MUSIC REVIEW : Romeros Bring Their Guitars Back to Hollywood Bowl

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn. has little use for the guitar indoors, but regularly finds a place for the instrument--particularly in the hands of the Romeros--outdoors in Cahuenga Pass. The popular family ensemble returned to Hollywood Bowl Wednesday, closing the Virtuoso series.

Their program proved quite familiar, but the Romeros have a new face in the lineup this season. Celino Romero has replaced his uncle Angel Romero, joining his father, Celin, his other uncle Pepe and his grandfather Celedonio.

Even in the artificially equable environment of amplification, it was clear the new player did not project with the authority of his elders. Otherwise he meshed readily into the established fabric, in performances quite tight by the standards of an ensemble that has always put more emphasis on spirit than finesse.

The richest and most complex challenge came in the form of Moreno Torroba’s “Estampas,” a typically characterful set of Iberian miniatures composed for the Romeros. They imbued the pieces with a full measure of distinctive color and blithe energy.

Other pieces for the full quartet were arrangements from theater music by Falla, Chapi and Gimenez, three dances from Praetorius’ “Terpsichore” collection, and a Concerto in D by Telemann. The latter would have benefited from a trill or two and Pepe Romero hijacked the finale of Chapi’s “La revoltosa” Prelude rather crudely, but elsewhere vigor and ebullience carried the music off nicely.

Each of the four guitarists had a moment alone on the stage. Celino Romero played the patchwork “Suite Espanola” of Sanz fluidly, covering a brief memory lapse in the Canarios smoothly but finding few connections to the dance roots of the music.

Pepe Romero displayed his customary power and clarity in Tarrega’s “Capricho Arabe” and Fantasia on “La Traviata.” Celin Romero offered elegantly understated, but not always well-defined accounts of a pair of Villa-Lobos Preludes, and Celedonio Romero turned to three of his own graceful and virtuosic Preludes.

The highlight of the evening, however, came unexpectedly in the duo playing of Pepe and Celin Romero. The “Variaciones Concertantes” of Giuliani provided only a bravura workout for Pepe, but his idiomatic adaptations of two pieces by Granados produced some genuinely seductive music-making, full of sensuous nuance.

Many of the 9,067 listeners who clicked through the turnstiles left early, but those who stayed cheered lustily and were rewarded with Celedonio’s “Malaguenas” and a rowdy flamenco improvisation.