The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra opened their season with a program that would have been inconceivable 60 years ago when the band began. Then it was something to fill a niche in the city's musical entertainment menu. There was a new vogue for Baroque music, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven by virtuoso chamber orchestras that delivered with sophisticated elegance, humour and punch. The LACO became an international star after Sir Neville Marriner arrived in 1965. They are still the best in town in their core repertoire and have broadened it out considerably. They have pride in the music they make, which they share with their audiences.
Mozart's Jupiter after intermission was like the old glory days, olympian and vigorous, with stunning clarity in the dialogues between the strings, anchored by stalwart cellists and double basses. The woodwinds, each with their colors and personality, were led by sweet-toned virtuoso bassoons. Himself a flutist who worked with Marriner for 20 years, Jaime Martín kept the narrative flowing with the elegant, life-enhancing energy that characterized LACO under Marriner, just as stylish with perhaps more temperament, the music incisive and bold without being heavy.
The Andante cantabile moved along at a lovely rolling gait, with elegantly bowed strings and nimble-fingered cellists after the double bar. The Menuetto swaggered endearingly with exquisite details in the woodwinds; in the Trio the trumpets were superb. In the finale, all the little explosions were timed perfectly to keep the music going while the musicians were exalting in the physical beauty of the music and solving the puzzle of making the fugal elements come out right. It was if as they were summing up Mozart's symphonic legacy. They played The Marriage of Figaro overture as an encore.