L.A. Phil Dazzles in the Afternoon

The first Friday matinee of the Los Angeles Philharmonic season in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion launched a two-part, three-week residency of the Argentine-born composer Osvaldo Golijov. It also offered Philharmonic associate conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya and veteran pianist Alicia de Larrocha. It was a busy afternoon and deeply satisfying.

A set of excerpts from Prokofiev’s ballet “Cinderella,” a showcase for a virtuoso orchestra, closed the program brilliantly, with the entire ensemble giving its highest energy level and exuberance. The continuity and narrative thrust of this performance had to emanate from the podium, where Harth-Bedoya presided with theatrical flair and unflagging control. With infectious enthusiasm and no sense of repression, the conductor let the orchestra play and the ballet’s story reveal itself.

Assisting Larrocha in a colorful and beautifully balanced reading of Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain,” the 33-year-old conductor also excelled and drew really gorgeous playing from the orchestra. Larrocha, who first played this piece here--at her U.S. debut, with Alfred Wallenstein and the L.A. Philharmonic--in 1954, worked her familiar pianistic magic on its poetry.

For her two scheduled solo encores, Larrocha then played excerpts from Granados’ “Goyescas,” “The Maiden and the Nightingale” and “El Pelele.” At 78, the great Spanish pianist retains her charm, her technique and her huge arsenal of pianistic colors.

Just half her age, composer Golijov (pronounced Go-lee-hoff) shared bows with the conductor and orchestra after his 13-minute “Last Round,” an active, sometimes frenzied, finally grieving tribute to the late Astor Piazzolla, for two string orchestras. It’s a grabber, a keeper and a multicolored memorial.

His residency this fall continues with a performance of two works Monday on the orchestra’s chamber music series; he also returns next spring.