The L.A. Phil needs no substitute

Beethoven the firebrand was on display Saturday when Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in three of the Viennese master’s works in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Energy was the unifying, galvanizing force. It was as if someone had touched the poles of a battery and the power had surged and just kept going.

The program had been changed only a few days before when pianist Andreas Haefliger had to pull out because of a recurring hand injury. The “Emperor” Concerto was dropped, and the Fourth Symphony was played in its place. The rest of the program -- the First Symphony and the “King Stephen” Overture -- remained the same.

As demonstrated by the “Beethoven Unbound” series during the orchestra’s 2005-06 season, Salonen’s approach to the composer is fleet, direct, propulsive, transparent and formal. There were no shifts in tempo to signal changes from assertive to lyrical themes, no fussiness in dynamics and no micromanaging details.

The conductor took all the repeats and, in the First Symphony, also atypically attacked the final movement without a pause after the third.

Issues of interpretation in reaching beyond the notes were off the table, but the scores were brilliantly realized.

The orchestra responded to their conductor like a spirited Maserati. The musicians played with crisp, unified rhythms, whiplash attacks, precise hairpin turns, clear textures, and depth and richness of sound. Whatever Salonen asked for, they provided. The concert was yet another example of a virtuosic ensemble at peak form.

Not everything was accelerated. The slow movement of the First Symphony offered some lyric repose. The opening of the Fourth Symphony proved suitably slow, haunted and mysterious, even briefly suggesting the atmosphere of the prison scene in the composer’s only opera, “Fidelio.” In the latter symphony’s slow movement, clarinetist Lorin Levee played with gentle restraint and beauty, and his colleagues in the wind section mirrored his playing.

The program began with an exhilarating account of the “King Stephen” Overture. Composed in 1811 for a theater opening in Pest, Hungary (King Stephen I was, the program notes revealed, a national hero), the work starts with an arresting call to action, flirts with folksy rhythms and flows into an irresistible, richly scored tune.

Salonen and the orchestra played it all with an almost reckless sense of fun.

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chris.pasles@latimes.com