Music Review : Satisfying Brahms From Shaham, Blomstedt

Why, I once asked a successful teacher of violin prodigies, would you allow a 14-year-old to play the Brahms Concerto?

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Because, the teacher replied, he--it was a he we were talking about--is ready both technically and musically and because the piece is not diminished, but rather thrives, in the process. Good musicians of all ages have a perspective to be considered.

The teacher is right. A gifted player of any age has something to tell us about great music.

Gil Shaham, the Israeli American violinist (who is 24), had much to impart Thursday night, when he collaborated with guest conductor Herbert Blomstedt (who is 68) and the L.A. Philharmonic in a deeply satisfying reconsideration of the Brahms Concerto in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

With a probing lyricism that seemed both to analyze the piece and to re-create it with great affection (and with stunning technical ease; some fiddlers make this assignment sound difficult), Shaham brought freshness and passion and ear-opening articulation to the familiar work. He proved himself unafraid of both its mechanical challenges and its Romantic rhetoric, delivering them with boldness and authority.

Blomstedt and the orchestra cooperated openheartedly, in handsome solo lines as well as in controlled ensemble.

The former conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Blomstedt balanced this program by beginning with Brahms’ “Academic Festival” Overture, in a well-paced, faceted performance, and making his centerpiece a rarity, Hindemith’s Symphony, “Die Harmonie der Welt” (1951).

This was not a Philharmonic premiere, having been conducted here in October, 1953, by then-music director Alfred Wallenstein. It is well worth reviving, Hindemith centenary or no, for the brilliance in its lines and the craft in its structure. By now, few in the Philharmonic were present on the earlier occasion--yet the orchestra played it as if it were an old friend.

* The Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, repeats this program tonight at 8 and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave. Tickets: $6-$58.