MUSIC REVIEW : Skrowaczewski, Thibaudet at Bowl

The air was chilly in Cahuenga Pass, but the Los Angeles Philharmonic seemed to be on fire Thursday evening, as Stanislaw Skrowaczewski led the orchestra in the second of two performances this week at Hollywood Bowl.

The Polish-born musician appeared to be less interested in conducting the musicians than in inducing them to play as if their very lives depended on it.

At times barely moving the stick, at times waving his hands like an enraged madman, Skrowaczewski elicited an unusually vital, highly energized reading of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, one marked by arching lyricism, fervent passion and nearly boundless heroism.

It also proved a mine for an array of discoveries. Inner voices emerged clearly and revealed heretofore unnoticed details, yet balances never tipped out of proportion. The orchestra maintained a high standard of accuracy, and one heard warm and expressive solo playing from the winds.

Before intermission, Jean-Yves Thibaudet paid his first visit to this outdoor stage in a compelling account of Saint-Saens’ Second Piano Concerto. Commanding a wide dynamic and expressive range, the young French pianist brought excitement, color and elan to the work. Rather than sheer virtuosity--he did make a few detectable, but hardly significant, note errors--his playing displayed great clarity, subtlety and light-fingered pianism.

He delivered an especially delicate, spritely account of the rollicking Allegro scherzando, fully capitalizing on the movement’s Gallic iridescence. And while the G-minor Concerto offers more opportunities for sparkle and eclat than thoughtful probing, Thibaudet brought considerable depth to, for example, the work’s unaccompanied fantasia-like opening.

Although the orchestra could be cited for an occasional rhythmic inexactitude, the pianist found Skrowaczewski and the Philharmonic to be sensitive, highly expressive collaborators.

After leading the 8,021 listeners in singing the National Anthem, the visiting conductor and our orchestra dispatched Weber’s “Euryanthe” Overture with assertive vigor but little subtlety.