MUSIC REVIEWS : BRUNER CONDUCTS ‘ACIS’ AT BACH FEST

G. Edward Bruner conducted a bright, stylish, if sometimes austere performance of Handel’s “Acis and Galatea” on Sunday at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Long Beach as part of the 14th annual Long Beach Bach Festival.

Bruner presided over the smallish, spirited Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, which provided admirable sprightly rhythms, fashionably detached phrasings and minimal vibrato, and transparent textures, marred only by an occasional squeal or two from the winds.

The 18-member chorus, drawn from the Long Beach Bach Festival Choir, sang with rich, ample and well-balanced tone and with impressive clarity of word.

Unfortunately, the soloists too rarely exploited the possibilities for interpreting the text, and though they embellished their lines discreetly in the repeats of their arias, they infrequently applied the embellishments for expressive purposes. As a result, elements of formality, restraint and joylessness marred otherwise basically secure and agile singing.

Soprano Virginia Sublett brought creamy, luscious vocalism to the role of Galatea. As Acis, tenor Jonathan Mack was authoritative and, in “Love sounds th’alarm,” stirring. Basso Kenneth Church drew a vocally strong, almost ingratiating characterization of the monster Polyphemus. Tenor Scott David Miller, however, offered only a pallid Damon.