MUSIC REVIEW : Crowd-Pleasing Effort From Itzhak Perlman

Itzhak Perlman presented a super-polished, crowd-pleasing recital under Los Angeles Philharmonic auspices at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Monday. So, what else is new?

The level of performance proved staggeringly high--not a harsh, misplaced or ill-tuned note, not a rhythmic jot distorted--but with barely a suggestion of sub-surface contact with the music.

The master violinist was on auto pilot, secure in his skills and in his audience’s affection.

With the fluent, all-too-selfless assistance of pianist Janet Goodman Guggenheim, the pre-intermission portion offered two of Beethoven’s Opus 30 sonatas: the sunny work in A and the brooding C-minor, its storms allayed by a benign, soft-grained and very fast reading that bordered on the dismissive.

Part II not only ended with Perlman as emcee of showtime, as is his custom, but also began with it, via Stravinsky’s flashy, wafer-thin Duo Concertant, delivered with astonishingly fluid bowing and variety of tone.

This was followed by the real fun pieces: Kreisler’s “Sicilienne” and “Rigaudon” and Sarasate’s “Carmen” Fantasy, the latter eliciting the most precipitate standing ovation in this listener’s memory. It might have been part of the printed program.

The entire presentation was faintly depressing: an example of one of the most potent and potentially influential artists of our time refusing to exercise his unique power to educate, painlessly and undogmatically, an audience. What other instrumentalist commands such willing listeners?

Some big, tough music--the Bartok sonatas or, dare one say it?, commissioned works--would, in his hands, at least be listened to. And playing it might bring back the intensity which, combined with that still gloriously suave tone and sovereign technique, made Perlman such a compelling, not merely entertaining, artist, not many years ago.

And the audience wouldn’t love him one hug or round of applause less.