MUSIC REVIEW : Michael, Harrell at Bowl

Lucidity and purposefulness again marked the performances Hermann Michael elicited from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, when the West German conductor led the orchestra at the second concert of his two-night visit to Hollywood Bowl this week.

More important, the extreme contrasts--from deep quietude through extrovert bumptiousness--to be found in both Richard Strauss’s “Don Quixote” and Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony were delivered and savored in ear-opening readings Thursday night.

The Philharmonic does not always play with such conviction and neatness this late in a summer season. But then, not many conductors pay the orchestra the compliment of attempting to use all its many resources of color and dynamics in an outdoor setting, where those resources are not necessarily well perceived.

Thursday, with cellist Lynn Harrell the guest protagonist and Philharmonic principal violist Heiichiro Ohyama taking the secondary solo spotlight, Michael led a “Don Quixote” which found therein Strauss’s sometimes neglected nuances and faceted pensiveness, as well as the expected heroism.

It became a touching performance through Harrell’s probing exploration of the Don’s fantasy, poignancy and vulnerability. To dig this deep into the hero’s character would be courageous at an indoor performance; to attempt it in an amphitheater seating 18,000 might seem foolhardy, except that on this occasion Harrell and his colleagues made it work.

Ohyama’s stylish and immaculate playing made a nimble foil to the cellist’s virtuosic ruminations, and the other solo lines--especially those contributed by concertmaster Sidney Weiss--fleshed out the musical drama.

Michael and the Philharmonic dug as deeply into Dvorak’s familiar orgy of melody, producing freshness and spontaneity in a work already known for its irresistibility.

This time, tune followed tune with a sense of the inevitable; climaxes emerged naturally and unforced, and each movement carried its proper weight to the happy conclusion. At that end, the crowd of 9,037 erupted with cheers and hollering, and that seemed perfectly natural, too.