MUSIC REVIEWS : BELNICK WITH YOUTH SYMPHONY

Showcasing the talents of budding musicians is not the only fancy of Mehli Mehta, who opened the 22nd season of his American Youth Symphony at Royce Hall, UCLA, on Sunday.

The maestro discovered a veteran--violinist Arnold Belnick--who appears to have been locked in a closet for the last three decades.

Whatever the peculiarities surrounding this fluke of a career--a backstage source says Belnick prefers to be a behind-the-scenes man and stay with commercial music-- Mehta’s ever-enthusiastic audience went beyond its norm to acknowledge his coup: The rafters shook with prolonged, thumping, hollering applause.

Belnick, who has taught at Peabody Conservatory and recorded chamber music with Heifetz and Piatigorsky, won the approbation with, of all things, Shostakovich’s thorny First Violin Concerto. He managed to profile the whole array of moods from abject resignation to biting ire to searing soulfulness and leap past each technical hazard without a backward glance.

Belnick drew from his Stradivarius the most refined sound--a slender, purified tone that could change to slightly gritty for expressive purpose. Just as ready were the long, seamless phrases or the agility needed for high-speed agitation and constantly changing meters.

Mehta could not always get his chamber-sized forces to stay in balance here or elsewhere; the exposed winds blundered somewhat. But overall he offered respectable accompaniment.

After intermission, Mehta brought on the whole contingent for Brahms’ First Symphony: another expedition into the big-scaled repertory that is synonymous with Mehta’s training program. Typically, his charges sat on the edge of their seats and produced the kind of passionate playing for which professionals often lack the sheer energy.