Kahane Leaps Into Lively Service of Mozart

There can be few musicians better equipped to pull a sparkling Mozart program out of their bag on a moment’s notice than Jeffrey Kahane. Friday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the protean pianist and conductor led a chamber orchestra contingent of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in lively and enchantingly collegial music-making, replacing the injured Augustin Dumay.

Just the week before, Kahane had led his Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in a program of somewhat similar spirit, including his own performance of Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 in C, K. 467. Here he was again a soloist, in the Concerto No. 17 in G, K. 453. It had all the intelligent energy, individual expressiveness and technical brilliance we expect of Kahane’s Mozart, continually refreshed in animated exchanges with the responsive Philharmonic players.

Philharmonic principal oboist David Weiss proved equally resourceful. Scheduled to partner Dumay in Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe, he brought out instead the G-minor Concerto attributed to Handel and played it with tremendous verve and an articulate flair for period graces.

Weiss also added an elegantly controlled account of “The Winter’s Passed,” Wayne Barlow’s tuneful bit of mid-20th century American nostalgia. More than that, he also took his usual chair in the orchestra for the rest of the program, contributing handsomely and eloquently.

Kahane guided the crisp Handel accompaniment from a harpsichord, a nice and stylish touch. The Philharmonic delivered clear textures and a bounty of brief, moody solos from the principal strings in the Barlow piece.

Framing the program were two Mozart symphonies, the neglected gem in B flat, K. 319, and the familiar “Haffner” Symphony, K. 385, sole survivor of the Dumay agenda. Kahane took both as exuberant dance parties, driving the finales in particular with pointed zest.