MUSIC REVIEW : Talmi Takes Command at Concert of Note

Sporting his new title and a broad smile notably absent from his sober publicity photos, music director designate Yoav Talmi returned to the San Diego Symphony over the weekend. On Saturday night, the Israeli conductor exuded an extra measure of confidence, although in five previous visits he surely has never appeared obsequious. The orchestra’s recently announced choice of Talmi, after a two-year search for a music director, has clearly bolstered his morale and his command of the podium.

The program was a Mozart and Mahler combination plate, evidently one of Talmi’s favorite recipes, since he will open the orchestra’s 1989-90 season with the same pair of composers. His affinity for and appreciation of Mahler’s First Symphony (“Titan”) was evident at every turn. He allowed the episodic work to unfold generously, never forcing the pace but carefully shaping each movement. Only in the middle of the finale did he momentarily lose the tension and focus that underlies Mahler’s exotic tonal tapestry.

In the second movement, he demanded a Landler defined by unrelenting sharp-edged rhythms, and the orchestra responded with rhythmic precision and the appropriate piquant colors that made the entire section sparkle. In both of the middle movements, Talmi kept the melodies shimmering above finely tuned accompaniments.

Talmi wisely saved the major decibels for the thunderous climax of the last movement, which displayed the orchestra’s more resonant forte of the season. Although the horns, expanded to eight for this symphony given to stentorian outbursts, acquitted their tasks honorably, the trumpets under the brilliant leadership of principal Calvin Price proved to be the thoroughbreds of the Mahler brass.

Talmi’s Mozart was less successful than his Mahler, but it was not all his fault. Mozart’s C Major Oboe Concerto, K. 271k is routine in the extreme, especially compared to the composer’s deservedly better-known Clarinet Concerto, K. 622. And, although Allan Vogel is one of the most elegant oboe virtuosos in captivity, he played below his own high standards Saturday night. Dropping a few notes along the way is no crime, but he seemed hemmed in by the opening movement’s busy coloratura nonsense, and his usual rich timbre sounded on the anemic side. Fortunately his characteristic sonority returned in the freedom of the cadenzas and in the concluding rondo. Talmi had reduced the orchestra to a mere 35 players for this modest concerto, but even that was a bit heavy for the delicate sound of the oboe.

Although Mozart’s Overture to “The Abduction From the Seraglio” is one of the composer’s more foolproof overtures, Talmi and the orchestra gave this program opener compelling energy and a sprightly sheen. The overture followed the symphony’s announcement of a gift of $500,000 from Judson and Rachel Grosvenor to underwrite Talmi’s next four years with the San Diego Symphony. Judson Grosvenor is a member of the symphony’s board of directors and serves on its executive committee. Now that Talmi and the orchestra are starting their honeymoon, it is no doubt reassuring for the orchestra to boast a modest dowry in addition to its sizable debt.