MUSIC REVIEW : A Mighty Wagnerian Noise at Hollywood Bowl

Bigger is better. Louder is loftier. Swollen is swell. More is just plain more.

Right?

It wasn’t exactly right Tuesday night at Hollywood Bowl, where an evening of decidedly uneven music-making climaxed--or at least tried to--with a little Wagnerian orgy under John Nelson. The latest entrant in our long summer parade of baton-wielding guests surveyed excerpts from “Gotterdammerung” with an unwieldy, Gargantuan band that comprised the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Institute Orchestra.

It seemed as if every able man, woman and child within plucking, bowing, banging or tootling distance of Cahuenga Pass had been drafted into service under the acoustical orbs. Some 200 players did their best to follow the valiant maestro through an odd pastiche that fused the sonic description of dawn with Siegfried’s Rhine journey and funeral music and, surprisingly, Brunnhilde’s immolation.

The most surprising aspect of the finale involved the absence of Brunnhilde’s voice. Essentially, Nelson gave us just the orchestral accompaniment for this noble valedictory, ignoring the solo line and with it the essential melodic and emotional impulses.

No soprano was hired. Most of the time, no instruments were enlisted as substitutes.

The “Ring” abounds in legitimate symphonic indulgences. One had to wonder why the conductor had opted for this dubious corruption.

Perhaps the concert on Tuesday was just a bizarre but economical rehearsal for a coming attraction. It must be worth noting that the same excerpts will be performed by the Philharmonic under Christof Perick at the opening of the Music Center season on Oct. 10. On that hopefully happy occasion, however, Jessye Norman will fill in the heroine’s lofty sentiments.

In the fall, moreover, the symphonic contingent will adhere to normal numbers, and its output will produce normal decibels. At the Bowl we had the redundancy of two orchestras playing music intended for one, and amplification made the redundancy doubly foolish.

Yes, the big band mustered a mighty, thick, resonant noise. But even a tiny band can make a mighty noise in these surroundings, where microphones do most of the work.

With smaller forces, Nelson might have achieved greater expressive flexibility. He might have made the lyrical interludes more intimate, the textures more transparent, the climaxes more expansive. Here, he concentrated on precision and basic propulsion. The results, though undeniably massive, tended to be taut, square and dramatically superficial.

The evening began with the strings of both orchestras luxuriating in the eloquent mush of Barber’s popular Adagio. Then Lynn Harrell played Leonard Bernstein’s second “Meditation” from “Mass” with the Institute orchestra alone, under student conductor Arthur Post.

The cellist, who also serves as Institute director, asked the audience to rise in silence to honor the late composer after this modishly discordant four-minute tribute. The funereal gesture was followed by acknowledged applause.

The Philharmonic elders had the shell to themselves at concerto time, when Nelson collaborated sensitively with Leif Ove Andsnes in Grieg’s hum-along showpiece for piano and orchestra. At 21, the debutant firebrand from Norway is probably too young to recognize the cliches in this gushing challenge. He played with galvanizing fervor and touching conviction at every predictable turn, making the most of steely nerves and fingers to match.

Occasionally he startled the listener with rhythmic irregularities, and he failed to turn the adagio into enchanted night-music. Nevertheless, he introduced himself as a pianist with a strong technique and a compelling temperament. It will be interesting to hear what he can do with some real music.

The Tuesday-night attendance slump in the 18,000-seat amphitheater continued with an official tally of 8,847.