Multifaceted and always exciting Australian composer/violist Brett Dean appears with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to solo in the U.S. premiere of his Viola Concerto, a work he describes as an alternative to the “sense of melancholy, dogged brand of defiance, or even gruffness” that seem to characterize the traditional viola repertoire. Dean’s concerto, which utilizes interesting instruments like cowbells, Chinese cymbals, sandpaper, gongs, tom-toms, whips and woodblocks, is divided into three sections: “Fragment,” which he calls “a short satellite of serenity” before the “restless ride” of the second movement, “Pursuit,” and the elegiac last movement, “Veiled and Mysterious,” an opportunity for the viola to exhibit its wide range of emotion, from restlessness and dreaminess to serenity. Program also includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 82 (“The Bear”) and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., dwntwn.; Thurs., Oct. 12 & Sat., Oct. 14, 8 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 15, 2 p.m. (323) 850-2000 or www.laphil.com.

—Mary Beth Crain

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