Wigglesworth Conducts Lively Program With the Philharmonic

Over-the-top climaxes, raucous cries of anguish and unsettled quiet moments characterize both Benjamin Britten’s strictly instrumental “Sinfonia da Requiem” (1940) and Dmitri Shostakovich’s kaleidoscopic Tenth Symphony (1953), mates on Mark Wigglesworth’s program with the Los Angeles Philharmonic this week.

Heard Thursday night in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, these explosive works--they both specialize in vehemence as well as melancholy--complemented each other surprisingly; one would have thought their emotional profiles too similar. But, as paired here, and introduced contrastingly by the Prelude to Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina,” in a performance that was exquisite but not precious, the two works coexisted neatly.

Wigglesworth brought to the entire program, and to his leadership of the orchestra, a contained and unruffled manner that still coaxed high-energy and virtuosic abandon from the orchestra.

The British conductor favors fast tempos that stop short of messiness; he presses the composer’s climaxes to their limit, yet the results are never less than controlled; he encouraged some of the loudest playing of the season, but justifiably so. These pieces demand raised voices.

Shostakovich’s many-faceted Tenth, which starts out as a brilliant and dark-hued picture of melancholy and bitterness, erupts into mania and hysteria in the second movement, goes through ironic mood changes in the Allegretto and becomes, in the finale, cartoon-like in its goofiness. It still mystifies, as Herbert Glass’ trenchant program notes testify. There can be as many interpretations as there are listeners.

Wigglesworth and the orchestra achieved a passionate and compelling reading that still left the observer free to make choices. The playing was clear, bright, pointed; the soloists, in particular the woodwinds and horns, performed gloriously.

Britten’s touching “Sinfonia da Requiem,” which deserves more frequent revivals than the mere three it has had on Philharmonic programs in the last 30 years, requires, and here received, the full resources of the orchestra to achieve its many-layered musical message. Like the later Shostakovich work, it is bracingly bitter and articulate; unlike the Tenth Symphony, it ends in a somewhat more hopeful mood. The performance ran the gamut.

The “Khovanshchina” Prelude, in the arrangement by Shostakovich, was the untroubled, resplendent opening piece on this program. Among other soloists here, clarinetist Lorin Levee distinguished himself particularly.

* The L.A. Philharmonic, under Mark Wigglesworth, repeats this program in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N., Grand Ave., tonight at 8 and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. $11-$65. (323) 850-2000.