MUSIC REVIEW : Soviet Conductor Sinaisky Delivers a Stunning Tribute to <i> Glasnost</i>

Soviet conductor Vassili Sinaisky made a stunning American debut with the San Diego Symphony on Thursday night at Symphony Hall. Under his impressive direction, the orchestra turned his ultra-Romantic, all-Russian program into a resounding ode to the cultural benefits of glasnost .

From the opening measures of Borodin’s colorful overture to “Prince Igor,” it was clear that the 41-year-old Sinaisky, recently elevated to the post of chief conductor for the Moscow State Symphony, is no ordinary time beater. A smiling but commanding presence on the podium, his large gestures sculpted every phrase with unmistakable clarity and unerring emotional congruence.

At first, his unabashed style was off-putting. Contemporary Western sophisticates don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves, and cheap podium histrionics have given emoting a bad reputation. But by the time Sinaisky and the orchestra had traversed the lush landscape of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, only the terminally jaded could have resisted his approach.

Sinaisky never lost the focus in the sprawling opening movement, and the scherzo was brilliant and exciting.

When played routinely, this Rachmaninoff symphony calls to mind the cliched movie scores of the 1930s, especially the ones that shamelessly plundered this precariously overripe idiom. But Sinaisky knew how to paint the bloom without gilding the lily, and the orchestra responded generously, floating phrases with uncommon delicacy and building deftly controlled crescendos. Granted, the local violins did not display the sheen and uniformity of tone of their counterparts in larger and more finely tuned orchestras. When the State Symphony of the U.S.S.R. visited Civic Theatre last November, the luxuriant timbre of its massive string sections set a standard not likely to be surpassed. However, in this Rachmaninoff symphony, the elegant woodwind solos and clear, vibrant brass playing by San Diego Symphony members require no apology.

At the conclusion of the concert, the audience was sufficiently moved to lavish lengthy applause on the musicians, instead of their usual perfunctory bravo immediately followed by a headlong rush to the exits.

Igor Gruppman, the orchestra’s concertmaster, took solo duty in Glazunov’s Violin Concerto. It would be gratifying to report that the Russian emigre violinist, who has been with the orchestra for the past seven years, gave a definitive reading of this infrequently programmed late-Romantic morsel. Though he was sympathetic to the concerto’s idiom and was able to spin out a pliant melodic line, he struggled with its more demanding technical hurdles.

Gruppman’s uppermost range is sweet and delicate, but he does not project a large sound. For this concerto, it was too modest, too close in scale to chamber music. Consequently, the orchestra came close to drowning him out on several occasions with their accompaniment, which was spirited and properly motivated.

The program will be repeated at 8 tonight at Symphony Hall.