MUSIC REVIEW : Miller Inherits an Eccentric Rattle Program

It was an odd program that Simon Rattle concocted for his Los Angeles Philharmonic farewell this season, pairing two of his repertory specialties--Sibelius and quasi-symphonic big-band jazz.

Maybe Rattle would have found a musical missing link to solidify this shotgun marriage.

But Rattle was stricken with pneumonia and pleurisy, cutting short a welcome, substantial engagement here. Though the titular principal guest conductor of the Philharmonic, he will not be back until 1990.

Enter David Alan Miller. The Philharmonic’s young assistant conductor, a music director candidate with the Long Beach Symphony, is certainly no stranger to local audiences. Last season, he replaced Andre Previn in a similar situation.

Though no tyro with a baton, and seeming to mature with every bout on the podium, Miller was able to make little sense out of Rattle’s eccentric legacy. The result was a concert of generally engaging bits and pieces.

Most substantial of these was Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, the centerpiece of the program. As projected by Philharmonic concert master Alexander Treger, it proved a pillar of articulate sobriety.

Treger brought sweet, slender sound and abundant technical resources to the effort. Though not without its ruffled moments, his account proved notably solid, dignified and sincere.

The work demands considerably more, however, in commanding fire. Treger did not uncover its galvanic, ultimately imperious, emotionalism, in either its bravura or brooding modes.

Miller and Company worked heroically on their own. As accompanists, they frequently overwhelmed Treger, and occasionally disputed tempos.

After intermission came party-time, cum advertising pitch. Though the sort of thing that the Philharmonic has offered on New Year’s Eve in the past, the group of jazz selections from Bernstein, Stravinsky and Paul Whiteman’s repertory are also all on Rattle’s recently released “Jazz Album.”

Philharmonic co-principal clarinetist Lorin Levee stepped forward as the soloist in Stravinsky’s “Ebony Concerto.” Forceful in sound and interpretation alike, he ignited a performance notably more jazzy than many heard in recent years.

Miller and the Philharmonic big band--reinforced with a potent sax quintet--didn’t need the help of Levee’s frenetic solo in Bernstein’s “Prelude, Fugue and Riffs” for inspiration. They nearly blew the proscenium off the stage in an irresistibly orgiastic performance.

Four pop dance tunes for the Paul Whiteman band, circa 1920--one of them in encore--completed the jazz half. Ephemeral in themselves, the pieces provided numerous solo opportunities, led with confident flair by trumpeter Thomas Stevens, tuba player Roger Bobo and oboist David Weiss, doubling with crazy sweetness on musical saw.

The motley evening began with Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, which in its brash, vigorous spirit and dance parodies shares some ground with the jazz numbers. Miller led the Philharmonic strings in a sonically massive, yet rhythmically crisp performance of immediate appeal.