Music Reviews : Sanderling Begins Brahms Survey at Philharmonic

A imez-vous Brahms? If so, you are not alone. And, over the weekend, at concerts of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, you would have found sustenance.

Returning after an absence, Kurt Sanderling, for half a decade a popular guest conductor on the Philharmonic podium, offered the first in a series of three Brahms programs. The first, heard Friday night, consisted of the D-minor Piano Concerto, with Peter Roesel as soloist, and the First Symphony.

Sanderling, still vivacious at age 77, has treated Los Angeles to his Brahms First before. In April, 1986, Martin Bernheimer described the Prussian-born conductor’s reading of the work “remarkable for breadth, warmth and majesty.” Nearly four years later, that description still fits.

Perhaps the warmth has cooled a bit; Sanderling’s approach to Brahms’ structure seems to favor analysis over spontaneity.

But logic and continuity make the conductor’s account--the musical view more of an elder statesman rather than a young Turk--eminently cherishable. In this view, for instance, the opening movement deals less in conflict, more in resolution. On Friday, the Philharmonic players cooperated wholeheartedly in bringing it to life--though without achieving the utmost in integrated sound or rounded, post-Romantic textures.

Roesel’s letter-perfect, lean-sounding account of the First Piano Concerto also proved unconventional. Its musical perspective obviously was emanating from the podium, where Sanderling held the reins, and it eschewed heroics, individual statement and easy emotional release.

Indeed, Roesel’s dissected performance made the solo part more an obbligato line than the genuine protagonist of the piece. This became interesting on several levels, but least interesting pianistically, since Roesel often treats the instrument as a member of the percussion section, and not as a voice capable of legato or cantante.

Next week: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3.