Teamwork, Imagination Break Bowl Routine

The program builders at the Hollywood Bowl crafted a major incentive to midseason routine Tuesday evening. The Los Angeles Philharmonic and guests Eri Klas and Garrick Ohlsson ignored the lure, however, and for at least half a concert made something satisfyingly eventful out of the Nordic staples assigned to them.

Ohlsson was the protagonist in Grieg’s A-minor Piano Concerto, which he greeted with energy and imagination. The American pianist made a particular point of characterizing themes with clear individuality, contrasting crisply swaggering dances with caressing, pliant songs. He supported this persuasive effort with clean, confident playing, generous in spirit and detail.

Klas provided an active accompaniment, one that kept Ohlsson’s work in perspective but also knew when to stride forward and make its own compelling case. The veteran Estonian conductor has worked regularly with the Philharmonic, both downtown and at the Bowl, and they seemed in easy agreement about their role in this concerto.

The first suite of Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” music also emerged with fluid grace. The wind solos were distinctively expressive, the strings warm and tightly knit, and the sound system on fine behavior until it dropped the cello and bass pizzicato out of “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”

The same thing happened at the beginning of the second movement of Sibelius’ Second Symphony. The first movement had been a vigorous, well-motivated affair, but then the second started with only vaguely audible intimations of musical direction, and the thing never recovered. The composer left plenty of thematic aids to integration but also a bevy of continuity traps and Klas evaded none.

Some noble solos aside, the Philharmonic seemed more tentative here as well. There were moments of radiant sound and incisive rhythm, to be sure, but also much grinding of transitional gears. The fitful interpretation, performance and sound reinforcement left the final apotheosis facile and unconvincing, something stumbled into by blind luck rather than achieved through either musical logic or sheer emotional sweep.