An ‘Italian’ Symphony Milanese-Style at the Bowl

For the second of his two Hollywood Bowl appearances on Thursday, conductor Carlo Rizzi again offered up familiar and notably aggressive music: Schubert’s “Rosamunde” Overture, the “Emperor” Concerto of Beethoven and Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony. And Rizzi again found the Los Angeles Philharmonic a willing and accomplished collaborator.

The conductor from Milan, an attentive but not a willful leader, presided over the orchestra’s most satisfying playing in Mendelssohn’s Fourth Symphony, a work annually revived, it seems, soon after every summer solstice. This time around, it spread its joys predictably, in tight ensemble and solid balances and with no untoward meddling from the podium. Those who love the piece were given no reason to change their allegiance to it.

At the beginning of the evening, following a dutiful run-through of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the Schubert excerpt served as a warmer-upper--for the orchestra, the sound system and the audience--of few projected charms.

Then, some genuine settling down came during the performance of 22-year-old Roman pianist Giovanni Bellucci, who played the E-flat Concerto stylishly and with solid technique for this, his West Coast debut. In the great outdoors at least, his sound seemed monochromatic and limited although his musicality is unquestioned. Rizzi and the Philharmonic provided firm partnership.