MUSIC REVIEW : Peter Maag Leads Second Bowl Program

After an incontrovertible triumph at his return to Hollywood Bowl, earlier this week, Peter Maag on Thursday night turned in only a mixed success.

Blame atmospheric conditions, the placement of the stars--or, merely, rehearsal time misspent. Whatever the reason, the Swiss conductor’s performance, leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program devoted to familiar pieces by Schubert, Bruch and Beethoven, seemed anticlimactic after his Tuesday appearance.

Its high point came at the end, in the work that clearly had been prepared most thoroughly, Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony.

The 73-year-old conductor’s reading of that overused Bowl staple may not have offered great spontaneity or freshness, yet one had to admire the polish and clarity that the Philharmonic players achieved and Maag’s purposeful--if sometimes remarkably deliberate--sense of motion.

Whatever set of woodwind principals are employed, our Philharmonic’s performances of the “Pastoral” can be counted on for superior soloism.

This time around those principals happened to be flutist Anne Diener Giles, oboist David Weiss, clarinetist Lorin Levee, bassoonist Alan Good and hornist Jerry Folsom. Individually and as an ensemble, they played splendidly.

Earlier, the orchestra displayed considerably less polish. Schubert’s “Rosamunde” Overture moved along reassuringly but without optimal confidence, and with measurably less grace and buoyancy than it demands.

Sidney Weiss, the Philharmonic’s principal concertmaster since 1979, took the solo spot before intermission in the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Max Bruch.

Not surprisingly, Weiss’ performance of the G-minor Concerto became admirable for pacing, vigor, stylishness and purity of tone. On the technical plane, the violinist’s playing remains irreproachable. In terms of rhetoric, his musical convictions, as always, proved solid and undeniable.

All that was missing on this occasion was strong support from the conductor. To our chagrin, Maag regularly, and a couple of times embarrassingly, let the orchestra fall behind the soloist.

Official attendance: 9,901.