MUSIC REVIEW : Nathaniel Rosen in Irvine Cello Recital

With his eyes shut tight in concentration and his deep breaths launching the long arcs of his phrases, cellist Nathaniel Rosen was a model of the Romantic artist in his recital Thursday in the Fine Arts Concert Hall at UC Irvine.

And it was Romantic music that brought out the best in Rosen and pianist Nina Scolnik in a mixed program that ended in a letdown with pure showpieces and trivia.

In Beethoven’s Sonata No. 3 in A, Rosen and Scolnik were dramatic, expressive and committed, rising to the occasion seriously and with vigor. Their playing was bold in concept, lyric in repose, and decisive in accent. After opening the work with searching, near-longing lines, Rosen attacked the second part with such force that he broke his A string. Unruffled, he went offstage, restrung the instrument and returned to start again.

In both works, Scolnik provided, as she did all evening, unfailingly fluent and expert support. She was lacking only in not fully establishing an equally expressive voice.

Less involving was Rosen’s account of Bach’s Suite No. 4 in E-flat for Unaccompanied Cello. It was lean, somewhat austere and marred by occasional lapses in control of tone. But the Allemande was distinguished by airily suspended rhythms that evoked a kind of high-wire act, which finished with a firm footfall.

Rosen brought the same rich warmth and elegance to the soft, rapid passages of Francoeur’s gallant Sonata in E (Largo and Vivo) as he did to the big opening statements, which certainly were technically impressive.

It seemed all the more unfortunate, therefore, that he decided to turn to pure showpieces to end the program.

To be sure, he brought delicacy to a transcription of Debussy’s song “Beau soir.” And certainly he was impressive in “Ritual Fire Dance” and “Dance of Terror “ from Falla’s “El amor brujo.” But one wondered why he bothered with David Popper’s lightweight “Dance of the Elves,” which seemed modeled on Rimsky-Korsakov’s vapid “Flight of the Bumblebee.” Still, the applause that prompted Chopin’s Largo as an encore was well deserved.

Nathaniel Rosen will be a featured soloist with the Mozart Camerata under the direction oof Ami Porat at Santa Ana High School, 520 W. Walnut St., Santa Ana, tonight at 8. Tickets: $14 to $16. Information: (714) 581-2600.