Vonk Conducts a Strong Bowl Debut

In his Hollywood Bowl debut, Hans Vonk--maybe not charismatic, but utterly solid--conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an admirable and articulate performance of Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony on Tuesday night. The orchestra, balanced and energetic, played splendidly for the Dutch conductor, now about to begin his fifth season as music director of the St. Louis Symphony.

The work’s familiar continuity, the narrative flow between its movements and their interconnections are not always laid out so directly, one might even say inexorably, as they were on this occasion. In particular, the Funeral March, the beating heart of this piece, moved compellingly from start to close, its inner workings displayed handsomely in the execution, apprehensibly in their logic.

The rest of the piece supported the emotional flow Vonk created and the Philharmonic realized.

Similarly accomplished orchestral playing marked the first part of the program, which began with a polished performance of Weber’s “Oberon” Overture and followed with the G-minor Violin Concerto of Max Bruch, a piece we usually hear once every summer in the vast amphitheater at Cahuenga Pass.

Jaime Laredo, at 59 the young-looking veteran of many musical campaigns--in recent years, we have seen him most often as a high-achieving chamber player, but his conducting career continues to thrive--was the elegant soloist.

Technically indefatigable and rich in tone--that tone got richer near the end of the first movement, when a sound engineer turned up the volume--the Bolivian-born, American-trained violinist gave the Romantic piece everything it requires, without ever threatening to go over the top. If Laredo lacks one thing, it is the egoism that starts musical fires. Vonk and the orchestra supplied felicitous collaboration.