Fruhbeck leads showy concert at the humid Hollywood Bowl

Think of Hollywood Bowl as a musical bazaar, where virtuoso soloists and ensembles display their wares nightly over the summer season. As such, the mammoth amphitheater has drawn and entertained generations of listeners over nine decades. And some of these listeners follow the musical path to more substantial winter concerts, indoors.

The tradition continues. Thursday night, it thrived again when Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos led a showy and satisfying two-part program in the Bowl. It consisted of the familiar and the brilliant First Piano Concerto by Tchaikovsky, and two of Ottorino Respighi’s exuberant orchestral suites. A large audience was vociferous in its approval.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic, in good form, gave the vigorous 69-year-old veteran Spanish conductor detailed readings of this exposing music. The sort of wide dynamic contrasts in “The Fountains of Rome” and “The Pines of Rome” have not always been operative in Cahuenga Pass, but on this night they were. Soft passages emerged clearly in the humid air, and fortissimos came out bright but under control. Among the strong contributing soloists were concertmaster Alexander Treger, cellist Peter Stumpf, clarinetist Lorin Levee and pianist Gloria Cheng.

Jon Kimura Parker was the unexpected soloist in the Tchaikovsky concerto, filling in on short notice for Yefim Bronfman, ill in Aspen, who canceled his weekend engagements. Parker, yet another distinguished Canadian pianist, played the ubiquitous concerto -- long a Bowl staple, even decades before the first Tchaikovsky Spectacular in 1969 -- with great authority and panache. His performance emerged immaculate in profile, abundant in handsome details and altogether winning. Fruhbeck and the orchestra assisted exuberantly.