HARRELL IS SOLOIST : ANDRE PREVIN RETURNS TO BOWL

Andre Previn, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is only presiding over two concerts with his orchestra this summer at Hollywood Bowl. At the first, Tuesday, he chose a rather self-effacing program and conducted it accordingly.

That observation needn’t be pejorative. In a day that finds many a baton virtuoso using his podium primarily for personal display--often at the composer’s expense--Previn’s relative modesty and restraint can be refreshing.

He may not be the sort of conductor who probes for new insights in the great Romantic challenges of the Germanic repertory. He isn’t the sort of leader the devout call inspirational. At the same time, however, he isn’t likely to distend and distort a masterpiece, and, with no heart encumbering the sleeve of his white dinner jacket, he seldom can be accused of shredding emotions.

It may be significant that he chose, as the central focus of his homecoming agenda, nothing more momentous than Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony. It is a sunny, gracefully exuberant character piece, and Previn attended to its familiar charms with a light hand and apparent respect for moderation in most things.

Avoiding any possibility of exaggeration in tempo, dynamics or stress, he enforced Mozartean clarity, balance, logical progression and lyrical simplicity throughout. In its purposely bland way, it was a lovely performance.

As a novel warm-up exercise, Previn turned to a bastardized Vivaldi concerto enlisting four Philharmonic trumpets. The work in question is a pastiche: a re-arrangement by Thomas Stevens of a trumpet-and-piano arrangement by Giorgio Ghedini of parts of two Vivaldi concertos originally intended for high horns.

The bloodlines of the piece certainly are less than pure. But, in this instance, that matters little. Vivaldi cranked out concertos with speed and care comparable to the way McDonald’s grinds out hamburgers. Whatever its derivation, the stylish “new” Baroque concerto offers a festive little diversion.

Previn led a spiffy performance in support of his able soloists: Stevens, Donald Green, Rob Roy McGregor and Boyde Hood. Zita Carno realized the harpsichord continuo with unusual melodic flair.

Contrary to stodgy custom, Previn placed the inevitable guest-star turn after intermission. In this case, it was the Dvorak Cello Concerto as played--rapturously--by Lynn Harrell.

The amplification system did not happen to treat him very kindly. Some instruments are magnified by the Bowl microphones; Harrell’s cello, on this occasion, was strangely diminished. Tones we know to be rich somehow emerged scrawny, and proper sonic focus remained a sometime thing.

Nevertheless, one could savor Harrell’s patrician phrasing, his constant concern for the arching line, the special lyric finesse he brought to the Adagio and the soft-grained passion with which he initiated the final Allegro.

This was a thoughtful roasting of the old chestnut. Previn and the orchestra provided marvelously sensitive accompaniment, to the delight of an audience officially tabulated--to these untrained eyes, generously tabulated--at 11,055.