The Berlioz had not arrested anyone's attention, certainly not mine, when violinist Joshua Bell emerged on the stage to much applause but also still to much chair scraping, chattering, clanking of dinnerware and giggling. To me, the Berlioz seemed rather amplified and distant, and I had to remind myself to watch the real orchestra and not just stare at the T.V. The sunset brings mild chill, and as darkness falls I look at my $1 program and think, what could be more tiresome than a Berlioz March? The Hollywood Bowl seats some 18,000 patrons, thus for everyone to see the action, it requires not only two large video screens that flank the stage, but also other sets of screens higher up, for those in back. They chat and giggle and generally get rather squirrelly as they drain those bottles. People sit in on green canvas lawn chairs, with little foldout tables on which they've placed wine bottles and glasses, colored table cloths, cheese and grapes, food from baskets, Tupperware and tins. The audience stretches up a Hollywood hillside, with much of it organized into terraced cubicles for eating dinner.

Can I bring you to the Hollywood Bowl for a moment? Imagine perfect weather (this is Los Angeles, after all): a pink sky, at dusk, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic warming up under a clean white arch.

Vivaldi four seasons joshua bell