Fireworks in the air, indeed, at Bowl event

The Hollywood Bowl’s Tchaikovsky Spectacular used to be the toughest ticket in town, a guaranteed sellout every time. It isn’t anymore, judging from the stretches of empty benches and the attendance count of 11,701 Friday night. Even the usual traffic snarls around the Bowl looked lighter.

Yet the Los Angeles Philharmonic has found a way to spruce up the old tradition. It brought back British conductor Bramwell Tovey, who presided over Tchaikovsky here two summers ago. Since then, the New York Philharmonic has given Tovey his own well-regarded Summertime Classics series, having discovered what this gifted communicator can do.

The formula was the same -- Tchaikovsky’s Greatest Hits, anchored by a popular concerto, the “1812 Overture” and fireworks (curiously not synchronized as well as in previous blowouts) -- but Tovey made it come alive. He prefaced each piece with a witty monologue, getting in some good lines -- a few bordering on the risque -- while giving the audience a useful idea of what the music was about. He was quick on his feet too; as a helicopter buzzed the Bowl, he worked the nasty machine into his “The Sleeping Beauty” story line without missing a beat.

Tovey also knew how to get an alert response from this orchestra on a tight schedule. No more routine slogging through Tchaikovsky; the Philharmonic played the Prelude and March from “The Sleeping Beauty” and Polonaise and Waltz from “Eugene Onegin” with a brisk rhythmic snap and plenty of gusto. Even the “1812” sounded fresh, with voluptuous playing of the Russian hymn from the violas (perhaps they took Tovey’s plug for them as a challenge) and unusual vigor in the agitated sections.

Jennifer Koh, the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition winner, took big rhapsodic chances in the Violin Concerto, shifting tempos and pouring on the intensity, even at the expense of tonal bloom. But she always maintained a strong sense of the line, creating suspense with dynamics, holding everything together. She was a striking sight on the video screens, working hard, her short brown hair flopping about. With all that close-up visual stimulation, no wonder the audience couldn’t contain itself, applauding her solos four times in midmovement as if this were a jazz concert.