O.C. MUSIC / CHRIS PASLES : At 18, a Return to Prominence : Violinist Julian Rachlin went into relative obscurity after winning an international competition at 13. ‘It was not the ideal time to start a career,’ he says.

Violinist Julian Rachlin came to prominence at the age of 13 in 1988 after winning an international competition in Amsterdam. He promptly decided to fade back into relative obscurity.

“The phone began ringing; immediately offers started coming in,” Rachlin, 18, said in a recent phone interview from his home in Vienna. “All the managers wanted to engage me. Everyone wanted me to play. All around the world . . .

“But I had many things to do. I had to go to school. I had to practice. I had to develop my repertory. Basically there was a lot of work waiting for me. It was not the ideal time to start a career at 13. I hate that word career, anyway. I wasn’t ready to do that.

“It was a big risk. People might have forgotten immediately, dropped me immediately. But people didn’t.”

In fact, Rachlin’s career has progressed steadily since he won the IV Eurovisions Competition for young artists in 1988. He has played with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, the Orchestre National de France, the Chicago Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra, among others.

This week he makes his first appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Esa-Pekka Salonen, as soloist in the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Sandwiched between the second and third performances of the work in Los Angeles, he and the orchestra play Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The program is sponsored by the Philharmonic Society.

Born in Lithuania, Rachlin grew up in a musical family; his mother is a pianist and a choir conductor, his father plays cello.

“I was never pushed, never pressured to play the violin,” he recalled. “It was the opposite. I begged them to get me a teacher. But they didn’t take me seriously. They wanted me to be a normal child--to go to school, to finish school. They knew what this profession was about. It is not an easy little thing if one really loves it and wants to do it professionally.”

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At first, the boy had wanted to play the cello, like his father. “I was always putting on a recording of Rostropovich, with Karajan, playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto. It ran nonstop. My parents and grandparents couldn’t stand it any more. It was on for the whole day. I still love the cello. Still, sometimes I’m sorry I can’t play it . . . But it was very hard to get a little cello at that time. So the only instrument my grandmother could get for was a little fiddle, a factory fiddle. I was very happy with it.”

At the time, though, his parents were preoccupied with more than trying to get music lessons for their only child; they were trying to get out of the country.

“We are all Jewish,” Rachlin explained. “It was hard for Jewish people in (Lithuanian) musical life to be respected and to be treated in a fair way. So they decided to emigrate. But at that time it was extremely hard. A limited amount of families were allowed out, and once one left the country, one was an enemy of the country. Your passport was taken immediately.”

The family managed to leave in 1978, stopping in Vienna. Julian was 3. “Austria was a transit country,” he said. “All the families were supposed to go on--to America, to Israel or to Australia. But both my parents, being musicians, knew the ideal place would be in Europe.”

In addition, his father was nearing 35, the upper age limit to audition for many major orchestras. “He didn’t have much time to get into a good orchestra, and in America, orchestras are extremely tough to get into.”

So they decided to stay in Vienna and become Austrian citizens. His father joined the Tonkunstler Orchestra.

After several years of lessons with a Russian emigree, Julian began studying with Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. Rachlin insisted repeatedly on giving credit to Kuschnir, unlike some musicians who dissociate themselves from their teachers after embarking on professional careers.

“One should never be embarrassed to say one studies,” he said. “In this profession, there is no end, there is no border. One can study one’s whole life. Great artists have never been pleased with themselves.

“I consider myself extremely lucky to have, for me, one of the greatest teachers in the world, and I personally think, the greatest. Otherwise, would I be with him for 10 years?

“I consider it extremely important to have a person who will always tell me the truth, who will criticize me, who wants me to play better and better,” he added. “Every artist needs a close person who will in bad times as well as good support him, worry about him and not drop him.”

Kuschnir is only part of what he calls his “team,” however; it also includes his parents. “We always discuss things and decide together. So I will always speak in the plural,” he said.

The team has set Rachlin’s goal for the next several years, which is to be “in a very serious practice phase. You have to dedicate 80 to 90% of your life to the music,” he said. “It doesn’t just come from heaven. You have to work like a pig, if you’ll pardon me.”

The instrument he plays these days is no longer a factory fiddle. It is a 1741 Guarnerius (called the “Ex Carrodus”), which is owned by the Oesterreichische (Austrian) National Bank. “They bought a couple of first-class instruments because they’re an investment,” he said. “The price grows all the time. I couldn’t buy it, I couldn’t afford it. They let young Austrians use them.”

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Rachlin and his teacher have “always worked very slowly” on a piece, he said. “But when it’s ready, it’s ready for my whole life--fingers, heart and soul. I will never have problems with it for life.”

The Sibelius Violin Concerto--which he has recorded with Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony for release in February--occupied him for more than a year, he said. “This piece kept bothering me very much, very much. It is one of the great violin concertos, and it is really a very, very deep composition.”

“Technically, yes, it’s a very highly demanding piece. But all this emphasis on technique--What is technique? Technique is a base. Without a good technique, you can’t survive anyway. You perform a piece, everyone talks about technique, (but if that’s all they talk about) music suffers very much from it.

“I have always been against complete and utter perfection. Of course one needs a complete technique. This should be included in the music, it should be a part of it, but not a main part. Music should keep its humanity.”

* Julian Rachlin will be soloist in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto played by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Esa-Pekka Salonen, on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. The program also includes Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2. $17 to $45. (714) 553-2422.