Dusting Off an Evening of Strauss, Liszt

Serving a high-calorie double piano-concerto sandwich on two thick slices of Strauss, the Hollywood Bowl continued its McDonald’s formula for selling classical music with another comforting menu Tuesday night. It would not be hard to imagine this Los Angeles Philharmonic concert--containing, as it did, Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto and Franck’s Symphonic Variations surrounded by Richard Strauss’ “Don Juan” and “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”--on the bill a half-century ago, when conservative Alfred Wallenstein was the music director (with maybe, lucky audience, Arthur Rubinstein as soloist).

Indeed, such a program would hardly have alarmed Bowl-goers in 1925 when the Strauss and Franck would have been 40 years old or newer--the evening’s novelty would have been the still-new Bowl itself. On Tuesday this program was so hoary that it almost sounded fresh. Popular as it remains, Liszt’s concerto is actually not as regularly programmed as it once was, while the Franck, a short concerto that was a favorite in the ‘20s, has become downright rare. The early Strauss tone poems are played often enough (although most conductors these days prefer to prove themselves in the bigger, flashier later ones) but seldom on the same program.

Another sure thing was Andre Watts, the soloist who made his debut at the Bowl as a Leonard Bernstein-discovered teenager in 1963 and probably has never failed to entertain in his countless returns. Junichi Hirokami, the Japanese conductor, is younger, but he was one of the more exciting Bowl discoveries four years ago. The possibility existed for at least a spark or two to ignite in performance. A few sparks did fly, but no ignition.

Watts was the flint. He is a curious pianist, getting curiouser all the time. In the Franck, which is most notable for its catchy variations tune, he could sink into such poetic reverie it seemed as if the music were coming to a stop; then he would lurch forward, as if suddenly awakened, and challenge the orchestra to startlingly crisp syncopations and aggressive attacks on bass notes.

Liszt’s concerto is more poetic, more flamboyant and more interesting, and Watts seemed even more unpredictable here. Such rebellious flair speaks loudly at the Bowl, but the electricity of collaboration was missing. Whether a victim of limited rehearsal time or simply uneasy with giving the pianist too much interpretive rope, Hirokami was more concerned with keeping orchestral order than acknowledging Watts’ provocations. Supple connection was made, however, between piano and Ben Hong’s lovely cello solo during the lyric center of the Liszt.

Ironically, Watts’ personality better suggested a charismatic Don Juan and a trickster Till than the characters who emerged from the performances of Strauss’ orchestral tone poems. Snappy but cautious, Hirokami attended to the basics of overseeing ensemble coordination in performances that weren’t yet ready for adding the crucial layer of interpretation.

That may be the biggest difference between hearing such a program 50 or 75 years ago and today--then there would have been less worry about technique and more attention to musical character. But rising above the level of routine is ever the predicament of the Bowl’s insufficient rehearsal schedule, and at least the Philharmonic sounded somewhat more engaged than it did at its indifferent start of the summer season two weeks ago.