MUSIC REVIEW : Stylish Haydn Ends L.A. Mozart Season

Coming at the end of a long warm-up, Saturday night in the Wilshire-Ebell Theatre, Haydn’s Symphony No. 82 (“The Bear”) sounded like the masterpiece it is, as conducted brilliantly by Lucinda Carver and played with gusto by the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra.

What came before--works of Mozart, Dittersdorf and Respighi--had been respectable, but on a measurably lower level of achievement marked by pedestrian tempos, dishwater textures and a general lack of luster. When Haydn arrived to save the evening, and close Carver’s second full season as music director, he was welcome.

Bold rhythms, incisive contrasts, tight ensemble and a fluid sense of continuity characterized this performance, played by the nearly three dozen Mozart Orchestra members with complete attentiveness to Carver’s unmistakable gestures. Loving respect for Haydn seems to be her motto.

A certain flaccidity of focus seemed to keep Mozart’s Serenade in D, K. 239 (“Serenata Notturna”), the concert opener, from its wonted impact. Solo lines emerged on time, yet proved unengaging in terms of energy or purpose. And a general lack of transparency dulled the total.

JoAnn Turovsky was the effortlessly virtuosic soloist in the recast Harp Concerto in A by Dittersdorf. The piece, transcribed (as Roger Lebow’s bright program notes revealed) by Karl Hermann Pilley from a concerto originally for harpsichord, is certainly a cherishable relic of 1779. But it is debatable which of its positive attributes--the composer’s or the transcriber’s--are most to be admired. One listener would vote for the second-movement cadenza, which Lebow tells us was incontrovertibly written by Pilley. . . .

At mid-program, Respighi’s Third Set of “Ancient Airs and Dances” showed the orchestra’s accomplished strings in fine voice, if not optimally balanced. By the end of the piece, the friendly audience became confused about where it was, movement-wise--the printed program had too much information--and missed its chance to applaud.