Music and Dance Reviews : Helmuth Rilling Leads L.A. Chamber Orchestra

For the final weeks of the season, Helmuth Rilling has returned to the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Thursday he led the penultimate program--bright, fresh readings of repertory standards arranged in chronological and complementary order--at the Japan America Theatre.

The bookends were Haydn’s “Clock” Symphony No. 101 and Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony No. 1, in readings clearly designed to underscore their relationships. Both were all vim and vigor on the outside, deliberate and slightly precious on the inside. Given Rilling’s bouncy podium manner, his highly interpreted accounts occasionally seemed merely accompaniments for conducting solos.

Rilling asked the orchestra for high contrast at all times, in dynamics, tempo and articulation. The light, lithe sound he got, crisp to a fault, worked well in fast outer movements, filled with spiky accents. The Prokofiev finale had some scrambled moments, but generally the players sustained Rilling’s impetuosity ably.

The very measured inner movements sounded brittle and dry at times, when the composers called for something more seductive and less sedate. But the textures proved transparent and ensemble values easily survived the risky fragility Rilling imposed.

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto is often traversed, but seldom at the high speeds of Rilling and veteran fiddler Young Uck Kim. When allowed his own way, Kim seemed inclined to greater lyricism than the vehemence of Rilling’s accompaniment often allowed, but he kept pace with his own brand of fury, suave in sound and eminently nimble.