BELL'S VIRTUOSITY VERY CLEAR AT THE BOWL.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Though there has been carping from some quarters about the sound quality emanating from the new shell at the Hollywood Bowl, it was no impediment (real or imagined) to fine performances Tuesday evening by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with guest artist Joshua Bell on violin in a program of Brahms and Shostakovich.

Let's face facts: Any outdoor venue where patrons are or have been eating (leading to the clank of the occasional bottle being tipped over), where copters and planes roar overhead, is not going to be ideal for hearing any orchestra. And for some of us, you can even throw in ambient night noise - the chirping of crickets that never hit the beat - as another possible distraction.

However, if you are there to listen, it's easy enough to do so and hear the dynamics of the music clearly. The new shell is a genuine improvement over the old one, though it's not perfect. The music has a bit of a muted feel, but not enough to dull Bell's passionate playing on Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77, or conductor Marin Alsop's dramatic reading of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47.

Certainly, you can hear the subtleties and nuances of Bell's cadenza, which he wrote for Brahms' lyrical concerto, with his seamless bowing and bright tones. The good-looking 36-year-old violinist may be one of classical music's glamour boys, but he delivers.

Shostakovich's 1937 symphony has all the earmarks of being written during Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union - oppressive, machinelike passages augmented by rapid drumming and militaristic segments with blaring horns, reflecting the composer's own despair with the regime. But there are also moments of hope, longing and even whimsy (featuring mostly the reeds and flutes) within the piece, and the Philharmonic under Alsop's deft touch grandly navigated the work's complex moods.

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com