MUSIC REVIEW : Temirkanov Leads Institute Orchestra at Hollywood Bowl

Having given two concerts at Royce Hall, the 1989 Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Orchestra finally stepped outside Sunday to present a challenging and engaging program at Hollywood Bowl.

Shostakovich’s infrequently played and unconventionally structured Sixth Symphony opens with a slow, introspective movement that occupies about half the work’s time. Thinly scored passages unwind for many measures, leaving the instrumentalists very much exposed.

Virtually every wind principal proved a probing and poetic soloist; one might make a special note of Patricia Cloud’s many handsome flute solos. That the ensemble could stand up to such close scrutiny is not only a great credit to the young instrumentalists (average age: 22) but also to the leadership of conductor Yuri Temirkanov, who made the composer’s expansive rhetoric poignant and wholly absorbing.

The Soviet conductor also brought out the rambling vigor and crackling sarcasm of the remaining movements. Aside from occasional technical inexactitude, the musicians responded alertly to his sometimes idiosyncratic gestures.

Before intermission, Katia and Marielle Lebeque brought precision, clarity and stylish elegance to Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos. Both from a technical and interpretive standpoint, conducting fellow Kate Tamarkin provided strong leadership from the podium.

In Strauss’ “Don Juan,” the opening work, the players seemed to be adjusting to the outdoor environment. Whatever the cause, fast passages often found the strings scrambling. Conducting fellow Keith Lockhart, while demonstrating dynamic, assured leadership, overzealously coaxed a big sound from his band, which tended to detract from the overall sense of dramatic development.