Fine Playing but Not Much Substance on L.A. Phil Program

Works by Prokofiev, Bruch, Saint-Saens and Rachmaninoff occupied Junichi Hirokami’s latest program with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Wednesday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The ensemble gave the guest conductor from Japan involved and accurate readings of the Overture on Hebrew Themes, two works for cello and orchestra and Rachmaninoff’s tuneful Second Symphony. Heinrich Schiff produced resonant and viable soloism, for which he was justifiably cheered by the audience. Yet nothing of much substance emerged overall.

Blame the material. Bruch’s well-crafted “Kol Nidrei” is a slow movement of haunting beauty. But, like Saint-Saens’ A-minor Cello Concerto, with which it was paired, it does not represent the writer’s highest achievement.

Similarly, Rachmaninoff’s lush and melodious Second Symphony may be popular for many right reasons, but it does not approximate the stringent standard of, say, the Symphonic Dances, a genuine masterpiece. Nevertheless, Hirokami led a sweeping performance of the lengthy symphony, one that bristled with felicitous details and a compelling sense of continuity.

This conductor--who holds symphonic posts in Japan, the Netherlands and Great Britain--controls musical arc, instrumental nuance and overall pacing with firm mastery; the orchestra gave him its full attention and the total, passionate and tender by turns, never became overstated.

The conductor proved less focused in Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes, which emerged both overbusy and fussy; it lacked bounce and lightness.

Schiff excelled at the cantilena of “Kol Nidrei,” soaring over the orchestra with a lush and pristine resonance. He brought more reserve and less compulsion to the familiar Saint-Saens piece and the result was too often pedestrian. The cellist returns next week, not as soloist, but as conductor of the Philharmonic, leading works by Schubert, Beethoven and Mahler.