Music Reviews : Sanderling Ends Brahms Survey With Philharmonic

From the cheering, standing ovation following the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s performance in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, one might have thought conductor Kurt Sanderling and the orchestra had revived a lost masterpiece or introduced a new one.

In fact, they had only played Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, long a Philharmonic repertory specialty--one remembers with pleasure the conducting of both Carlo Maria Giulini and Zubin Mehta (not to mention, years ago, that of Beinum and Wallenstein) in this work.

This Thursday-night program being the end of Sanderling’s three-week Brahms survey with the orchestra, however, perhaps the patrons wished to honor the veteran East German musician.

Sanderling’s final installment of this project paired the Double Concerto with the Fourth in generous, deliberate readings that reiterated the abstraction of the concerto and the seriousness of the symphony. For one listener, the Fourth did not move convincingly until the finale, and then, not inexorably. But it was undeniably weighty.

In a performance neither immaculate nor transparent, Sanderling and the orchestra achieved a heaviness of tone that proclaimed deep thoughts and grim emotional overtones. The opening did not soar, but crept; the Andante seemed to drag on; the third movement proved loud but not cathartic. In the last movement, a certain inevitability of statement appeared, despite moments of apparent standing still.

Soloists in the Double Concerto were two youngsters, also from East Germany: violinist AntjeWeithaas and cellist Michael Sanderling. He is one of the conductor’s sons; she, a friend. Their combined ages total 47.

The performance proved pleasant and uneventful, a fair run-through, the conductor holding the reins tightly. The soloists did not disgrace themselves, but certainly did not contribute strongly or thrillingly.