Mozart Orchestra Brings Verve, Polish to Classics

You could call it a deeply conservative classic, although the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra’s season opener, Saturday at the Wilshire-Ebell Theatre, might better be described as an emphatic statement about core musical values. Music director Lucinda Carver’s overture-concerto-symphony agenda, Beethoven framing Mozart, reminded us that there were good reasons why that pattern became a satisfying model for generations.

Energetically refreshed and immaculately turned out classicism seemed the order of the evening. Certainly that was the case at concerto time, with Israeli pianist Aviram Reichert as the soloist in Mozart’s D-minor Concerto, KV 466. Personally expressive within a respectably stylish context, the Van Cliburn bronze medalist played with grace and point, power and finesse. Busoni’s cadenzas allowed Reichert to extend the scope of both his pianism and the historical perspective.

Carver and the Mozart Orchestra accompanied with sensitive balance and poise. This ensemble has no fear of stringently clear textures, and supported its soloist actively.

There was no revisionism apparent in Carver’s thinking about Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3 or his Second Symphony, but rather sincere respect and affection. A profound joy in the process, a vital sense of the moment as well as its interconnections, informed her crisply detailed interpretations. She brought the drama of the “Leonore” mini-tone poem to life and imbued the symphony with confident glee.

Her orchestra played with equal relish and delight, while maintaining a disciplined drive and pinpoint responses. Occasional disagreements about intonation and rare patches of squeakiness in the first violins aside, these were noble, stirring performances. More imaginative programming comes later in the season, but this concert staked out anew the orchestra’s foundational commitment in terms of repertory and ensemble playing.