Philharmonic Shines in French Program

Bombast and color are the themes of this second week of the Los Angeles Philharmonic season. Esa-Pekka Salonen, interrupting his sabbatical year one last time (he returns for good Jan. 5) offered a French program, which he led with his usual authority and which the orchestra played brilliantly.

Heard Thursday night in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the program offered a revival of Cesar Franck’s once-ubiquitous D-minor Symphony, the familiar joys of two Ravel works, the “Mother Goose” Suite and “La Valse,” and the light but charming Flute Concerto by Jacques Ibert, in which Philharmonic flutist Catherine Ransom was soloist.

Bright, solid, virtuoso playing was the norm on this occasion, when all sections shone and the total sound output of the orchestra ranged from exquisite softness to roof-rattling fortissimos, with myriad nuances in between. Through it all, conductor and players maintained judicious balances and apprehensible musical continuity, qualities not easily obtained in music that can be slippery.

All this accomplishment acknowledged, one must wonder why Salonen, with his sophisticated musicality, would champion the undeniable banalities and second-rate inventions of Franck’s worn-out warhorse. Once we loved it; now it seems lumpen and bloated, and the longueurs of the bring-it-all-together finale grate painfully on changed sensibilities. The Philharmonic played it with special polish, yet it is what it is: an empty balloon.

The Ibert Concerto, stylishly and effortlessly played by soloist Ransom, might eventually wear on a listener too familiar with its charms, as well, but that would be only after many more hearings. For now, its weightlessness and lyric flights--though its final movement teases with its delayed consummation--give mostly pleasure.

The “Mother Goose” Suite can provide an enchanting listen, and did Thursday night, when all its details and sweep were realized and integrated.

Like Pierre Boulez, Salonen is a conductor who achieves clarity without strain and focuses on the most important elements of a work. He did the same with the many-colored impressions of “La Valse,” to the vociferous delight of the Philharmonic’s appreciative audience.

* Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic repeat this program, in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., tonight at 8 p.m. $10-$70. (323) 850-2000.