GRUENBERG SOLOIST : YOUTH SYMPHONY AT UCLA

A Russian program that translated to a Technicolor extravaganza is what Mehli Mehta and his American Youth Symphony had on tap Sunday at Royce Hall, UCLA--nothing terribly unusual about that.

But the maestro usually manages to introduce a surprise element and this time he did so by way of Erich Gruenberg, a violinist who never quite made it to the “A” circuit of concert schedules even though he is a compelling performer.

The Vienna-born Londoner played the Khachaturian Concerto in a way that replaced the gutsy tradition of this folk-inspired piece with uncommon restraint and delicacy. That’s not to say Gruenberg slighted its bold character traits, rather he reduced them in size.

His pure, slender tone, predominantly dusky on the lower strings, and somewhat wiry in the agitated outer movements of the work, lent itself to this approach--up to and including all the exaggerated slurs and tantalizing Orientalisms that abound in the score.

In his most hospitable style, Mehta provided alert accompaniment, while capitalizing both on Khachaturian’s big-screen Romanticism and undercurrents of foreboding.

He opened with Shostakovich’s “Overture Festivo,” a razzler-dazzler played to the tinselly hilt. He closed with Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique,” which, at its best, alternately sang with sweet serenity and exploded with cataclysmic despair.