MUSIC REVIEW : Marek Janowski Makes a Promising Philharmonic Debut

Marek Janowski, who made an auspicious debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Friday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, isn’t the sort of conductor who makes the collective heart beat faster.

But he is, in the best sense, a fine Kapellmeister . As such, he belongs to a valuable, rapidly vanishing species.

Born 51 years ago in Warsaw (not West Germany, as the program biography claimed), he attended the conservatory in Cologne, studied violin and piano as well as conducting, trained subsequently as an operatic coach, and perfected his baton technique under Wolfgang Sawallisch, among others. Methodically, he worked his way from engagements with minor opera houses and orchestras to key posts at leading international institutions.

He learned his craft, and its ramifications, the old-fashioned way. He paid his dues.

Janowski obviously understands the challenges at hand. He avoids any temptation to distort or exaggerate, and he invariably gives clear signals.

He is not a flamboyant podium personality. He is not the sort of interpreter who illuminates old pieces with new ideas. He tends to get out of the way and let the music do the talking.

He opened this concert with a tasteful, majestic yet adequately sensuous performance of Wagner’s ‘Tannhauser” overture. After intermission, he concentrated on a taut yet fluid, essentially lyrical account of Schumann’s “Rhenish” Symphony. The Philharmonic played alertly for him, with spirit and with generous contrasts of dynamic and color.

It would probably take a few more rehearsals for the strings to unscramble the climactic convolutions of Wagner’s Venusberg . Greater familiarity with the conductor would no doubt breed greater contentment in matters of unison attack and subtle nuance. A stranger, no matter how competent, can achieve only so much in a couple of days.

Nevertheless, Janowski’s authority and professionalism were always reassuring. With him at the helm, the listener could sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

One hopes he will come back soon. One hopes he will stay a little longer next time.

The soloist of the evening was Horacio Gutierrez, who mustered a performance of Chopin’s E-minor Concerto that vacillated between sublime poetry and clumsy prose.

The popular Cuban-born pianist played the introspective passages, for the most part, with affecting delicacy, with insinuating rubato and rare bel - canto allure. He sometimes impaired the rhapsodic flights, however, with misgauged bombast.

On this occasion, the essential bridge between the heroic gesture and the intimate impulse seemed to elude Gutierrez. One assumes it was just an off night.

Chopin asked relatively little of the orchestra. Janowski and the Philharmonic set the moods briskly, sustained them efficiently, accompanied the pianist sensitively.

The audience was surprisingly sparse though predictably enthusiastic. The Philharmonic management announced, incidentally, that this concert “honored the artistry” of Sarah Vaughan. It didn’t seem to be a particularly fitting memorial.

Next week, if all goes as planned: The return of Andre Previn.