Music Reviews : Pristine Pops From Skrowaczewski, Watts at Bowl

The humidity had dropped, one of the results being an improved outdoor-acoustical--aren’t those words mutually exclusive?--situation, and the second night of symphonic pops at the 69th Hollywood Bowl season consequently seemed a happier occasion than the first.

Thursday night, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Andre Watts and the Los Angeles Philharmonic all returned to the scene of their Tuesday reunion to offer a different program before an apparently different audience, this time counted by management at 9,498.

The agenda: Berlioz’s ouverture caracteristique , “Le Carnaval Romain,” the Second Piano Concerto by Camille Saint-Saens and Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite “Scheherazade.”

Not to beat about the bush, the Lvov-born Polish-American conductor and this program seemed to elicit from the Philharmonic the kind of virtuoso performance it can give when circumstances and motivation allow. From beginning to end, the orchestra turned out immaculate ensemble playing, inspired soloism, clarified textures and wondrous and resonant balances between choirs.

“Scheherazade,” a work that in the wrong hands can seem dreary, convoluted and endless, emerged this time transparent in profile, gorgeously sung by the resident instrumental soloists, inevitable in motion, and too short. Among many others, violinist Sidney Weiss, the Philharmonic’s veteran concertmaster, covered himself, and Rimsky’s buoyant musical lines, with glory.

The overture brought out similar virtues from the ensemble: pristine articulation, unflagging energy, a joyous sense of movement.

In between, there was no letdown when Watts returned for the G-minor Concerto, long one of his specialties. The outer movements made all their points in showmanship, accuracy and speed, and the pianist did not discount, or disappoint, in ascending the composer’s familiar peaks of lyricism. Only in the allegretto did a sense of routine keep the famous scherzo from exerting its ultimate charms.