Salonen, Violinist Chang Get Flashy During Benefit

Orchestral display for its own giddy sake is not something we usually associate with Esa-Pekka Salonen. It seems a reasonable indulgence, however, on a program celebrating the musicians of the orchestra, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Pension Fund Benefit on Monday evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with soloist Sarah Chang.

Certainly Salonen exploited every opportunity for muscle-flexing and colorful preening afforded in popular favorites by Sibelius, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. Salonen and company had played the latter’s “Francesca da Rimini” the previous four days and Monday its agonies shrieked and sobbed with well-practiced fervor.

Equally extravagant in emotion but more measured in expression were pieces from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” The knights in “Montagues and Capulets” have seldom danced with weightier tread, and their pace was carried into a rather solemn “Masques.” Salonen realized the lovers’ ecstasies with pliant, caressive lines beautifully sustained by his orchestra, and brought the grim keening of “The Death of Tybalt” to a shattering climax despite unusual balances in some of the massive chords.

Rash though it may be to question a Finn about “Finlandia,” Salonen’s opening account of the Sibelius evergreen sounded muscular and colorful to the point of bombast--explosive and powerful, to be sure, but also occasionally abrupt and awkward in both concept and execution.

Similar things happened with Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. Chang, who played the Tchaikovsky Concerto for the American Youth Symphony’s benefit at the Pavilion in March, reaches for the audience with every possible expressive device pushed to its limit. With her immense talent she readily succeeds, but almost in spite of the music at times.

Chang’s volatile passions and her confidence in pursuing them may be endearing to audiences, but they make for risky accompaniment. Salonen and the Philharmonic tracked her impulses gamely, and provided an accommodating sonic context for her fervent communicative thrust.