In Tuesday’s San Francisco Classical Voice, Richard S. Ginell writes, “The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s program with guest conductor Dinis Sousa at The Wallis Center for Performing Arts … [on] March 12 didn’t look much out of the ordinary…. But thinking about it, the concert was indeed rather unusual … Tipping Point (2023) is a startling tract of environmental prophecy by Huang Ruo, fresh off his triumph with San Francisco Opera’s world premiere of his The Monkey King … Tipping Point starts with a recording of U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) delivering a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate in 2015 denying the existence of climate change … A ‘ticking’ sound from a wood block accompanies the recording. At first, the orchestra is locked into the ticking with blunt chords. Then they rouse themselves, breaking out into busywork against the beat as if in a rush toward oblivion … The ticking stops, the strings begin a series of ostinatos underneath sustained notes … But the ticking soon resumes and picks up speed. Things get panicky, and the orchestra comes to a sudden stop, with the recorded sounds of either flames or melting glaciers trailing off.” Also on the program were Schumann’s Violin Concerto, with Isabelle Faust, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4.
