MUSIC REVIEW : L.A. Philharmonic Plays Grieg’s ‘Peer Gynt’ Score

Music lovers found their senses worked overtime Thursday when the Los Angeles Philharmonic dove boldly into Grieg’s ever-popular--but seldom heard complete--incidental music for “Peer Gynt.”

The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage hosted a semi-multimedia production number, complete with stars of stage and screen--actors Jon de Lancie and Carolyn Seymour in speaking roles--vocal soloists and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Finnish stage director Juha Hemanus was flown in for the endeavor, although the performers remained stationary, concert-style.

And, for bored eyes, a slide show splashed haphazardly on the ceiling.

It’s doubtful that Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock and the other artists represented would have appreciated having their work sprayed on and distorted by perforated ceiling panels as part of a misguided light show. For the sake of equal time, the Philharmonic should be required to play in a museum attic for an art opening.

At times, the incidental music seemed all too incidental. But somewhere in all the stimuli was powerful music-making, as Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen found new vibrancy from themes that have woven themselves into the high and low of musical culture, from concert stages to cartoon soundtracks. Los Angeles mezzo-soprano Paula Rasmussen produced a luminous tone, and Norwegian soprano Solveig Kringelborn brought consummate tenderness to the ethereal finale, “Solveig’s Cradle Song.”

Opening an evening of music from the North was Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, performed with panache and precision by the Lithuanian-born Julian Rachlin. At 19, Rachlin is barely more than half of Salonen’s age, and if, in the opening movement, his playing hinted at the youthful foible of possessing more technical bravura than bone-deep feeling, by the end he had sculpted a dazzling and balanced performance that was the stuff of a well-deserved ovation.

Salonen’s innate gift for Sibelius seems by now a proven commodity. He--pardon the pun--Finnessed shimmering orchestral textures and rugged dynamic contours from a willing ensemble, creating vivid colors that needed no audio-visual aids to impart their message.