Classical Voice Review - Israel Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta. March 1, 2011. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles

hose who believe art and politics should not mix received a rude awakening at Tuesday night’s Disney Hall concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Outside, anti-Israel protestors walked the picket line with signs of “Music Deceives Truth” and “Boycott Israel”. Inside, the visiting orchestra preluded the concert with a heroic rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner as well as the Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem. The excitement in the auditorium reached a feverish pitch even before the first note of the program was ever played.

Zubin Mehta, voted Favorite Conductor by the L.A. Phil musicians, became music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 25 (younger even than Dudamel, 29) – exactly fifty years ago. On Tuesday night, he emerged from the wings to a standing ovation, slowly making his way onto the podium, basking in the glow of an adoring audience. (Earlier that day, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.)

Promptly, he launched into Haydn’s Symphony No. 96 in D-Major (“The Miracle”) with great force and speed. The Israeli musicians played like a well-oiled precision machine. The strings shimmered, the horns soared, and the woodwinds sparkled. The principal oboe all but stole the show in an inspired, quasi-improvisatory rendition of the big dance tune in the Minuet. Throughout the rest of the symphony, maestro Mehta captured the humor and wit of Haydn with overflowing zeal.

It’s a short work that served as an antipasto of the evening, before Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Maestro Mehta directed a highly polished and exhilarating account of the Fifth Symphony. There were hardly a note out of tune or a phrase out of sync with Mahler’s detailed written instructions (including “attacca Rondo-Finale” , the lovely Adagietto leading into the Rondo-Finale without a pause). As in the Haydn, the tempi were extremely brisk but idiomatic, without ever sounding rushed. Among the performance highlights were the blazingly intense trumpet calls of the Funeral March, the honeyed horn solo in the Scherzo, and the lively dance episodes in the Finale played in the style of a Jewish klezmer band. The crowning glory of the performance, however, was the Adagietto, in which maestro Mehta unleashed a torrent of silken string sounds with wide-ranging dynamics, from sustained whispers to heavy sighs of longings. It’s Mahler’s love song to his wife Alma, played with sublime spirituality, and no tears.

Music may not solve the world’s problems, but for two hours at least, we were elevated to the highest and purest spiritual realm that rendered any man-made religion or politics irrelevant.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's 2011 U.S. tour includes eight concerts in the following seven cities - Naples (FL), West Palm Beach (FL), New York, Newark, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

To purchase tickets for Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2009/10 season, call (323) 850-2000 or visit online www.laphil.org

Truman C. Wang is editor-in-chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily.