Music Reviews : Mario Venzago Makes U.S. Debut at Bowl

In the best of all possible worlds, Mario Venzago might not have chosen to make his U.S. debut conducting a training orchestra in an outdoor concert. But in doing that with the L.A. Philharmonic Institute Orchestra and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl, the 41-year-old Swiss conductor got an audience of 14,954 for the occasion Sunday evening.

What the throng heard was certainly an individual, carefully considered account. Venzago’s pacing was reportedly based on the composer’s metronome markings, a practice neither uncommon nor unproblematic. It did produce a quick Ninth on Sunday--to the point of frenzy in parts of the finale--but then speed is the Beethovenian rage these days.

Venzago showed a preference for clipped phrases and fierce accents. In the finale he tended to the chorus articulation as attentively as to the orchestra, and allowed little suggestion of laissez-faire playing.

The results were often dramatic, though frequently haunted by the specter of exaggeration. There was a palpable feeling of brusque energy, abated for a lithe, unusually dancing slow movement.

The orchestra responded serviceably, with obvious effort and grinding of gears at tempo changes. The Pacific Chorale sang vigorously, even raucously, and gave Venzago everything he wanted in phrasing.

Baritone Philip Skinner headed the solo quartet sturdily. Tenor Warren Ellsworth introduced some interesting embellishment in his solo, while turning it into an operatic drinking song. The ensembles became a babble of competing vocalises, with the contributions of soprano Nancy Gustafson and mezzo Catherine Keen marked mostly by wide vibrato.

Pre-intermission, Institute conducting fellows Kate Tamarkin and Keith Lockhart were on the podium. Tamarkin led a suitably surging, evocative reading of Wagner’s “Fliegende Hollander” Overture, and Lockhart maintained momentum while milking Webern’s evanescent Six Pieces for all color possible in the Bowl environment.