Music : Perick Leads L.A. Chamber at Wiltern

Mozart has been Christof Perick’s meal ticket in Los Angeles ever since his impressive local debut in the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, production of “Le Nozze di Figaro” in 1985. Appropriately, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s music director-designate was given a major portion of the orchestra’s 1991 Mozart Festival, including Friday night’s strong program at the Wiltern Theatre.

The concert was billed as a reenactment of a Mozart memorial concert organized by his widow, Constanze, in Prague, Feb. 7, 1794. Though H.C. Robbins Landon’s book, “Mozart’s Last Year,” claims that the piano concerto heard in Prague was the D-minor, K. 466--not the E-flat, K. 482 as played Friday--the rest of the program duplicated the Prague lineup.

Perick continues to be an exceptional Mozart conductor, combining mellow, searching warmth with a steel backbone of vigor and good rhythmic definition. He came up with exquisitely lyrical shapes for several string passages in the Symphony No. 36 (“Linz”); he isolated and projected the shades of contrast and depth in the Symphony No. 38 (“Prague”) without sacrificing vitality.

However, rather than take advantage of current performance practice ideas, Perick tended to fall back on tradition--employing the usual plodding tempo in the Menuetto of the “Linz” Symphony, ignoring most repeats. He also received attentive yet occasionally ragged playing--particularly in the finale of the “Prague Symphony”--from his future orchestra.

In the K. 482 Concerto, Perick offered affectionate support for pianist Jeffrey Kahane. Carefully delineating every note, Kahane thoughtfully explored the implications of darkness and Angst in the Andante movement, maintaining welcome clarity elsewhere.

Prior to the “Prague” Symphony, the aria “Non piu di fiori” from “La Clemenza di Tito” served as a passionate vehicle for mezzo-soprano Kathryn Cowdrick, whose penetrating, rapidly fluttering voice overwhelmed the orchestra.