VIENNA ENSEMBLE IN SECOND BOWL PROGRAM

A feeling of anticlimax pervaded the second local performance of the Vienna Philharmonic this week--at least until after intermission. Then, urged on by Leonard Bernstein, the players of the premier Austrian orchestra gave a noble, expansive, very nearly cathartic performance of Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony.

It was that kind of an evening Tuesday at Hollywood Bowl: mellow rather than rousing, meditative rather than impetuous, ultimately reassuring. And the musicians of the ensemble, an all-male organization that functions primarily as the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, remain--for all their achievement as individuals and as a musical body--remarkable more for polish than for passion.

Nothing precipitous, risky or spontaneous characterized the musical reading over which Bernstein presided. By his own standards, the 69-year-old conductor, a familiar figure on the Viennese podium, moved quietly and unobtrusively; he seemed not short on energy, merely modest of demeanor. But the performance he drew had point, undeniable continuity and the sweep of authority. And the orchestra played masterfully, through a sheen of instrumental brilliance.

In the first half, the playing--integrated in tone-quality, balanced between orchestral choirs, usually clarified--seemed to be applied almost facelessly to symphonies of Mozart and Bernstein. The Symphony No. 29 appeared to have been polished beyond necessity; between sluggish tempos and weightiness of texture, this performance emerged more sculptured than alive, more mechanical than thoughtful.

Bernstein’s own “Jeremiah” Symphony, a product of 1942 and clearly beholden to Mahlerian and Sibelian models, begins to sound dated. Despite what looked like strong coaching from the conductor, and what sounded like heartfelt singing from mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig (in the finale), this smoothly operating and fairly contrasted reading emerged with a patina of dutifulness.

Last Hollywood Bowl head-count of the summer of 1987: 9,869.