A wild ride at Walt Disney Hall

Conductors didn’t talk much to audiences in 1925, but Walter Damrosch did, and famously, when he told the audience at the New York premiere of Copland’s Organ Symphony that “if a gifted young man can write a symphony like this at 23, within five years he will be ready to commit murder!” He wasn’t. Within five years, sweet, gentle, dignified Copland, while not yet quite the populist, was already on his way to becoming America’s most beloved composer.

Damrosch might better have spoken of Ottorino Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome,” written the same year as the Organ Symphony. Within five years, this splashy tone poem, if not the composer, was well on its way to helping commit murder. Although never intended as such, its over-the-top march became a musical pep pill for Mussolini and his Fascist followers.

These two works were the bookends Friday night for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s wildly eventful, if somewhat silly, program at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. A young American, Michael Christie, made his debut as conductor of a subscription program. And the popular percussionist Evelyn Glennie was in an even madder perpetual-motion whirl in concertos by boy-wonder Dutch composer Marijn Simons and Vivaldi.

Glennie can wait -- she’s well known. First, something about Christie. At 30, he is already in his fourth season as chief conductor of the Queensland Orchestra in Australia and has a growing career as a guest conductor in Europe. But his bio in the program booklet left out two interesting facts about our part of the world. He was, briefly and unsuccessfully, an assistant conductor with the Philharmonic 10 years ago. Next fall, he takes over as music director of the Phoenix Symphony.

Some Philharmonic players may remember a brash 20-year-old, but on Friday they faced a daredevil fully in control. Copland’s symphony was carefully molded. The central scherzo movement, the closest to the jazzy Copland about to emerge, had edge and bite. But most important, Christie brought out the sheer fervor in this music.

The symphony may try too hard to impress -- it was written, after all, for Copland’s intimidating, Stravinsky-adoring teacher Nadia Boulanger as organ soloist -- but it is enthusiastic music, big and bold, and so it sounded here. Mary Preston was the organ soloist, and an arresting one.

Respighi’s “Pines” -- four scenes of Roman life and atmosphere -- was really loud, really fast and really splashy. Christie drove the orchestra like a Lamborghini screeching down narrow, curvy Roman streets at high speeds, and never lost traction. I don’t think acoustical music has ever sounded louder in Disney. The highs -- Christie goes in for a dry, treble-infused sound -- fried the ears, but just long enough to be invigorating rather than painful.

In between came Glennie. She is a show all by herself, and that’s pretty much what she had to be in the U.S. premiere of Simons’ “Concerto Fabuleux.” Written three years ago, when the composer was 20, it is his Op. 21! There is simply no stopping this incredibly gifted and overeager young composer and violinist, and the concerto proved a spectacular workout for Glennie, who spent 25 minutes furiously hitting drums, meditatively ringing gongs and violently attacking a marimba.

Simons boldly challenges the tough, streetwise, Minimalist school that dominates Dutch composition. A fabulist, he paints schoolboy pictures of dragon, werewolf and unicorn in the three movements. At 20, no one expects voice or substance. The Netherlands may have its new Copland. We’ll see.

Glennie also played a Vivaldi piccolo concerto transcribed for vibraphone, probably for the simple reason that she could do it. It worked. What she accomplished in the fast movements didn’t seem humanly possible, but the slow movement was most remarkable of all. Here she shaded notes with what sounded like a wind player’s breath control. I hope Simons paid close attention. Fabulous effects in music don’t need fables. Magic comes where you least expect it.

Still, Glennie leaves nothing to chance. She likes to be noticed. She sparkled in tight, sequined red pants. And she required special lighting for her performance, bathing soloist, orchestra and her many beautiful instruments in changing colors.

A final word of praise for the Philharmonic’s versatile keyboard player, Joanne Pearce Martin, who, after Glennie, had the evening’s toughest job. She played -- superbly -- piano, celesta, harpsichord and organ.