Bowl Orchestra Hits Note of Goodwill in Japan : Music: The ensemble receives standing ovations on whirlwind tour, highlighted by conductor John Mauceri’s greetings in Japanese.

Conductor John Mauceri, who regaled audiences at the Hollywood Bowl last summer with his witty introductions to works performed by the newly formed Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, did it again--but this time it was in Japanese to packed concert halls in Japan.

“This is a present for you. Please sing,” he said before conducting a five-minute medley of Japanese traditional songs that left the audience beaming.

The ensemble and Mauceri, who learned a bit of Japanese for a whirlwind 11-day concert tour of Osaka and Tokyo, got a warm reception Thursday in Tokyo’s Orchard Hall.

Making its debut tour in Japan, the ensemble--80 members strong, including a tuba player and three-piece saxophone section--played for two New Year’s concerts in Osaka and began a five-concert stand in Tokyo on Thursday.

The group received two standing ovations in Osaka, and at the end of the concert audience members were reaching out to touch Mauceri.

The 46-year-old conductor, who is also music director of the Scottish Opera, said that he and the orchestra were also reaching out, trying to touch the audience with their music from Hollywood, Broadway and the concert hall. In an interview, he said he and the touring ensemble see themselves as ambassadors of goodwill, trying to reach all ages and nationalities with memorable music from the movies and theater--and such composers as Gershwin, Bernstein, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev.

Of teen-age listeners in Osaka, Mauceri said: “When they heard (music from) ‘Rocketeer’ and ‘Dances With Wolves,’ it made the connection back to the Stravinsky and the other music they were hearing (on the program).” “The Rocketeer” has been playing Japan’s major cities for about six weeks.

Mauceri, whose goal with the L.A. Philharmonic-sponsored ensemble is to play “the entire gamut” of orchestral music, said there seems to be “an acceptance of this idea in Japan.”

The tour supporters--the Tokyo Broadcasting System, Dai-Ichi Kikaku Co. and Kyodo Tokyo Inc.--did much to forge a connection between orchestra and audience, arranging for a traditional New Year’s gift of 5-yen coins to be handed out with the programs.

But providing a major draw was the popular Shinji Tanimura, who sang his hit, “Subaru,” and a new song, “Apollo,” backed by the orchestra.

One member of the audience, escorted by her two young sons, said she had come expressly to hear Tanimura and had never even heard of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. She said she had wanted to name her first son Subaru after the singer’s hit song of a decade ago.

Tanimura, who has had a string of hit records in Japan, clearly drew many listeners who had yet to feel a connection with music by Schoenberg, Rodgers, Steiner and Stravinsky, which opened the Tokyo concert Thursday and was politely received. Most of those interviewed said they came to hear Tanimura or music from the movies rather than the orchestra.

But after some winning excerpts from “The Sound of Music,” “South Pacific,” “Star Wars,” “Dances With Wolves,” “E.T.” and John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” the audience was toe-tapping and clapping with the beat.

Touring--no matter where--is an expensive proposition. A recent Los Angeles Musicians Local 47 newsletter listed a few of these costs: $140 daily salary for each player--with 15 principals getting $210--plus $93 per diem. All transportation is provided, of course, and there is a single room for each person on the tour, which includes two of the most expensive cities in the world.

Despite these costs, the tour was expected to make money, from sales of records if not from the $40 to $100 ticket prices. But a scan of local record shops showed that only one in four carried a Hollywood Bowl recording, priced at $19 for the CD. The same store offered 14 Boston Pops recordings.

This is ironic, considering that the ensemble was formed ostensibly to fill in for the L.A. Philharmonic during the summer season at the Bowl. In reality, the ensemble is also trying to fill a gap for Philips Classics, which lost the Boston Pops to the Sony Classical label three years ago.

Philips was instrumental in forming the new ensemble early in 1991 to trade on the glittery aura of Hollywood and the Bowl itself. It rushed the newly formed orchestra into a recording studio months before its live debut last summer just to have recordings available during this tour of Japan.

In the United States, the ensemble’s first recording for Philips Classics, “Hollywood Dreams,” featuring movie music from “The Wizard of Oz” to “Dances With Wolves,” climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard magazine crossover chart earlier this year. The second CD, “Gershwins in Hollywood,” with vocals by Gregory Hines and Patti Austin, entered the chart at No. 9 and is now No. 7.

After a final concert Tuesday evening, the orchestra is due to depart for home the next day.