MUSIC REVIEW : Temirkanov and the Royal Philharmonic Flex Muscles

In these days of orchestral routine, when an ensemble musician is required to punch the clock day in and day out to the tunes of the standard repertory, it is good to have a conductor such as Yuri Temirkanov around.

When he walks on stage, as he did Monday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, in his role as principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic, Temirkanov looks like a man possessed; his eyes have something strange in them. And whether that happens to be a reflection of the deep poetry emanating from his soul or the flair of a showman, it hardly matters.

Temirkanov wants the spotlight, wants you to notice how wonderful he is in the--sure, admittedly--great music at hand. As a performer, he has a healthy self-regard. That keeps things interesting.

And when he’s leading the Royal Philharmonic, one of the world’s elite orchestras, it can be very interesting. This may not have been an evening of subtle music making, especially when Temirkanov was showing you how subtle he can be, but no one could claim it wasn’t a good ride.

On the second night of what is billed as its United Nations World Tour, the orchestra opened with a noisy calling card, Elgar’s “Cockaigne” Overture, a busy parade of tunes evoking London life. This was a boisterous, muscular performance--even the lyrical passages were played with the violins digging aggressively--and when the trombones and percussion crackled and thundered it felt like a threat, one largely realized in what was to come.

In fact, if one had a criticism of Monday’s proceedings it would be that instrumental balances were settled by battle, not diplomacy.

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A few of the balances were thus askew in Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from “Peter Grimes” in an otherwise lofty and bold reading. The batonless Temirkanov floated its musical strands, pulled phrases, splashed colors and allowed all hell to break loose in the “Storm.” It was thrilling.

Probably the most remarkable thing about the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony that followed was that it wasn’t just another Tchaikovsky Fifth. This veteran orchestra played the well-worn score with nonstop intensity, commitment and polish. When these musicians play loud, which was often Monday, the sound takes on breadth, not edge, and the string sonority becomes big and burnished.

Temirkanov shaped the musical argument compellingly with skillfully controlled rubato and a knowing use of the gas pedal in a spacious but never lax interpretation.

When the ovation arrived, Temirkanov looked as if he had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for the greatest conductor who ever was--and felt as if he fully deserved it--and so led “Nimrod” from the “Enigma” Variations as an encore in rolling waves of sound in a single arch.