Neeme Jarvi, Cellist Harrell in Hollywood Bowl Program

Subtle pleasures at the Hollywood Bowl qualify as rare phenomena. But with Thursday night’s program of Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Grieg offering little in the way of spectacle, conductor Neeme Jarvi, cellist Lynn Harrell and the Los Angeles Philharmonic explored the quieter aspects of this trio’s music with undeniable success.

Harrell opened his portion of the program with a relative novelty, Dvorak’s brief “Silent Woods” for cello and orchestra. To this contemplative, nostalgic work Harrell brought his usual intensity and carefully crafted lyricism.

He followed with the familiar Variations on a Rococo Theme by Tchaikovsky. Here, the cellist celebrated every expressive possibility, molding each phrase with moment-to-moment sensitivity yet using them as building blocks for longer musical paragraphs. The performance had narrative sweep. His generous and judicious use of portamento, the wide and quickly varying range of his dynamics, his use of color and vibrato to shade meaning all commanded rapt attention.

Jarvi led generally solid accompaniments, though in the Bowl acoustic he seemed rather too delicate; crucial details wafted away in the night air as the orchestra often hovered near inaudibility.

After intermission Jarvi led the two orchestral suites from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” music. His growing rapport with the Philharmonic was clearly in evidence. The lyricism rang out with grand voluptuousness, the strings playing with a rich, unified emotionalism, Jarvi shaping phrases with sweeping gestures, a turn of the head or a mere flip of the wrist. If he slighted the melancholy of “Aase’s Death” and the ultimate drive of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” he captured the full robustness and grace in the dance episodes and the warmth, charm and suppleness of the songlike passages.

The concert began with Dvorak’s “Carnival” Overture, in a brisk, brightly colored, occasionally brash run-through.

Attendance: 7,984.