic work into vivid focus, performing with outgoing conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, playing for a remarkably robust crowd at the Hollywood Bowl (the nearly 18,000-seat venue appeared about 60 percent full - enough audience to fill Disney Hall four times).
Violinist Vilde Frang at the Hollywood Bowl. Photo by Violinist.com.
It's a tricky venue for a piece of music full of fine subtleties. It's a live acoustic performance, but it's also a live video broadcast, with every sound amplified through speakers and every physical action broadcast larger-than life on jumbo screens flanking the amphitheater. This particular performance took place on a 95-degree August day that was rapidly dropping into the low 70s as evening fell - not ideal conditions for the 1734 "Rode" Guarneri del Gesù violin that Frang was playing.
No matter, all of that. She hit it out of the park.
It's possible you have not heard of violinist Vilde Frang - I interviewed her 2012 (read that interview here) but somehow this was the first time I was hearing her play live. Frang was mentored early in her career by the superstar German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, with other teachers including Henning Kraggerud, Kolja Blacher and Ana Chumachenco. These days Frang travels the globe, performing with fine orchestras the world over.
She was 26 at the time of our interview, and her output was already breathtaking: recordings of violin concertos by Nielsen and Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Prokofiev. She has continued on that track (see her discography), most recently recording the Elgar Violin Concerto.
Violinist Vilde Frang. Photo by Elizabeth Asher, courtesy the LA Phil.
It's been 10 years since she recorded the work with James Gaffigan and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and on Thursday she brought the drama - as well as a thoughtful interpretation - for the occasion. Wearing a dark green dress trimmed in sparkly gold, she transitioned the audience from their gregarious picnicking into Korngold's wondrous sound world, right from the beginning.
While this music is inviting, familiar-sounding and highly accessible, it's actually rife with subtle dissonance, full of chromaticism and huge leaps between unlikely notes. Frang's intonation was absolutely spot-on, rendering that delicate musical tension with rare clarity.
For me the highlight was the second-movement "Romance." Frang played its gorgeous opening melody with beautifully calibrated vibrato, timing and dynamics. By now this crowd was rapt and silent - she was creating a long, long musical line and keeping us hanging from that thread as it unspooled. A muted section sounded other-worldly, like an underwater wonder world, pinging around in a daze, from one key to another. Frang held every dissonance and made it matter.
The third movement careens between a scurrying rumpus and a simple theme, with the soloist playing the mercurial hero. A barrage of spiccato triplets is interrupted by off-beat pizzicati, with passages full of ricochet, harmonics, and just really fast notes. She jumped with ease between the abruptly changing moods, tempos and textures - a joyful and humorous ride. The piece has an ending that keeps ending, interrupting and tripping over itself comically - exciting! Frang received a well-deserved standing ovation and three curtain calls - but alas, no encore for us!
For the second half of the program, conductor Gustavo Dudamel walked out on stage and everyone clapped, then cheered, then wouldn't stop - clearly Los Angeles loves "the Dude"!
During his tenure with the LA Phil Dudamel has proven himself a proponent of the music of Gustav Mahler, having conducted the entire cycle of nine symphonies with the orchestra in 2012 and with some frequency in other years as well. Tonight he was conducting Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major - the piece he conducted during his inaugural concert with the orchestra in 2009. It's a symphony that has the feel of a summer evening - starting with the suspended "A" that hangs high, creating a backdrop that felt as perfect for live crickets on this evening as it was for the orchestral rumblings that eventually bloom into a warm melody.
I found the second movement to be the most interesting - it's a "Scherzo" ("Joke") and Dudamel brought the humor to the fore with his especially playful use of tempo. The action begins in the basses, and they started slowly, easing into a faster tempo for the "peasant dance" Ländler. The second-theme Minuet had Dudamel stretching the tempo like taffy - and smiling a little mischievously. When the first theme came back at the end of the movement, the basses entered at the full-tilt fast tempo, hah!
And speaking of basses, what a great bass solo to begin the third movement by Principal Christopher Hanulik. This movement uses a minor-key version of the familiar French children's song "Frère Jacques," starting in a kind of quiet round and going from there. Kudos to the Hollywood Bowl video editors for their always-knowledgeable use of the medium - the transition from timpani to harp and the ensuing muted section was as beautiful visually as it was aurally.
The orchestra sounded its best in the clamor and activity of the fourth movement. The symphony ended in triumph, horns standing for the chorale and Dudamel leading the orchestra to a grand apotheosis as only he can. In all, a wonderful evening at the Hollywood Bowl!
You might also like:
- Violinist.com interview with Vilde Frang: Carl Nielsen Violin Concerto (2012)
- Welcome to Los Angeles, Gustavo Dudamel (2009)
- Los Angeles Philharmonic's Mahler Project: Mahler Symphony No. 1 (2012)
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Replies
I hope she still plays chamber music. You can find her on youtube together with Janine Jansen and equally stellar violists and cellists.
Paul I know that she did a chamber concert at Wigmore Hall earlier this year, again with Lawrence Power and another violinist who's name currently escapes me.
The bass solo in the third movement of Mahler's First Symphony last week was played by LA Phil's Principal Christopher Hanulik.
Mark, thank you, I was mistaken! I've made the correction in the article.
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August 12, 2025 at 09:24 AM · Vilde Frang is a fantastic violinist. I saw her play the Britten Double Concerto with Lawrence Power and the BBC Symphony a few years ago. It still stands out to me, even now.