MUSIC REVIEWS : STEVENSON WITH YOUTH SYMPHONY

Despite the approach of summer, the American Youth Symphony, offered a heavy, autumnal program at Royce Hall, UCLA, Sunday evening.

Soprano Delcina Stevenson proved a poised, persuasive exponent of Richard Strauss’ valedictory “Vier Letzte Lieder.” She may have reduced the letter of the texts to just generalized vowels, but she served the spirit of the words with opulent, caressive sounds.

Stevenson’s only vocal trouble lay at the bottom of her range, where she had a hard time making anything heard over the efforts of the orchestra. Mehli Mehta reduced his string sections by half, but a hushed pianissimo still eluded him.

Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony, in what was labeled the original version, provided the bulk of the concert. But contrary to Mehta’s program notes, Bruckner did not intend to end with the Adagio. Bruckner’s 1884 Te Deum was used as a finale at the first performance, and scholars have recently finished the composer’s own sketched Finale.

In context, this Finale-less performance could have worked had Mehta achieved something less prosaic with the very end of the Adagio. But orchestral and interpretive finesse remained elusive in this very difficult work.

The enlarged brass sections sounded wonderful, though it really should have let the others be heard in the Scherzo. The limitations of the young musicians were often exposed, but they offered willing energy and as much control as Mehta demanded.