MUSIC REVIEWS : SCHIFRIN CONDUCTS

For a conductor who can’t seem to lead the band without falling into a numbing regularity of beat, Lalo Schifrin chose a risky program Friday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to open the 63rd season of the Glendale Symphony.

Virtually every work the guest conductor led demanded the liveliest exercising of rhythm. And while the orchestra seemed fully capable of rising to the occasion, Schifrin’s time-beating turned the evening into a routine and undistinguished affair.

Probably most disappointing was the conductor’s account of Tchaikovsky’s Overture-Fantasy, “Romeo and Juliet,” which not only lacked electricity and impetuosity but also began in the slowest, most evenhanded manner imaginable. It was a credit to the orchestra that it could maintain its resonant tone during such stretched-out pacing.

Two of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances (Nos. 5 and 6) seemed equally bound by rigid, four-square counting. A similar approach to Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol”--despite the orchestra’s bright playing--suggested “Bolero”-like monotony and sounded particularly wrongheaded in contrast with concertmaster Stuart Canin’s flair in solo passages.

Fortunately, Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” proved more durable and resistant as a result of its frequently abrupt changes in direction and theme. When more grand expressivity, bluesiness or insouciance were called for, however, the conductor persisted in his uninflected, moderate way.

Schifrin’s Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, written for and performed by soloist Angel Romero, probably proved the most spirited music making of the evening thanks to the composer’s crafty superimposition of differing musical styles and the strong, varied playing of Romero.

Throughout the program, the orchestra distinguished itself with clean, unified and forceful precision and an attractive, though somewhat dry finish.