MUSIC REVIEW : Zubin Mehta Conducts From the Heart

Longtime observers of Zubin Mehta will tell you this: What you see is what you hear. The Bombay-born conductor, who was the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1962 to 1978, seems to have no hidden agendas, no devious, tip-of-the-iceberg interpretive strategies. He leads music he loves, with a directness and an affection undiminished over time.

Brahms, for instance, was the main subject of Mehta’s return to the Philharmonic podium this week. Thursday, at the first of four performances--this one a Pension Fund Benefit for the players of the orchestra--Mehta presided over glowing, mellow and emotionally complete readings of the Violin Concerto and the Third Symphony.

There may be--indeed, there are--other approaches to this music, approaches that include more probing, detailing, layering and analyzing than Mehta cares to indulge in. But thinking too much, and digging too deep, was never this conductor’s way. He usually heads straight for the heart of most musical matters. And most of the time, it works.

In rich rapport with the Philharmonic players, including a handful of inspired soloists, Mehta certainly brought out the best in this sometimes understated masterpiece. Not that anyone overplayed; the total simply expressed the Brahmsian temper of this deeply felt symphonic canvas, without any self-conscious standoffishness.

In this performance, the opening Allegro con brio seemed to wallow in moments in a vaguely impressionistic haze that served as prelude to the wide-ranging emotional subtexts in the middle movements and finale. Beautifully limned, these movements, under Mehta’s ministrations, emerged Brahmsian canvases of rich detail and autumnal colors. The finale in particular seemed articulated, as it were, in a single breath.

Guest conductor and orchestra achieved as much in their collaboration with Pinchas Zukerman, the aristocratic, pure-toned soloist in the Violin Concerto. Without slighting the work’s familiar drama and sweep, Zukerman/Mehta brought to it warm colors, pungent details and an almost-surprising sense of spontaneity.

The overture proved to be another in the continuing series of 75th-anniversary Philharmonic premieres, this one lighter and more jolly than some of the others. It was Jacob Druckman’s “With Bells On,” a fanfare for piccolos, flute, brass and percussion that lasts barely two minutes. It should be heard again; fun-times should always be repeated.

* Zubin Mehta leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 850-2000. Final performances of this program today at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $6-$50.