MUSIC REVIEWS : BRUSILOW LEADS GLENDALE SYMPHONY

The concert of the Glendale Symphony in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Saturday night promised more than it delivered. Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto had been announced for the core of the program, but was deleted in favor of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 20.

Tedd Joselson, who had been booked for the Barber Concerto, remained on hand to portray the Mozart work. But the concerto was ineffectively placed on the program; you can hardly expect it to make a deep impression immediately following Berlioz’s noisy “Benvenuto Cellini” Overture.

And Joselson did not appear to be a pianist who is most comfortable in Mozart. He played it neatly, circumspectly, correctly, but without the saving grace of sparkle. No explanation was offered for the switch of concertos.

Guest conductor Anshel Brusilow was left only with the dubious potpourri from “Der Rosenkavalier” in which to sink his teeth and pull the orchestra out of the doldrums. It is too patchy an arrangement to fully satisfy Richard Strauss lovers, but Brusilow whipped up welcome lushness in the Act III trio, and countered the swing of the waltzes pleasantly.

At the beginning, he handled “Benvenuto Cellini” with veteran expertness, but proved too literal for the best purposes of Debussy’s “Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune.”