WEEKEND REVIEWS : Music : Beethoven in a Movie Palace

In a perfect world a world without earthquakes and architectural frailties--the concert by the beleaguered Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on Friday would have been performed at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.

The Southern California fates, however, had other plans. That’s why Christof Perick ended up moving from the halls of ivy in Westwood to beautiful downtown Glendale, where he conducted some of Beethoven’s greatest hits in a movie palace.

Ah, all-American exotica.

Of course, the Alex Theatre isn’t an ordinary garden-variety movie palace. It is a 68-year-old masterpiece of stately-gaudy Egypto-Grecian nouveau-Deco delirium, lovingly restored in all its kitschy splendor.

The house, which has a gigantic neon obelisk towering above its glowing marquee, was designed as a home for vaudeville as well as film. It seats 1,470, yet manages to seem reasonably intimate.

It certainly represents a beguiling addition to our entertainment landscape. It is a great place for Hollywood nostalgia. Unfortunately, as presently constituted, it is an awful place for serious music-making.

Ah, acoustics.

With no shell on the curtained stage to project the tone forward and no wood on the walls to reinforce resonance, the chamber orchestra sounded muffled, woefully dry, frustratingly dull. From an aisle seat downstairs in Row J, the treble response was terminally tinny, the bass virtually inaudible, the blend of choirs oddly raucous.

Under the circumstances one had to take a lot on faith. One had to make a lot of aural allowances. Luckily, Beethoven has withstood worse disasters.

Perick began the evening with characteristic no-nonsense brio in the “Corialan” overture, and ended it with a propulsive, agreeably light-textured performance of the Eighth Symphony. Although there may not have been many revelations here, one had to appreciate the inherent professionalism at work, not to mention the stylistic flair. Even when ensemble standards went awry, the assembled spirits seemed emphatically willing.

*

The central attraction was the Second Piano Concerto, a grateful vehicle for the debonair Jean-Yves Thibaudet. He surmounted the bravura hurdles with gentle ease, made much of his own finely nuanced cadenzas, flirted with preciosity in the adagio, and dashed through the rondo finale with jaunty elan.

In general, the nonconformist from Lyon stressed intimacy where others strive for grandeur. Given the aesthetic ambience, it seemed a wise decision.

Ah, sophistication.

Incidental intelligence:

* The skimpy program slip attested to the woes besetting the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. Still, the financial shortfall neither excuses nor explains the absence of movement titles.

* The concert was repeated Saturday night, presumably under happier sonic conditions, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.