Music Review : Philharmonic Veterans Retire on a High Note at the Bowl

By Esa-Pekka Salonen’s progressive standards, Thursday night’s program at the Hollywood Bowl looked perversely staid on paper--mainstream Beethoven and Brahms with a wisp of Rossini; overture, concerto, symphony. But if you looked a little closer at the occasion and then heard the results with some recent history in mind, the picture deepens and has special meaning.

In essence it was a farewell, the last Bowl concert for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 11 retiring musicians, so perhaps a large serving of traditional repertoire was appropriate. Moreover, some of us remember past Septembers here, a period of doldrums when the orchestra sounded tired, prosaic, eager for some time off before the winter season. No more. Nowadays, September is precisely the time to catch the Phil at the Bowl, for they were in terrific end-of-the-summer form with their boss on the podium.

As a brief leadoff, Rossini’s Overture to “Il Signor Bruschino,” with its witty tapping of bows on music stands (the sole concession to avant-garde sensibilities of the night), received a lean-textured, cohesively executed treatment with light and fluffy crescendos.

The now-familiar team of Salonen and pianist Yefim Bronfman has been busy making its mark in 20th century repertory like the three Bartok piano concertos and the two Shostakovich concertos (the latter are due for release on Sony in November). So it wasn’t too surprising to hear a streamlined, light-textured, driving Beethoven “Emperor” Concerto from these two, played more along the lines of edgy, unsentimental 20th century music than the grand, majestically strutting “Emperors” of old. Bronfman took a handful of interpretive liberties, sometimes rushing the scales impetuously ahead of the orchestra, but he was always rhythmically alert, transparently clear in touch, sometimes even quietly poetic (though not for long).

Brahms has not exactly been Salonen territory in the past, but he is beginning to burrow inside the Symphony No. 1, unlocking its depths. This performance was most effective in the second movement and the openings of the first and fourth movements where Salonen could carefully shape the phrases and linger soulfully almost to the breaking point, confident that his orchestra would sustain the line. There was also the usual Salonen vigor and incisiveness, some routine stretches, and some oddly pointed hidden wind details brought to the fore.

In sum, an interpretation in progress, yet often satisfying in its present form, particularly when treated to such ravishing world-class ensemble playing by the Phil, which knows this piece inside out. One should freeze this sonic picture in time, for after the new players come in, the Philharmonic might sound somewhat different.

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* The Los Angeles Philharmonic repeats Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, along with works by Mozart, in a community concert Tuesday, 8 p.m., Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., $20 to $60, (626) 449-7360.