Music : Japan America Symphony Season Draws to a Close

The Japan America Symphony--formerly the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra of Los Angeles--closed its first season Saturday under its new name and its new music director, Heiichiro Ohyama, at the Japan America Theatre. The solid program demonstrated both how much has been accomplished in this transitional period and the promise of future glories.

The orchestra has moved from being essentially a veteran community orchestra to a young ensemble of burgeoning professional attainment. The players’ vigor and palpable zest for the music at hand might be expected, but Ohyama has also instilled a sophisticated feel for long limber lines and unanimity of phrasing.

This was most apparent in Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, K. 543, which capped the concise agenda. The bass line occasionally suffered from unfocused sound and intonation, disappearing in the treble-dominated texture, but the interplay of the upper strings--particularly in the crackling finale--emerged cleanly.

Toru Takemitsu’s “Requiem for Strings” revealed the group’s ability to sustain expressive intensity, but also exposed the lack of real depth in the sound. Perhaps to minimize that aspect of the playing, Ohyama pushed the piece at an unsentimental pace, enforcing little more than linear clarity.

The solo vehicle was Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D, projected with lyric grace and ample energy by Ko Iwasaki. His boisterous approach to some of the more technically frenzied passages proved indeterminate in articulation and sonically gruff, but, given the chance to sing either playfully or prayerfully, Iwasaki produced a wealth of buoyant nuance.

Ohyama kept the accompaniment of his orchestra, chamber sized on this occasion, alert and supportive in spirit and sound.