HOLLYWOOD – It was like old times at Hollywood Bowl on July 23.
There was Zubin Mehta, 88, back on the expansive Hollywood Bowl stage after a 31-year absence, leading the ensemble he bossed for 16 transformational years, the Los Angeles Philharmonic. With him was a familiar longtime friend and collaborator, violinist Pinchas Zukerman, who turned 76 a week before the concert. One could open the printed program and re-read the elegant, lively prose of the late Orrin Howard, who was the annotator and director of publications during Mehta’s era at the LA Phil and long afterwards. The program was all-Mozart, an annual Bowl tradition that Mehta reportedly initiated when he was here.
It was an evening for vintage memories of a time when Mehta, Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, and others in the close-knit clan that wags once dubbed the “Kosher Nostra” dominated the mainstream performance world, jetting around the world to play and record together.
Of course, some things had changed. The current Bowl is not exactly the same facility Mehta saw the last time he conducted here. A brand-new, expanded, high-tech-friendly shell replaced the deteriorating, if legendary, one in 2004, retaining its predecessor’s shape but not many of its problems. There are giant video screens that bring the action up close to everyone in the vast concrete amphitheater. The current sound system is eons better than the ones that used to amplify (and often distort) the music. The LA Phil itself is a sharper, more alert, more accomplished group than the editions Mehta faced back in the day.
In addition, some welcome changes had been made for the audience this year for the arduous task of getting to the Bowl — the repurposing of some of the surrounding parking lots for pick-ups and drop-offs, and smarter metal detectors at the entrances where most people are no longer required to empty their pockets and bags. Results: quicker lines and improved traffic flow. Overall, the Bowl is a better place to visit now than it was.
As he slowly, methodically, walked onto the stage, Mehta, now the Phil’s conductor emeritus, received a prolonged standing ovation — which you hardly ever see at the Bowl before a note of music has sounded — and led the National Anthem standing, mouthing the words as he went. Taking his now-usual seat on the podium, he then launched into a rousing rendition of Mozart’s Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio with plenty of zest in the percussive “Turkish” music and graceful phrasing in the middle section.
The Mehta/Zukerman/LA Phil team probably reached its prolific peak in the late 1970s, when they recorded several core violin concertos for Columbia and, later on, for RCA. In addition, Zukerman — who is nothing if not versatile — led members of the Philharmonic in several more recordings, including the complete J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concertos, for Deutsche Grammophon and Columbia.
So this performance of the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3, written when the young genius was a mere 19, was a reunion of a long-standing partnership, and it felt like one, a convivial yet serious-minded collaboration between two old friends. Mehta remains one of the best accompanists in the field, his baton hand making its usual graceful gestures grounded in solid rhythm, with the left hand offering welcoming cues. Zukerman’s tone took on a bit of a strident edge as heard over the loudspeakers, particularly in the first movement, yet it was not bothersome because his phrasing and command of the line were quite musical, imbued with a frisky spirit in the Rondo finale.
For the evening’s grand gesture, Mehta established a majestic pace to start off the Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter) and adopted comfortable tempos throughout the rest of the work. It was a robust conception that conceded little to period-performance practices that crop up when the Mozart evenings at the Bowl are left to specialists like Nicholas McGegan. Mehta was thorough, observing the repeats, offering shafts of depth in the Andante movement, getting the Phil to dig into the fugues that inhabit the Finale. If the real planet Jupiter was present to hover over the performance, that could not be determined due to a proliferation of small clouds in the night sky.
We’ll let Zukerman have the last word. After the Mozart concerto ran its course, he pulled an impish surprise when he invited everyone in the Bowl to sing along as he played, solo, Brahms’ Lullaby. He then hinted that this may not be the last reunion of old friends at the Bowl when he told the crowd, “See you next year, same time!”
