Last week, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2024 classical music summer season officially kicked off at the Hollywood Bowl with visits by conductor Elim Chan and violinist Augustin Hadelich. They brought along works by Unsuk Chin, Prokofiev, and Rimsky-Korsakov which can be challenging for any orchestra, particularly one that was barely back from a multi-week break. Given the limited rehearsal schedules and less-than-optimal acoustics of the Bowl, that challenge was cranked up a few extra notches. Fortunately for the many in attendance, the evening proved to be quite enjoyable.

The highlight of the concert was Mr. Hadelich’s solo turn with Prokofiev’s moody Violin Concerto No. 2.

It’s a piece that is as easy to admire as it is perhaps difficult to love. It begins with a brooding solo violin and ends abruptly three movements later without any traditional grand finale. In between, passages are laden with obvious technical thickets certain to impress, but with few melodies or phrases that one would likely hum on the walk back to car. This is a violin connoisseur’s concerto, not the kind of populist fare that typically welcomes casual music fans to the Bowl.

It didn’t matter: Mr. Hadelich gave a persuasive rendition, easily tackling the work’s difficulties with precision and polish while also underlining more lyrical phrases with a warm and dark tone, taking advantage of every opportunity to draw in and win over the attentive crowd. The orchestra gave sensitive accompaniment, and Ms. Chan did nothing to distract from the soloist’s efforts. For a much-more approachable encore, Mr. Hadelich played his own arrangement of Rouse’s bluegrass fiddle tune, Orange Blossom Special. It gave the the Italian-German-American violinist a chance to be a showman, demonstrating a more light-hearted side while playing a rapid succession of finger-twisting passages with seeming ease. The already appreciative audience erupted with a loud ovation.

The rest of the concert was Ms. Chan’s latest chance to show audience members and orchestra musicians alike that she’s indeed worthy of whatever Music Director buzz is surrounding her. From my seat on this night, she showed why she’s in the conversation yet did nothing that would make me think she’s a front-runner for the big chair right now.

Ms. Chan’s baton technique is clear and easy to discern without ever resorting to simply beating time. This was immediately evident in the curtain raiser, Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza. The 5-minute contribution to 2020’s Beethoven 250 celebrations is a purposefully disjointed, joyously clangorous, and ultimately compelling musical nugget. The Hong Kong native and University of Michigan grad managed to keep things clean, clear, and tidy amidst the organized chaos.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade has become a bit of a calling card for Ms. Chan. It was one of the pieces which earned her acclaim in 2014 as the youngest-ever winner of the London Symphony’s Donatella Flick conducting competition, and The New York Times raved about her interpretation during her debut with that city’s philharmonic. It’s no surprise that she conducted the LA Phil with a sense of confidence on this night. She kept the sprawling, episodic work in good order, taking few noticeable liberties without giving it a merely generic, perfunctory reading. The orchestra responded with aplomb, giving the conductor what she asked for with beauty and grace.

It’s not hard to dazzle with Scheherazade since the composer filled it with sweeping melodies, dynamic contrasts, and textural variety. Still, it’s asking a lot of anyone — conductor, musicians, and the sound engineers — to give a truly impressive, let alone nuanced, interpretation at the Bowl where the amplification tends to flatten out orchestral balances and limit timbral subtleties. If a conductor can take a well-worn warhorse in such circumstances and still make one’s ears perk up, that’s usually an indication of something noteworthy, even special (e.g., Gustavo Dudamel’s 2005 LA Phil debut at the Bowl featuring a shockingly ear-opening Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony).

That was not the case with this conductor and this warhorse on this night. It was an enjoyable Scheherazade, even a good Scheherazade. But was it the kind of performance that was particularly memorable or should make one think that the LA Phil had obviously found their next leader in Ms. Chan? No.

For one big clue, always weigh the post-performance reaction of the musicians on-stage. They were smiling and appreciative of Ms. Chan as the night ended, but the orchestra did not have the kind of obvious joy and admiration that they show when truly inspired performances do happen. Contrast that with the overwhelming ovation they gave to Nathan Cole, the LA Phil’s First Associate Concertmaster who was sitting first chair on this evening.

Mr. Cole played the prominent violin solos in Scheherazade with a combination of calm precision and gorgeous luster which were easily the best part of the work. His colleagues’ reaction was certainly tinged with more than a little melancholy given the recent announcement that he will be the Boston Symphony’s new concertmaster beginning in the 2025/2026 season. He’s justifiably admired as a musician, a leader and a person. I think the orchestra consistently sounds better when he’s serving as concertmaster, and it’s very clear that he’ll be missed once he’s gone. (More on that in the forthcoming Part 2 to my most recent “Comings and Goings” post).

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A post shared by Nathan Cole (@natesviolin)

Random other thoughts:

• Among the many other fine orchestral soloists during Scheherazade, clarinetist Burt Hara was the standout for the evening. Like Mr. Cole, he won’t be playing with the LA Phil much longer. Unlike Mr. Cole, Mr. Hara’s departure will come much sooner: he’s retiring from the orchestra after playing his last concert with them on Thursday, July 18.
• One word to describe Ms. Chan’s take on the Star-Spangled Banner: reasonable.
• In Mark Swed’s review of this concert, he took a few sideswipes at new LA Phil CEO, Kim Noltemy: he first noted that she was “thus far keeping an unusually (for this orchestra) low profile” before later stating that the organization was entering into uncharted territory “with little transparency,” thereby linking one to the other. I’m not sure why he’d say that, but it could be interpreted as resentment, even bitterness, for him not being given early access to Ms. Noltemy and/or her not fawning over him (yet) the way her predecessors Chad Smith and Deborah Borda would always go out of their way to do pre-concert. Whether the new CEO consciously declined to kiss the ring of the chief music critic (natch, ONLY music critic) at the Los Angeles Times, or instead that it was merely a by-product of spending the first two on the job — that’s right, it was only TWO days at that point — prioritizing communication with her musicians and staff, I don’t know. Either way,from where I’m sitting, Mr. Swed’s comments reflect worse on him than on Ms. Noltemy.
• Other reviews: Richard Ginell for SFCV and Laurie Niles for violinst.com

Los Angeles Philharmonic: July 9, 2024; Hollywood Bowl
Elim Chan, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

• Chin: subito con forza
• Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2
• Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

RELATED POSTS

• Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Summer 2024 edition, pt. 1): which conductors new CEO Kim Noltemy could — and should — consider as Music Director candidates

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Photo credits:

• Augustin Hadelich and Nathan Cole: courtesy of Nathan Cole’s Instagram page as noted
• All others: courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (via sfcv.org)