MUSIC REVIEWS : Rilling Conducts Mainstream Bach Program

Conductor Helmuth Rilling is practically synonymous with mainstream, modern instrument Bach. This means that at its best his Bach is the standard by which others are judged, but at lesser levels of inspiration it can also sound simply like business as usual.

There was a little of both aspects to his concert Wednesday at Ambassador Auditorium, first of three this week with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Here was musicmaking of lithe energy, forcefully accented. Rilling’s expressive dimension of articulative and phrasing nuances was delivered with poised unanimity.

Here too was persistent imbalance between strings and winds, the main text occasionally overwhelmed with exaggerated punctuation. There was also a sense of sameness, and even redundancy, particularly in the bookend Suites in D, Nos. 3 and 4.

As originally announced, the program was to feature choral works, including the Magnificat. This was scaled back to the “Wedding” Cantata, BWV 202, and then soloist Mary Rawcliffe--said to have “vocal problems”--dropped out.

Her replacement, soprano Janet Payne, sang with increasing confidence throughout the piece. Once warmed up and nervously past a few of the major hurdles, she deployed clear, gleaming sound to pertinent purpose, sensitive to textual and rhythmic points.

The effective, if at times overweening, obbligato soloists were oboist Allan Vogel, violinist Ralph Morrison and cellist Douglas Davis, with solid continuo support from bassist Susan Ranney and harpsichordist Patricia Mabee. The high point was the penultimate aria, “Sich uben im Lieben,” playfully projected by Payne with a dazzlingly ornamented repeat from Vogel.

Vogel and Morrison also had the D-minor Concerto, BWV 1060, to display their characterful fluency. The violinist’s sound was unduly subordinate for much of the piece, but otherwise it proved a successful, virtuosic collaboration, with Rilling guiding a taut, sympathetic accompaniment.

At the beginning, the Third Suite threatened to be all trumpets and timpani, and Rilling’s ideas about the famous Air seemed overly fussy. But the ensuing dances moved with grace and humor, virtues apparent again at concert’s end with the Fourth Suite, although there the addition of three oboes made the strings virtually disappear, surfacing only in the elegant second Minuet.

The final performance of the series is tonight at Royce Hall.