Music : Mauceri Brings Pop, Polish to Bowl

It may be a little early in the experiment that is the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for predictions, but its leader, John Mauceri, certainly seems a natural for the Bowl. He is as confident and outgoing in his monologues as he is in his music-making.

Which is well, since he is clearly the intended focus for the audience. Saturday found him back mediating the pops muse for an enthusiastic gathering of 17,979, following another, sold-out performance on Friday of his “Great American Concert.”

This, of course, is familiar turf--the whole program was a variation on his Independence Day slate, for example. Mauceri makes the formula work, however, undergirded by the quick, slick work of his orchestra.

And despite the effective blandishments of two soloists and fireworks, the orchestra took the show with a volatile reading of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story.”

Mauceri deals in big gestures and much hopping, but also projects sassy sophistication easily. Here, he kept the complex rhythmic layers transparent and fully engaged, delivered a truly tempestuous Mambo and made the poignancy of the finale really ache.

The Bowl orchestra gave him a limber, glossy performance, full of solo highlights. The amplification seemed brighter and considerably louder than it does for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in its weekday bouts, and Mauceri let balances tip askew in places.

Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” also emerged fast and rowdy, but much less articulate. British-trained organist-pianist-conductor Wayne Marshall has a lot of Gershwin experience and introduced his own ear-catching variations in the cadenzas and elsewhere.

But he also blurred many passages in a performance that had all the untidiness of improvisation but little of its heat or spontaneity.

Mauceri took the dangerous introductory tack of explaining why he thinks some listeners find “A Lincoln Portrait” by Copland boring, locating the problem in the narration. Then, Roscoe Lee Browne gave a ripe, rolling account of the patriotic oration without quelling all sympathy with Mauceri’s anecdotal complaints.

Conductor and orchestra provided pertinent support and colorful, poised frameworks for both their guests.

The rest of the program listed John Williams’ “Liberty Fanfare,” and film and music theater outtakes, firmly presented. Three Sousa marches served as clap-along accompaniment to the valedictory fireworks, which were unusually, effectively tied to the music.