Music Reviews : Climatic Competition at Sunday Bowl Program

It takes a lot to upstage Mother Nature. That John Nelson, Cho-Liang Lin and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Orchestra even came close in their Sunday night concert at Hollywood Bowl is tribute to their considerable music-making abilities.

This was no routine evening at the Bowl. Lightning, thunder, rain--and plenty of it--livened/dampened the evening. But few of the 6,892 in attendance felt the need to leave, opting instead to stay for what proved uncommonly compelling performances of Prokofiev and Schumann, under any conditions.

Lin’s performance of the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Prokofiev was remarkable for its unremitting intensity. The violinist seems virtually incapable of producing harsh sounds, even though he dug into his part with fiery aggression. His tone never wavered, never thinned, his intonation remained perfect, and nothing overtaxed his technical capabilities. As a result, this virtuoso performance managed not to call attention to itself; the focus remained firmly on the music.

When the rain began in the third movement his playing only gained in intensity, despite the not inconsiderable ruckus in the audience and clatter onstage as violinists scooted to avoid the wet. Otherwise, Nelson kept the orchestra in tight order, offering keen, flexible support.

Spectacular thunder and lightning together with sporadic rain accompanied, sometimes dramatically, the entirety of Nelson’s account of Schumann’s Second Symphony. Here, Nelson found more than a few hints of Beethoven, highlighting the music’s heroic aspects with pointed woodwind solos, noble brass declamations and crisp timpani interjections.

The concert opened with a lucid, slightly overcontrolled reading of Ravel’s “Rapsodie espagnole” led by Institute conducting fellow Lan Shui.