BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY INDEED IN PHIL'S CZECH PROGRAM.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

LAST WEEK, Hungarian conductor Ivan Fischer led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program that traced connections between Gypsy music and concert-hall fare, making his points in Liszt and Brahms, with a little Sarasate thrown in.

On Thursday night, Fischer revisited the topic, albeit without commentary from the podium or authentic folk performers, this time performing music by Antonin Dvorak and Bedrich Smetana.

He created a mini-suite by leading three short Dvorak works in quick succession: ``Legend,'' a Slavonic Dance (Op. 72/No. 7) and Notturno. The first was gently calibrated and wondrously idiomatic, the second boisterous without being unruly, and the third, for strings alone, elegant and soft-spoken. In each, the players sounded cohesive yet at ease.

Critics often dismiss Dvorak's Violin Concerto, but those who revel in its moody strains think it unjustly maligned. The Philharmonic's concertmaster, Martin Chalifour, who played it as his solo outing this season, may not be among its staunchest supporters, but his poised and well- turned reading gave the work due respect.

With focused tone, suave technique and serious mien, Chalifour delivered a performance of ample vim, if not throbbing sentiment. This was Dvorak without tears, though the soloist was tender in the adagio. In the finale, he was fleet and detailed but not, alas, inebriated by the score. The orchestra supported him gamely throughout and under Fischer's guidance proved more overtly impassioned.

The program's second half was a bit of a puzzler, with Moravian duets by Dvorak, orchestrated by Fischer and sung in Czech by soprano Carolyn Betty and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, preceding each of three selections from Smetana's ``Ma Vlast'' (``My Fatherland''): ``From Bohemia's Meadows and Forests,'' ``Sarka'' and ``The Moldau.''

Singing in remarkably good Czech, Betty and O'Connor complemented each other vocally, and the duets were winsome, if hardly masterpieces. But why not perform them all together, before the Smetana? As it was, there were unnecessary pauses, for applause and placement, that favored none of the music.

And yet it was easy to forgive Fischer after the orchestra's sparkling reading of ``From Bohemia's Meadows and Forests'' and ``Sarka,'' its warrior princess conveyed with gripping frenzy. But best of all was the familiar ``Moldau.''

Smetana's inspired musical depiction of a river (the Vltava in Czech; the Moldau in German) received an especially evocative performance under Fischer. And if his warm reading was occasionally stately, he deployed the percussion and brasses to maximum effect when appropriate. Never did the music sound gratuitously showy. One was at times reminded of a Tchaikovsky ballet, especially when harpist Lou Anne Neill entered the mix. The finale, aptly enough, was liquid and coursing.

IVAN FISCHER CONDUCTS THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC, WITH VIOLINIST MARTIN CHALIFOUR - Three stars

What:!rpt In his second week of concerts with the orchestra, guest conductor Ivan Fischer leads a program of Dvorak and Smetana.

Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 tonight and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $15 to $125. [phone]. www.laphil.com.

In a nutshell: Fischer transforms the Philharmonic into a warm Middle European ensemble, with a poised Chalifour honorable in Dvorak's Violin Concerto.