MUSIC REVIEW : GOLABEKS PLAY WITH SYMPHONY

Duo-pianists Mona and Renee Golabek display a complex joint musical persona--intent and controlled at the keyboards, open and engaging away. In time, they may rival those other piano-playing sisters, the Labeques, in charisma.

In a context of largely routine performances by a regional orchestra, they easily dominated musical consciousness. Such was the case Saturday evening, at least, at Orange Coast College. John Larry Granger and his South Coast Symphony put amiable, generally intelligent faces on three orchestral standards, efforts thoroughly eclipsed by the Golabeks.

The pianists had the advantage of Poulenc’s Concerto from 1932. A clearly defined, multifaceted work of sassy surface and subtle depths of harmonic and scoring nuances, it offers wide opportunities for players capable of both brittle precision and subdued lyrical flights.

Mona and Renee Golabek are certainly capable of that, and much more. In the neo-Baroque jive of the opening pages, they sounded bright almost to the point of buzzing. In the larghetto, they caught both the soft, reflective quality and the underlying chill of Poulenc’s musical moonlight.

The Golabeks also seem to have an appreciable, appreciative local following. Prodigious applause and two sets of bouquets quickly elicited a pops encore.

Granger and Co. provided sympathetic accompaniment. They then turned to Stravinky’s “Firebird” Suite, accompanied themselves by the chirping of crickets apparently resident in Moore Theater. It was an expansive, colorful account, although Kastchei’s “Infernal” Dance was an infernal mess at times.

On the first half of the program, Granger paired Mozart’s “Die Entfuehrung aus den Serail” Overture and Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony. Working from memory on the podium, Granger indulges himself in little climactic hops and broadly rhetorical gestures often at odds with the sophistication and elegance of the music.

His orchestra, however, seems to know what he wants. The playing was secure across a wide dynamic range, in sturdy, serviceable performances.