MUSIC REVIEW : Sanderling Leads Philharmonic

“Kurt Sanderling Returns.” The ads put it simply. No hype necessary. Everyone knows the meaning. The words have a completely different effect on Los Angeles Philharmonic goers than, say, “Andre Previn Returns” (zzzzz), or “Esa-Pekka Salonen Returns” (!).

The words promise that the Philharmonic will perform a couple of notches above the norm, will reveal a mellower, darker sound and that some serious musical thought, Old World-style, will emanate from the podium. The 79-year-old German conductor, a regular visitor since 1984, returned Thursday to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for three weeks of concerts, and indeed there were no surprises. Promises kept.

His reading of Schumann’s “Spring” Symphony combined weighty rhetoric with rhythmic point, diaphanous textures with brassy fortitude. His conception proved characteristically broad and flexible--a huge unwritten ritard in a transitional horn line his only questionable decision in this regard--yet never sluggish. Accents were pertly, assiduously applied, syncopations especially snapped.

Others--Dohnanyi, Krips--have found greater bounce in this symphony, few have lent it more vigor and sweetness, none have uncovered its heroic declamations so convincingly. The Philharmonic offered a well-honed reading within a typically detailed and gracious Sanderling soundscape.

Kyung-Wha Chung was the evening’s soloist, in Brahms’ Violin Concerto. She dispensed with easy musical solutions and violinistic display. One was seldom overwhelmed by her fluidity of execution--generally impressive though it may have been.

Hers was an unflinchingly urgent performance, firm, almost square cut in its lyricism, crisply articulated and lofty of sentiment in dramatic statements. She offered concentrated abandon, not poise, with significant results. Sanderling supported her meekly at times, bringing matching gusto only to orchestral tutti passages.

The concert opened by way of novelty with Weber’s “Preciosa” Overture, in which exotic bolero and Gypsy elements give way to a rather routinely ceremonious allegro. Sanderling took liberties with tempo in the opening, in an otherwise robust and neatly executed account.