BOWL MORGAN

As far as one can determine, given the peculiar acoustical and aeronautical
atmosphere at the Hollywood Bowl, Michael Morgan is a new arrival very much
worth your attention. Morgan, who conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic on
Tuesday night in a most impressive debut appearance, is 35, and is the
assistant conductor at the Chicago Symphony. More important, he’s the latest
hired to try, where others have failed, to bring the Oakland Symphony (or
Oakland East Bay Symphony, as it is now called) back to the glory it enjoyed
under the prematurely departed Calvin Simmons.If Tuesday’s concert is any criterion, Morgan can do the job up north. He led
an interesting program, more than usually challenging: Strauss’ “Don Juan,”
the Mendelssohn “Scottish” Symphony and, with Misha Dichter, the Beethoven
Third Piano Concerto.Never mind the Beethoven, which foundered on the inadequate visions of its
soloist, in another of those uninflected, clattery performances that seem to
characterize Dichter’s playing in recent years. What was truly exciting about
Morgan’s part of the program was the depth and firmness of his orchestral
command. He resisted the usual temptations to turn the Strauss tone-poem into a mere
orchestral dazzler. Aided immeasurably by David Weiss’ eloquent playing of the
long oboe solo, he made the work into something resembling poetry. The
balances between winds and strings were beautifully controlled; the noisy
passages were oratorical but not vulgar. That takes doing; “Don Juan” may be
a popular chestnut, but it is full of secrets as well, and these Morgan
unlocked remarkably well.The Mendelssohn also went well, in a solemn but nicely paced reading, again
agreeably free of the bombast that others have applied to this warm-hearted if
somewhat padded score. The orchestra sounded fine; the woodwinds, so often
entrusted in Mendelssohn’s scoring to shine little lights through the texture,
did just that. The final peroration was truly grandiose.The crowd numbered 7881. The air traffic numbered a mere 3, but they were
strategically placed: a helicopter to ruin the quiet ending of the Strauss,
another to try to awaken Misha Dichter during the first-movement cadenza of
the Beethoven, a third to out-roar the climax of the Mendelssohn finale.