Amid the bravos, hints of Pavarotti at his prime

Luciano Pavarotti easily sold out the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday to sing his goodbye to Los Angeles. The “King of the High Cs,” as he was dubbed early in his career, turns 70 in October and has decided to call it quits with a farewell tour scheduled to end next year. But don’t count him out entirely. According to a Los Angeles Philharmonic spokeswoman, some future U.S. dates are under discussion.

His fans, who here numbered 17,339 despite a top ticket price of $511, would clearly be happy if he went on forever.

There are physical problems: Pavarotti had hip and knee replacements in 1998, and that seems to limit his mobility. To accommodate his getting onto the vast Bowl stage, a bit of concealment was employed. The front of the stage was lined with a series of high panels that stagehands pulled apart to reveal the tenor already seated in back of a grand piano. At the sight of him, the audience went crazy.

He sang the whole program sitting down, taking sips of water after each piece from wine glasses on a nearby stand. At the close of the first half, when the house lights went up, he was assisted offstage by two men who held him up under his arms. The opening ritual was repeated at the start of the second half, with the same resounding cheer.

Pavarotti sang much of the program, which was heavily weighted toward Puccini and Italian verismo composers, with his head buried in the scores, ending each piece by raising his face, flashing his million-dollar smile and thrusting up his right arm in triumph. When he was especially happy, he threw up both arms. The audience loved everything, yelling bravos, calling out titles of arias for him to sing and in some cases singing along or gesturing as if to help conductor Leone Magiera as he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

It took a while for the famous vocal cords to warm up. But the surprising thing was how much of the distinctively glorious sheen and color were still intact. Three songs by Tosti, with Magiera at the keyboard, served to lubricate the voice, which sounded harsh in mid-range and thin and dry in the heights. Nevertheless, he always sang with ease, style and line, even if his involvement seemed somewhat perfunctory.

The love duet from Act 1 of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” with soprano Cynthia Lawrence, a frequent Pavarotti collaborator, gave hints of the beauty to come, although it sounded transposed down from the original.

But it wasn’t until the two post-intermission excerpts from Puccini’s “Tosca” (“Recondita armonia” and “E lucevan le stelle”) that the voice recalled its old glory. The closing set of three Neapolitan songs was delivered stylishly.

Lawrence’s rich, ample soprano showed signs of wear too, but unlike Pavarotti, she tried to invest her singing with an appropriate sense of character and drama. In the “Boheme” duet, she acted the part of Mimi with modesty and a trace of coyness. As Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, she was fierce and formidable.

The two departed from the printed program to sing Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” which Pavarotti dedicated from the stage to the recent hurricane victims. It was a touching gesture from the man who this month received the Freedom of the City of London award for his fund-raising and humanitarian work with the Red Cross. Still, it was odd to hear Lawrence singing in Latin and Pavarotti singing in Italian.

Magiera, who has been with Pavarotti forever, knows the tenor’s routine of pacing and tempo to the note. Unfortunately, that led to some boringly inelastic Puccini -- the “Boheme” duet in particular -- and a leaden, four-square Intermezzo from Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana.” Ditto the Intermezzo and the “Cherry” duet from Mascagni’s “L’Amico Fritz.” The Philharmonic followed bravely and dutifully.

But people were there for Pavarotti. He sang three encores -- “Granada,” “O sole mio” and the Brindisi from “La Traviata” (with Lawrence and the audience encouraged to sing “la la la”). The evening ended in a fireworks display. Ritorna vincitor!