MUSIC REVIEWS : SOVIET EMIGRE ORCHESTRA AT UCLA

Repeating half its program from its last visit here in 1981, the Soviet Emigre Orchestra returned to the Southland Friday night for a performance at Royce Hall, UCLA. In addition to Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, the 12-member ensemble offered a Vivaldi concerto and the arrangement for string orchestra of Shostakovich’s Eighth Quartet as made by its conductor and music director, Lazar Gosman.

As before, the group again left an impression of disciplined musicality, cohesive ensemble and handsome and lush tone. Leading from the concertmaster’s chair, Gosman kept a purposeful rein on the Mozart and Tchaikovsky suites, and on a dramatically imbued account of Shostakovich’s autobiographical Opus 110.

In Vivaldi’s A-minor Concerto for two violins, in which Gosman and principal second violinist Valery Schevchenko were the soloists, the lack of a conductor sometimes resulted in sagging, over-relaxed tempos.

Furthermore, all this polished playing did not finally add up to a fully satisfying experience. A certain slickness, combined with unbending tempos, a well-scrubbed rather than a well-spoken approach to articulation and a narrow palette of musical colors, make this chamber orchestra more accomplished than communicative.