MUSIC REVIEW : Pittsburgh Symphony Visits the Bowl

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski mounted the podium on Tuesday, signaled the de rigueur upbeat, and one could tell right away that it wasn’t business as usual at Hollywood Bowl.

The orchestra sounded surprisingly mellow. The Star-Spangled Banner, though obtrusive as always, droned unmusical patriotism without the impetus of a nonstop drum roll. No one yelled “Play ball” at the final cadence.

The disorientation was easy to explain. The Los Angeles Philharmonic was taking a week off from its summer under the genuine stars and Styrofoam spheres. The stage shell was occupied by the Pittsburgh Symphony.

The visiting Pennsylvanians did not bring along their new music director, the Vienna-scarred Lorin Maazel. Nor did they temporarily re-engage their old music director, the Pittsburgh-scarred Andre Previn. But with the Minneapolis-scarred Skrowaczewski, they found a guest-leader of uncommon authority and distinction.

Skrowaczewski, 64, is a conductor of the old no-nonsense school. He knows the score. He knows what he wants to do with it. He knows how to do it.

He leaves the dancing, the fussing and the hyper-emoting to others. That does not mean, however, that he settles for mechanical accuracy. It merely means that he has a sense of proportion.

In Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” Overture, which opened the nicely balanced program, he stressed poise and grace without pressure. In the “Great” C-Major Symphony of Schubert, which closed the program, he insisted on transparent textures, crisp articulation and constant forward momentum.

This was Schubert in the taut, muscular, speedy tradition of Arturo Toscanini. It is an eminently legitimate approach. It does much to negate the threat of temporal sprawl, even though it denies the heroic thrust and lyric grandeur defined by such romantic paragons as Bruno Walter and Wilhelm Furtwangler.

In the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, which served as the program centerpiece, Skrowaczewski provided comparably propulsive, uncommonly sensitive support for the protagonist, Joshua Bell.

At 20, Bell is a technician who can surmount most hurdles with dapper nonchalance. His playing on this occasion revealed impetuosity to match virtuosity. His performance was somewhat small-scaled but buoyant, suave yet energetic, ultimately disarming.

It is possible--no, probable--that the patches of scratchy tone can be blamed on the amplification system. As usual, the microphones were much kinder to the orchestra than to the soloist.

Be that as it may, the Pittsburgh Symphony deserved kindness. It is a well-oiled precision instrument.

Official attendance: 10,551.