MUSIC REVIEW : Sidney Weiss Plays Conus Concerto

The musical bill of fare Thursday at Hollywood Bowl, where Lawrence Foster conducted the second of two programs this week, included two orchestral works of household-name familiarity--as one expects during the summer--and one obscure concerto.

The Russian romanticist Julius Conus is remembered--if at all--for a single work: his Violin Concerto, first performed by the composer in 1898. The archives of the Los Angeles Philharmonic indicate but one previous local performance of the work; this took place 47 years ago. The artist/archeologist who excavated and performed the work on Thursday evening was the Philharmonic’s own principal concertmaster, Sidney Weiss.

The single-movement composition is a soloist’s concerto--the orchestra is truly subsidiary--and it can sound much like a 21-minute technical exercise. One listened in vain for a memorable tune--much less inventive orchestration or interesting counterpoint. If it is another half-century before the piece has another hearing in Cahuenga Pass, that will probably be fine with most of the 8,015 who were in attendance.

Nonetheless, the work served as a suitable vehicle for Weiss to demonstrate his warm, radiant tone and technical prowess. His playing remained intense, urgent, and insofar as the limited score allowed, expressive. Foster and the Philharmonic provided consistent and effective support.

Following intermission, the conductor turned to Dvorak’s popular “New World” Symphony. Here the rapport between our orchestra and its erstwhile (1965-68) assistant conductor and frequent podium guest was much in evidence, as the musicians responded to the native Angeleno’s ministrations with spirit and precision.

Foster, as always, kept his gestures straightforward and economical, but shaped phrases with individuality and character, projected freshness and spontaneity, and elicited from the ensemble propulsive, energized playing. Technical problems were few and insignificant, and the woodwinds seemed to be in particularly fine form; Carolyn Hove’s exquisite English horn solo in the Largo is but one example.

In the opening work, Liszt’s familiar “Les Preludes,” the players gave Foster the same degree of alertness, and brought to their playing both vitality and sensitivity. The Philharmonic almost made the tiresome symphonic poem sound like a first-rate composition.