MUSIC REVIEW : MOSCOW VIRTUOSI IN AMBASSADOR CONCERT

Like a fine Swiss watch, a fine musical ensemble is a model of precision and elegance; each musician is part of a synergetic and remarkably efficient whole. The Moscow Virtuosi, currently on its first American tour, certainly meets that standard.

At Ambassador Auditorium on Thursday evening, the 20 musicians, under the leadership of founder Vladimir Spivakov, not only played with precision but brought extraordinary depth and feeling to music by Bach, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. Broad strokes, smooth, legato lines and dramatic phrasing characterized the ensemble’s account of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C. And where the music called for crisp attacks, as in the Finale, they were delivered with point and panache.

Pianist Vladimir Krainev’s ceaselessly accurate control and poetic sensitivity gave Shostakovich’s witty and mercurial Concerto in C minor a fine sense of dramatic shape. American trumpeter Stephen Burns joined the ensemble for this work and his clear, bright tone contributed handsomely.

Spivakov served as violin soloist, along with oboist Alexei Utkin, in a seamless, suave reading of Bach’s Concerto in D minor, BWV 1060. Both soloists exhibited the highest level of virtuosity, as well as an uncommon degree of teamwork.

The audience’s enthusiasm elicited five encores--works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartok, Gershwin and Jerry Bock.