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MUSIC REVIEW : Montreal Symphony, Conductor Charles Dutoit Return to Bowl

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Times Music Writer

One of our colleagues once described the Montreal Symphony’s playing as lean, clean and uninhibited--and so it is. Two years after the orchestra’s Hollywood Bowl debut, the Montrealers, under their justifiably adored music director Charles Dutoit, have returned to the Bowl. They will be there, nightly, through Saturday.

There were moments of lost focus, temporary intonational distress and overthin string tone during this first program--Berlioz’s “Corsaire” Overture, Brahms’ Violin Concerto, Debussy’s “Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune” and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” But, for the most part, the touring musicians of Montreal gave a splendid performance on Tuesday, one confirming both their present international reputation and our memories of their first Bowl visit.

The sounds produced by the orchestra remain French: neither round nor heavy, but slender, wiry, flexible and colorful. As an expressive instrument, the ensemble has many resources, all of which Dutoit utilizes sensitively and without overindulgence.

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Rather, he matches device to score, and balances musical architecture with specific details. In the virtuosic Berlioz piece, he whipped up excitement and a fine frenzy, all the while maintaining rhythmic control and a virtually immaculate musical line.

He and the orchestra accomplished nearly as much--some untuned chords and wayward attacks aside--in Mussorgsky’s popular suite, which hadn’t been heard at the Bowl in all of six days.

But the crowning glory of this first program was the lush, transparent and sensuous performance the Montreal band turned in of Debussy’s impressionistic tone-poem. Here, all elements cohered, maintained their balance and produced aural magic in a most unforced yet compelling reading.

At mid-program, Pinchas Zukerman--a virtuoso violinist who has wandered other paths but still makes his most pointed artistic contributions in his original role--gave a strong and clear-eyed account of the Brahms Concerto.

This reading was so articulate and well-spoken that it seemed to become not the usual tremendous challenge to virtuosity, but a serious and low-key musical conversation between friends. In other words, refreshing and provocative.

Attendance: 10,308.

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