MUSIC REVIEW : IMPRESSIVE OPENER FOR SOUTH COAST

Conductor Larry Granger and the South Coast Symphony opened the orchestra’s third season Saturday at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa playing with impressive new confidence and strength.

The achievement must have been won with long, hard work, for such unanimity in expression, attack and inflection as was heard, particularly from the violins, could not have come easily and demonstrates the steady progress of the ensemble toward full professionalism.

The playing, to be sure, was not ideal in terms of finesse, sheen or richness. Winds, brass and lower strings could sound unfocused, tentative and crude; they have yet to achieve the level of the violins.

Nor did Granger give the most illuminating interpretations.

But the important thing is that he never gave a wrong or mindless interpretation. He knew the styles and created genuine sweep, purpose and direction with what he had. There was never a dead passage or aimless note-playing.

Interestingly, Granger still looked awkward and minimally directive when he conducted. But apparently the players fully understood what he wanted, and the spirit of orchestra and conductor working together was palpable.

The problematic performance turned out to be that given by Lyndon Taylor in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. At its best, Taylor’s interpretation was lyrical and frail; at its worst, it was a pursuit of speed at the expense of expressivity. Mostly it was smooth, surface polish, mannered in dynamic shifts and attack and not always secure in intonation.

To make matters worse, the tall, lanky violinist exhibited obtrusive stage manners--bobbing and swaying as he played or jerking his head to the accents of the orchestral tutti. Sadly, the expressivity implied in his being so emotionally swept away did not come out in his playing.

Granger and company did not have the requisite number of strings to achieve the ideal type or volume of sound for Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, much less for the Sibelius concerto. Approximately 80 players were listed in the program, but a mid-intermission count of chairs suggested that only about 60 people actually performed.

Still, Granger accompanied sensitively and achieved detailed, expressive interpretations signaled from the very beginning with his account of the Overture to Franz Berwald’s “Estrella de Soria,” which opened the concert.