Small Crowd, Big Applause for Philharmonic

One of the local displacements caused by the Sept. 11 attack was the postponement of the concert at the Hollywood Bowl that evening. That program was finally given Friday, bringing the summer season to a belated close for Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, just a week before the fall season at the Music Center opens.

The sparse crowd cheered heartily, particularly for climactic Beethoven, but otherwise this event seemed a rather dutiful afterthought. The only official notice of the cause for the postponement came at the gate, where all bags and hampers were searched.

Musically, things went briskly and competently, although just about everyone concerned had a passage or two they would probably like to do over. The sound system, however, seemed returned to a primordial state of stridency and inconsistency.

This produced some almost comical effects in Richard Strauss’ “Don Quixote,” a difficult work to balance under the best circumstances. A solo cello represents Quixote, and a solo viola is Sancho Panza. Though their characterful music has the difficulty and scope of a concerto, it is not so plentiful, nor so obviously cued and structured.

Philharmonic principal cellist Andrew Shulman’s Quixote was always eloquent and passionate, even in pizzicato utterance. Principal violist Evan Wilson’s Sancho was dignified and plain-spoken, even a bit gruff, and concertmaster Martin Chalifour joined their colloquy with elegant understatement.

The electronic balances, however, always had Shulman way out in front, whether in intimate dialogue or contending against the whole orchestra.

Salonen conducted with engaging sweep and sensitivity, and the rest of the orchestra played with apparent relish. The proceedings became blunter and more prosaic in Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, culminating in a get-it-over-with dash through the finale.