Music Reviews : Ohyama Conducts ‘Gedatsu’

There was much that was new at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Friday evening, including a debut of sorts. The Japan America Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles gave its first performance, with a program that featured the U.S. premiere of Maki Ishii’s “Gedatsu.”

Formerly the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra of Los Angeles, the ensemble changed its name to better reflect the mixed composition of the group and to avoid confusion with the Japanese Philharmonic in Tokyo.

The new label seems to beg association with the Japan America Theatre, where the last two concerts of the JASO season will be presented, but Heiichiro Ohyama’s well-drilled and vigorously led orchestra by any other name would sound as sweet.

This is a capable and enthusiastic band, as Ohyama let his musicians demonstrate in the vivid opening account of Rossini’s “Guillaume Tell” Overture. The string sound proved a little small for the unfettered brass, but, balances aside, ensemble values were high.

The strings did get some uncontested feature work, in the Acts I and III preludes from Verdi’s “La Traviata” score. Under Ohyama’s expressive guidance, the playing emerged with conviction and point, despite the untidy violin descant over the big cello tune.

Verdi’s instrumental evocation of his consumptive courtesan made an apt prologue to “Gedatsu,” a shimmering concerto in the form of a tone poem recounting the Buddhist reflections of a similar Japanese heroine.

Michiko Akao was the protagonist, playing three types of yokobue --bamboo transverse flutes--and even singing in the central raptures. She can convey more in a single bent sound than many other musicians can in whole cadenzas, and made Ishii’s pliant plaints carry a universal sense of aspiration.

Ohyama, recently named music adviser to the Santa Fe Chamber Festival, conducted the percussion-rich accompaniment with moody flair and dramatic emphasis.

His sweeping, heavily accented account of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony elicited strong and compelling work from the orchestra. It stood well within current interpretive norms in pacing and clarity of detail, but quite distinctive even for this piece in passion and spiritual exultation.