A Fresh Serving of Familiar Russian Fare

Venerable outlines filled in with variety and imagination were the rule Friday evening at the Hollywood Bowl. The creaking “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” of yore has been diversified into a “Russian Spectacular,” and entrusted to the visiting Russian National Orchestra, with associate conductor Dmitri Liss once again substituting for injured music director Mikhail Pletnev.

Fresh perspectives also were apparent within familiar repertory. The solo vehicle, traditionally either Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 or his Violin Concerto, was the Piano Concerto, but as revivified with color and drama by Nikolai Lugansky. Winner of the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition, the 27-year-old pianist has obviously given serious thought to tempo relationships, resulting in a fluid structure much more theatrical than architectural in outlook and spirit.

Playing with ease and dash, Lugansky brought light as well as heat to bear on the subject. Liss also seemed to value elasticity, although he and the orchestra sometimes flexed in different directions from their soloist.

Broadening the scope of the program has not taken it down esoteric byways. Tchaikovsky’s new partners were Glinka’s “Russlan and Ludmilla” Overture and a suite of excerpts from Prokovfiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” ballet. Breathless speed seemed the whole point of the Overture in Liss’ view, and the orchestra gave him virtuosic articulation.

Pieces by Prokofiev were much more compellingly characterized. Liss has his own ideas about pacing here too, and clarified textures, light and treble dominated--at least as reproduced through the Bowl sound system. Ensemble cohesion and woodwind intonation suffered at times, but the interpretation and the performance were never less than interesting and often much more.

To close, there was Tchaikovsky and fireworks, of course, but not the “1812” Overture. Probably most of the audience knew the fireworks cues for the “1812,” which would hardly have garnered the astonished collective gasp that came when the pyrotechnics entered “Capriccio Italien” for the first time. The scream and crackle of rockets and the roar of offstage engines buried much of this graceful score, but then music has never been the central issue in these finales.

Ironically, the orchestra’s first encore was the tail end of the “1812” Overture, right about where the fireworks would have entered. More ballet followed: the “Jester’s Dance” from Tchaikovsky’s “Snow Maiden” and the drum-driven Lezghinka from Katchaturian’s “Gayane.”