Percussively Postmodern Philharmonic

A conductor-in-training cannot retire to the practice room to perfect his instrument’s technique. His or her exercise with what Bruno Walter called the “dragon with 100 heads” is therefore limited, and public.

So one expected a little inexperience when assistant conductor Grant Gershon--a relatively novice baton-wielder though a seasoned pianist--took the reins of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Thursday night at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. No big deal. Solid good sense and intelligent musicianship ruled the day, even if minute control of the orchestra wasn’t always apparent.

It was good enough, though, for Gershon’s exploring program. And it didn’t hurt that he had percussionist Evelyn Glennie on hand for James MacMillan’s percussion concerto “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel.”

The bare-footed Glennie (who is deaf, though she keeps that out of her program bio) attacked her work with the incisive authority of a martial artist, every motion crisp and precise, the resulting sounds hard but never heavy, resonant but pointed. She strolled amid her arsenal--gongs, drums, marimba, cymbals, 16 different types of instruments in all--like a nonchalant cougar. She doodled poetically, sketched propulsively and kicked convincingly.

Her vehicle, “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel,” is a postmodern soup, dissonant and mystical, that quotes and fragments the title hymn. It is serious, earnest stuff. That “Veni” also serves as a dazzling showpiece is something of a dichotomy though, profundity and display being strange bedfellows.

Gershon opened with Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis for double string orchestra and string quartet, lush, carefully contrasted and passionate at its peaks. Barber’s First Essay for Orchestra emerged heavy-footed but open-hearted. Copland’s Four Dance Episodes from “Rodeo” wound up the event genially, generalized at times, but snazzy and romping enough.