Diemecke Infuses the Bowl With an Eclectic Creativity

Though creative programming at the Hollywood Bowl is not exactly a specialty of the house, guest conductor Enrique Diemecke threw out the rule book in his second concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Thursday night.

Under the umbrella of “Latin Fiesta,” he imaginatively and cogently linked Spain with Mexico, France and even Germany; drawing upon the well-worn, the new and the obscure; explaining all to the audience engagingly and with ample humor. And it was clear from the applause that Diemecke had made some converts.

He took chances from the outset, opening with a lush, powerful 1937 Carlos Chavez transcription of Buxtehude’s Chaconne in E Minor in the Bach-Stokowski tradition (interestingly, Diemecke himself once wrote a piece called “Chacona-a-Chavez”).

He played Silvestre Revueltas’ “Homage to Federico Garcia Lorca”--a daring choice for this venue--at a daringly slow tempo, exposing the deliciously sarcastic, lumbering dissonances to accurately back up his description of a village band. He even inserted some relatively new music, Arturo Marquez’s sensuously rhythmic Danzon No. 2 (1994), seducing the audience--and probably the orchestra too--with it as he swayed and swiveled to the beat.

Even in the better-known stuff, Diemecke would not settle for routine. While maintaining the neoclassical transparency of the outer movements of Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” he allowed plenty of broad leeway in the famous Adagio for the splendid guitarist Manuel Barrueco to caress and fully characterize each note. The second suite from Falla’s “The Three-Cornered Hat” had crisp, firm rhythm to back up the often deliberate pacing.

Finally, Diemecke tried to pry Ravel’s “Bolero” away from the bogus seductive scenario that Hollywood has imposed upon it, bringing the piece back to its origins in ritual, opening slowly the way the composer conducted it and gradually kicking up the tempo. Miraculously, he made “Bolero” come alive.