David Danzmayr calls fire from heaven.

“Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God...’” — 1 Kings 18:38-39.

When it’s a performance of biblical magnitude, one is forced to consult scripture. I am speaking of Stravinsky, also known as “The LORD, He is God,” and his Firebird Suite. The San Diego Symphony summoned Stravinsky’s fire down from heaven on Saturday night March 19, and all was consumed. However, we should start at the beginning of the concert.

The best hope for the future of orchestral music is in feminine composers coming to the forefront. It’s time for the matriarchal epoch of classical music.

The world premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Five Scenes is what convinced me that the time has come to restore balance to the force. There are a few other factors, but we’ll visit those another time.

Five Scenes is a piece of music that extends an enticing invitation to the audience instead of presenting them with a rigid agenda. The music was accompanied by members of Malashock Dance.

I felt as though the music deserved my full attention but the dance element was so aligned with the music that I couldn’t help but try to absorb it all. My eyes competed with my ears in an attempt to keep up.

I felt like a beach towel trying to sop up the ocean. When the piece concluded I thought it only fair to be able to see and hear it again in its entirety, but alas, that wasn’t possible.

Ginastera’s Concerto for Harp is a mystery. The music is impossible to describe and the effect it has is far beyond the sum of its parts.

Throughout Yolanda Kondonassis’s performance I kept feeling as though this music was closer to me than I am to myself.

The performance had the impression of arising from within us instead of starting from the outside. Without diminishing the composer, Kondonassis was the midwife guiding the birth of Ginastera’s music as it bloomed from within.

Music always starts within. It is within the composer then it is within the performers and it comes out of the performers and to the audience. Speaking for myself, I had the sensation of being on the inside of the events instead of the outside.

Does that make sense? I felt the music coming out of Ginastera, Kondonassis, the orchestra, and myself as if it were one element instead of several.

Now we come to the Firebird. There is an awful lot of bird and not much fire for the first two-thirds of Stravinsky’s ballet suite. The adolescent who still sets up shop in my mind from time to time started chanting “Fire, fire, fire” in a way that only those familiar with Beavis and Butthead would appreciate.

“Then the fire of the LORD fell...”

Guest conductor David Danzmayr had shared the stage with a troupe of dancers and a mesmerizing harpist. The Firebird Suite was his time to shine with the orchestra.

In our bible story about the fire of the LORD Maestro Danzmayr is the prophet Elijah who summoned the fire. The power of an orchestra and a conductor connecting at this level with Stravinsky is like, well, it’s like fire falling from the heavens.