Mozart, handled with care

Conductor Jaime Laredo let congenial urbanity rule a Mozart program Thursday at the Hollywood Bowl. Balance, proportion and clarity were the virtues he stressed as the Los Angeles Philharmonic played the Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro,” the Violin Concerto No. 3 -- in which Laredo also was the soloist -- and the Symphony No. 40.

There’s something to be said for such an approach. All the elements are there, nothing gets unduly pointed out, pleasures are abundant.

But it’s an approach that also encourages a passive response. A listener had to pay close attention to savor Mozart’s unpredictable twists and turns and countless special moments. If this wasn’t quite periwigged Mozart, it also didn’t probe the composer’s underlying dramatic and emotional depths.

Laredo began with a relaxed account of the “Figaro” Overture. In the Violin Concerto, he took a collegial position among a group of equals. There was an intimacy to the proceedings, until the sound engineers nudged up the volume a bit during the slow movement. The cadenzas -- more lyrical than showoff pieces -- were by Laredo and Sam Franko.

Laredo found greater urgency and drive in the G-minor Symphony, although here too he let classical restraint and balance set the boundaries.

There were more aerial intrusions over the Bowl than usual. At intermission, patrons leaving the amphitheater were faced with a helicopter’s searchlight sweeping over the hills of the Cahuenga Pass, although fortunately the light soon turned away from the Bowl itself.

Under the circumstances, the amplification system performed admirably. Loud chords still elicited echoes, but those might have been confined to a comparatively narrow strip of garden seat boxes. Otherwise, there was depth, richness and even some degree of subtlety to much of the sound.

A moment of perfect coordination between sound and image on the projection screens at the side of the stage took place in the slow movement of the symphony. Clarinetist Michele Zukovsky was seen and heard at the exact moment when her short phrase added an arresting color to the music. Mozart is not usually thought of in terms of orchestration, but this moment suggested he was a master in this, as in all other things musical.