PIANIST MALCOLM FRAGER IS SOLOIST : CONDUCTOR LITTON CLOSES BOWL VISIT

Completing a four-concert visit to the Hollywood Bowl podium of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Andrew Litton led a Berlioz-Schumann-Debussy program in the outdoor amphitheater Thursday night.

Except that it drew positively on the considerable professionalism of the members of the Philharmonic, and showed both Litton and his soloist, pianist Malcolm Frager in their better lights, it was not a memorable occasion. (One noted in passing a stageful of American musicians.)

But it was a striking event in several ways: high musical standards, especially from an orchestra whose horizons continue to grow; usually decent, sometimes really undistracting, amplification; skies free of noisy, passing aircraft; an audience polite and quiet enough to appreciate the combination of elements that can make the experience pleasing.

Thursday, the best of the elements were Frager’s rethought approach to the Schumann concerto, which resulted in a tonic, poignant and reproportioned performance; and the orchestra’s virtuosity, which illuminated not only the concerto but Berlioz’s “Roman Carnival” Overture, but a half-program devoted to Debussy’s “Danses,” “Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune” and “La Mer,” as well.

Frager, the distinguished American musician who first played with our Philharmonic 24 years ago, brought a pristine lyricism, along with the most solid and faceted technical resources, to the early Romantic rhetoric of Schumann’s durable showpiece. In the process, he reminded us--through understatement as well as telling detail--that this work began its life in the year (1841) of the first performance of another 19th-Century landmark, Adolphe Adam’s “Giselle.”

Comfortably seconded by Litton and the Philharmonic, Frager explored the familiar piece with a fresh and affectionate ear, stressing, more often than not, the composer’s wonderful dichotomy of command and reticence. A cherishable reading.

Admirable in most ways, save that complete transparency of texture achieved by authoritative conductors of French music, was the orchestra’s playing of the Debussy items.

In “Danse sacree et danse profane,” harpist Lou Anne Neill led the parade of stylish orchestral soloists. In “Prelude,” and “La Mer,” the players’ splendid instrumentalism and the composer’s climactic peaks were compromised by Litton’s sometimes unfocused sense of architecture: He often eschewed forward motion for present nuance. Attendance: 8,696.