Itzhak Perlman, from bow to baton

Beloved veteran violinist Itzhak Perlman has been taking up the baton as well as the bow recently. He’s conducted the Israel, New York and Berlin philharmonics; the Concertgebouw and Philadelphia orchestras; and the Chicago, National and Detroit symphonies -- and that’s by no means a complete list.

To show how serious he is about this new direction in his life, Perlman recently committed himself to a three-year contract as music director of New York’s Westchester Philharmonic, beginning with the 2008-09 season.

The arrangement with this humble, regional orchestra will allow him to continue teaching and, of course, concertizing, so his legions of fans will not be disappointed in that regard.

Over the weekend, he did double duty as soloist and conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a sold-out program of Bach, Mozart and Brahms at Walt Disney Concert Hall. If the impression of his podium prowess Friday morning was disappointing, there was also room for cautious optimism about the future.

As soloist and conductor for Bach’s Violin Concerto in E, Perlman sat by the side of concertmaster Martin Chalifour, eschewing a star turn and making himself a first among equals. His performance was warm and lyrical, and a few intonation problems not withstanding, admirable in a hospitable, old-world kind of way.

Chalifour and the other musicians of the 22-member ensemble followed him like a hawk. But balance problems surfaced too, with the solo line often overpowered whenever the rich lower strings came in or the ensemble played at full strength. A smaller group might have solved that problem and still filled the vibrant hall with sound.

Perlman next led a suitably enlarged orchestra in an urbane account of Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, “Haffner.” He favored a blended, rounded, even romantic sound that unfortunately tended to turn soupy and make the orchestral sections’ individual contributions somewhat indistinguishable.

String attacks were buttery rather than incisive. Dynamic and thematic contrasts were minimized. It was all a bit too polite and civilized for some tastes. But Perlman does know how to make strings work, and there was a sweetness to the performance.

The biggest problems, however, surfaced in Brahms’ mighty Fourth Symphony, which concluded the concert. Misjudging Disney Hall’s lively acoustic, Perlman continuously pushed the orchestra to unpleasant extremes. String tone regularly turned harsh. The horns produced some of the rawest, most unpleasant sounds ever heard there.

There was too much, too soon, too often, with Perlman distressingly pulling the architecture and direction of the work out of shape.

This kind of problem can be solved by more experience at the podium, of course, which is exactly what Perlman will get, pretty much out of the limelight, over the next three years. At any rate, the thunderous ovation he received after each work showed that his public is ready to follow him into any arena he chooses.

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chris.pasles@latimes.com