VIOLINIST FRIED SALUTES BACH WITH SOLO RECITAL

The recital by Miriam Fried at Ambassador Auditorium this week may not be the loudest of the umpteen Bach celebratory concerts in this, the 300th anniversary year of the composer’s birth. But it says just as much as the largest choral-and-brass extravaganza about the composer’s pure mastery of his art.

On Monday, the Israeli musician will walk onto an empty stage, tuck her 1718 violin by Stradivari under her chin and play Bach--alone. The program consists of two sonatas (in A minor and C) and one Partita (in E) for solo violin.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for years,” she said during a telephone conversation from De Kalb, Ill. “When I was about 12, I heard Yehudi Menuhin (play Bach unaccompanied) in Israel. Right then, I set it as a goal.”

Now, at 39, Fried is touring the United States, giving the full cycle of three sonatas and three partitas in appearances in Indiana and New York. A challenge certainly for the violinist. But what of the audience? There’s no doubt in her mind that listener fatigue will not be a problem.

“The music sustains itself over the course of an evening. It pushes the violin to its limit--though hopefully it doesn’t sound that way. As I play these pieces, I have a greater sense that Bach was writing music, rather than merely turning out something for the violin.

“I’ll confess that a lot of it is not the most comfortable stuff to play. But I’m not concerned with making the instrument sound good--just the music.”

The subject of authenticity makes Fried a bit uncomfortable: “How does a 20th-Century person dress himself in a Baroque cloak?” she asked. “My own personal choice is the modern violin, though the instrument I play was actually built before Bach wrote these sonatas and partitas. Back then, of course, the pitch was lower--though the exact pitch depended on where in Europe you were living. So, the tension wasn’t as tight, the sound was different.

“In my research, I didn’t really find any solid evidence that playing with a Baroque instrument and bow means easy solutions to the complex problems of this music.”

Perhaps anticipating the wrath of period instrument proponents, Fried quickly added: “I admit I’m not an expert on the subject. To me, it’s not necessary to choose, to say one must play it this way or the other way. We can keep both ways side by side. I get a little worried when I hear someone say, ‘This is the only way.’

“We’ll never know what Bach wanted. But I feel the most important think is to communicate the clarity of the music. The lines and the overall structure are most important.

“It’s wonderful that people looked into the whole area of performance practice. We all can learn a lot. But it’s important to look at what we call traditions. Sometimes traditions can become just bad habits.”

MORE FROM THE BIRTHDAY BOYS: The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will present four traversals of Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos beginning Friday at Bridges Auditorium, Claremont. At this and at remaining events (Saturday in Ambassador Auditorium, next Sunday in San Diego and Dec. 18 at the Embassy Theatre), Robert Bernhardt will serve as guest conductor.

This may be Handel’s 300th birthday year, but more important, this is December--thus, the annual “Messiahs” coming fast and furious these days. This week, the William Hall Chorale will present “Baroque” performances of the oratorio Friday through next Sunday in Pasadena Presbyterian Church. Also on Friday, the Hollywood Chorale will present the Christmas portion of “Messiah” (as well as Charpentier’s “Midnight Mass for Christmas”) in First United Methodist Church of Hollywood. For those in a participatory mood, a “Sing-Along Messiah” will take place Saturday at the Santa Anita Church in Arcadia.

BAH, HUMBUG: The Los Angeles Philharmonic will hear nothing of birthday celebrations or holiday cheer this week. In a two-part program at the Music Center Thursday through next Sunday, Esa-Pekka Salonen will lead a dead-serious agenda: Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (with Alexander Toradze as soloist) and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6.

Also under Philharmonic sponsorship this week is a violin-viola recital by Pinchas Zukerman on Monday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Assisted by pianist Mark Neikrug, Zukerman will play on viola Bach’s Sonata in G minor (originally for viola da gamba) and Brahms’ Sonata in E-flat (originally for clarinet); on violin: Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 2 (originally for flute) and Lutoslawski’s Partita (originally for violin).

SPEAKING OF THE PHILHARMONIC: KCET-TV Channel 28 will televise “Mr. Previn Comes to Town,” a behind-the-scenes look at Andre Previn as musical globe-trotter, on Wednesday at 8:05 p.m. (simulcast on KUSC, 91.5 FM) and next Sunday at 3 p.m. (The program also airs on Channel 15, at 9 p.m. Wednesday, and on Channel 50, at 7 p.m. Saturday.) The conductor is seen working with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic and even the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he is shown at rehearsals, meetings, press conferences and interviews, all in preparation for his first concert with the orchestra (shown in excerpt). We even get to watch the Previns tour Disneyland.