MUSIC REVIEW : Kakhidze Leads Moscow Philharmonic

Observing conductor Dzhansug Kakhidze in action--and there is plenty of time to ponder in his rich, deliberate account of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5--suggests an unlikely troika of Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Temirkanov and . . . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The two Russians come to mind because they have been here in recent weeks, and like their Georgian colleague from the former Soviet Union, have turned podium eccentricity into an art form. Longfellow, of course, because his is the famous little girl with a little curl. When she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad. . . .

Friday, Kakhidze made his local debut, courtesy of the Orange County Philharmonic Society, at Segerstrom Hall, with the Moscow Philharmonic and 17-year old violin sensation Maxim Vengerov.

Kakhidze also led the orchestra, making its first Southern California tour in more than 12 years, Sunday in San Diego, while Mark Ermler conducted concerts in Palm Desert Thursday and Santa Barbara Saturday.

Now 56, Kakhidze is a supremely serious and dignified figure at work, but not above the occasional pelvic grind or demonstrative calisthenics, and the paradoxes don’t end there. His beat is uncommonly pointed, but with so many twists and odd inside-outside variations that it is as baffling--from the audience, at least--as the more laissez-faire mysteries of Temirkanov or Rozhdestvensky.

His micro-managed approach elicited results ranging from the near miraculous--including the most resonant and sharply defined orchestral pizzicato in recent memory--to the timid and the mechanical.

Kakhidze’s interpretation of Shostakovich’s D-minor Symphony emphasized the relentless logic of its darkling drama. He played the bittersweet waltzes of the Allegretto for character and the finale for power, taking both at restrained speeds. He developed all the haunted, introspective eloquence of the opening, but lost his way in the mournful turns of the Largo, ironically through a surfeit of calculation.

The Moscow Philharmonic provided impact and energy, its moments of stridency and imbalance probably a matter of unfamiliarity with a tricky hall. Its fine-sounding soloists could go astray in pitch, but sectional work was consistently solid and pertinent.

Vengerov’s vehicle was the beloved Tchaikovsky Concerto. Not merely yet another teen-age wonder, Vengerov is an artist to remember.

Playing a Guarneri del Gesu, he produced a rich, slightly hoarse sound full of singing personality, with which he located the lyric core of the piece. Fleeting uncertainties and editorial idiosyncrasies aside, this was big Tchaikovsky, generous in spirit yet lithe in sound, and projected with a premium on supple elegance.

Kakhidze and the Muscovites accompanied with equal flair, though not always tidily. They began the concert with a rigid, cleanly detailed account of Weber’s “Oberon” Overture, and ended with the Act III entr’acte from Bizet’s “Carmen” and Berlioz’s “Marche Hongroise” in encore.