BERGLUND, HOUGH AT HOLLYWOOD BOWL

Stridency and murkiness are two familiar, too-familiar qualities of sound we are hearing at Hollywood Bowl this summer--often in the same performances.

Inconsistencies of amplification may sometimes account for the perceived, alternating brightness and turgidity of tone heard in the playing of the Los Angeles Philharmonic--those inconsistencies, plus differing levels of interest displayed by members of that resident Bowl orchestra. In addition, there are the climatic conditions: vagaries of humidity and air quality. All of these make listening in Cahuenga Pass a kaleidoscopic, not-always-satisfying experience.

Such an experience again awaited auditors at the Bowl Thursday night, when Paavo Berglund returned to lead the Philharmonic in a Brahms-Beethoven program beginning with the “Academic Festival” Overture and the D-minor Piano Concerto and concluding with the “Pastoral” Symphony.

Thick and opaque sounds characterized the ensemble’s playing of the Brahms works, though musical projection remained minimal; in the Sixth Symphony, orchestral tone became more clear, with no measurable improvement in compulsion. In all three works, Berglund conducted like one whose thoughts were elsewhere; he seemed disconnected from both players and audience.

The “Pastoral” Symphony emerged pleasant, nonetheless, reaching a bright, if not cumulative, climax in the finale.

Stephen Hough, the British pianist who made two highly acclaimed local appearances in 1985, returned Thursday to meet the challenges of Brahms’ Opus 15.

To scale the heights of this Everest among piano concertos requires many skills, as well as courage. If Hough--a pianist of passionate and poetic statement--did not go over the top, at least his credentials as a climber proved to be in order. His assault was noble, and full of interesting ideas as well as touching moments, but he tended to defeat himself in the first and second movements through tempos of exceeding deliberateness.

Reported attendance: 12,615.