MUSIC REVIEW : Temirkanov Leads a ‘Dream’ Concert

A Mussorgsky/Tchaikovsky program by the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center? The prospect was promising, but old-hat.

Nevertheless, Yuri Temirkanov pulled it out of the hat Tuesday night.

The Soviet musician, who has up to now conducted only outdoor concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at his local appearances, led this latest visit by the Philadelphians--the orchestra’s first Music Center appearance since 1967--with irresistible authority, undeniable panache and a personal projection few of his contemporaries can match.

Furthermore, the touring symphonic ensemble--traveling to Southern California without music director Riccardo Muti, who is conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in Europe this week--played as it can: with pointed but mellow instrumentalism, wondrous and lush tone, gorgeous soloism and that integration of sound and thought that has marked the Philadelphia ensemble’s principal strength for many decades.

And a hackneyed program--consisting of the Prelude to “Khovanshchina,” the First (“Winter Dreams”) Symphony and “Pictures at an Exhibition”--did not keep Temirkanov and the orchestra from delivering a potent musical experience.

The ensemble’s accomplished strings have maintained their famous sheen and polish, even nine years after the departure of Eugene Ormandy. This was demonstrated, beautifully, both in the “Khovanshchina” excerpt and the slow portions of the Tchaikovsky work, wherein Temirkanov achieved soulful release and apprehendable communication.

There was more, however. The 51-year old conductor--who for the third consecutive summer will open the Hollywood Bowl season--produced as transparent, handsome and articulate a reading of the First Symphony as one can imagine.

He concentrated naturally on the work’s inner vision, while creating an outer structure of tangible strength; movement followed movement in tight scenario, culminating in a climactic finale in which the conductor seemed to let loose the full power of the ensemble. Even then, and even in this acoustically overbright hall, the players avoided painful stridency.

As he showed with our own orchestra two summers ago, Temirkanov’s way with Mussorgsky-Ravel’s “Pictures” is highly detailed and abundantly colored, but never confusingly so.

At every point, the listener is given a specific and artfully wrought sound-experience. As in the Tchaikovsky symphony, the conductor accomplished huge dynamic contrasts, as well as felicitous nuances, bringing the familiar suite surprisingly to life. Temirkanov deals in revelations, the true calling of important musicians.

After that, and by way of encore, orchestra and conductor offered the Pas de Deux from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.”