FIREWORKS AT SUMMER’S END : N.J. SYMPHONY’S WOLFF CONDUCTS BOWL FINALE

There were plenty of fireworks in the sky--but precious few onstage--when Hugh Wolff, the Wunderkind from the New Jersey Symphony, led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in its traditional pyrotechnic summer finale at Hollywood Bowl on Friday evening.

In all fairness, Wolff was working under conditions more suitable for a baseball game than for serious music-making.

The usual problems caused by the capricious amplification system were compounded by a baby who vocalized lustily at every quiet moment in the music, a lethargic orchestra that consistently dragged behind Wolff’s angular beat and a huge audience that saved all its tepid enthusiasm for the special effects.

Those came at the end, choreographed by master pyrotechnician Gene Evans to the concluding minuets of Handel’s “Music for the Royal Fireworks.”

Wolff labored mightily, swinging his arms like a crane, to engage the Philharmonic in items on the pops program: Rossini’s Overture to “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” two Slavonic Dances by Dvorak and three dance episodes from Copland’s “Rodeo.”

But the orchestra and guest conductor never found the same wavelength, and the only real glimmer of commitment came from soloist Ronald Leonard, the Philharmonic’s principal cellist. Leonard’s playing in Faure’s “Elegy” and Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo” Variations was elegant and thoughtful, if sabotaged by overly square and plodding accompaniments.

Friday attendance: 17,756.