MUSIC REVIEW : Perlman and Previn Try to Revive Castelnuovo Concerto

A surprising sense of adventure permeated Andre Previn’s quirky program Thursday evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Bright, even eager, playing from the Los Angeles Philharmonic reinforced an almost palpable feeling of rediscovery in three works from the first third of this century.

Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Janacek’s Sinfonietta are hardly unfamiliar. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Violin Concerto No. 2, however, is a definite rarity, despite being championed in its 1933 premiere by no less than Jascha Heifetz with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Toscanini.

The celebrity protagonist on this occasion was Itzhak Perlman. Relying on the score, Perlman attacked the concerto with facile, often slapdash brio. Some skittishness and initial smearing aside, he sang sweetly in the many lyrical opportunities and applied his characteristically brisk charm abundantly in the peppy finale.

It wasn’t enough. Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who labored long in Hollywood, is sadly undervalued today by all but guitarists. This concerto, however--subtitled “The Prophets” and based in part on Sephardic melodies--is a hodgepodge affair, always undercutting its best inspirations with swollen, film-score cliches.

In the first movement, Perlman seemed almost disinterested and unable to integrate the contradictory impulses, while Previn did little to restrain the Technicolor efforts of the orchestra. The composition and the performance both gathered cohesion in the middle movement, however, and the finale bounced along with genial enthusiasm.

Like “The Prophets,” Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia mines a vein of neo-modal religiosity. Compared to Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s epic biblical excess, though, the lush Fantasia sounds almost chaste.

Previn elicited a solemnly glowing account, evoking English cathedral glories attentively. He sustained delicate balances, and a processional sense of momentum throughout.

After intermission, Janacek’s Sinfonietta came as a refreshing change of style. Like his predecessors on the program, Janacek was inspired by pre-existing materials. But he retained much of the pungent, earthy character of his Moravian popular sources.

The Philharmonic responded to Previn’s sharp delineation of the score with crisp vigor. Less skillful performances have sounded static in the framing fanfares and aimless in the episodic interior. This, however, was an account of mobile, fluent strength and purpose.