MUSIC REVIEW : Good News Follows Perlman to Bowl

“Good news for lovers of the violin” first described Itzhak Perlman to readers of this newspaper in February, 1966, when Albert Goldberg reviewed the Los Angeles Philharmonic debut of the then-20-year-old, Israeli-born fiddler.

The good news goes on, many years and many more local appearances later. Perlman has now fulfilled the promise of his early virtuosity and probing musicality. In the process, and through the agency of personal magnetism, he has earned an adoring public.

From the latest evidence, an outdoor recital in Hollywood Bowl, Wednesday night, Perlman retains his chops, his muse and his artistry--as well as a desire to please and, of course, an infectious sense of humor. His characteristic emotional reserve we have long since accepted.

The news of this most recent alfresco program--Perlman, along with Alfred Brendel and Jean-Pierre Rampal, inaugurated the Bowl’s very first recital series, back in 1974--is brief, however. Once one has praised the tone, technique, tastefulness and consistency of the familiar violinistic icon, there is little to say.

With his longtime partner, Janet Goodman Guggenheim, the 45-year-old musician played two favorite works on the first half, Tartini’s “Devil’s Trill” Sonata in the Kreisler version, and the often misappropriated (by other instrumentalists) Sonata in A by Cesar Franck.

After intermission, he concluded with more pops selections--an ad-hoc suite of 11 brief pieces by Kreisler, Suk, Rachmaninoff, Paganini, Stephen Foster, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski and Bazzini.

Having just played a batch of encore-type pieces, Perlman eschewed the addition of any post-program bonuses.

Extramusical elements proved irritating at this otherwise happy event.

At least four aircraft chose inappropriate fly-by times during the evening; Perlman-Guggenheim even paused, mid-piece, for the last of these. Then, too, oddball microphoning--which favored violin over piano to an incredible degree--skewed the fidelity of the amplification system discreetly broadcasting the event to the amphitheater.

Finally, and surprisingly, attendance at this concert reached only 9,124. Is the recession still on, or has the public turned fickle?