LEWIS CONDUCTS : ROESEL IN HOLLYWOOD BOWL DEBUT

Peter Roesel, the pianist from East Germany, made his debut on our West Coast last fall, playing all five Beethoven concertos. Pleased with his reception, he then revealed that some of his other specialties are the music of Rachmaninoff and Brahms.

The Brahms connection was tested when the 42-year-old musician made a Hollywood Bowl debut Thursday night, in the company of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Daniel Lewis.

After hearing Roesel play the B-flat Concerto, one can say with confidence that, yes, he is a Brahmsian. In the comprehensiveness of his technique and his unexaggerated articulation of the German composer’s keyboard style, Roesel showed that authority and achievement with which some had already credited him after his Beethoven performances.

Even so, and while noting that Lewis and the Philharmonic lent credibility and clarity to a solid reading, this Brahms Second still emerged mostly pedestrian. Many elements seemed to be in place, but the total was characterized by small inspiration and smaller illumination.

Though he encompassed the massive musical apparatus and lyric/dramatic content of the work, Roesel failed to project the grandeur and nobility of the total. That failure, one observes, has to do with a low energy-level and with an apparent reluctance to take the reins--also with a lack of compulsion in matters of communication. This performance, efficient and competently stated, simply never left the ground.

In the first half of the evening, Lewis made a nice case for Mendelssohn’s Overture and Incidental Music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” while also never rising above the terrestrial. Logy balances, less-than-immaculate string playing and an unsettled atmosphere plagued the orchestra’s playing.

Attendance: 8,839.