MUSIC REVIEW : Bizet and Prokofiev by Montreal Symphony

On Monday night, things went better for the Montreal Symphony, playing its second Music Center concert just 24 hours after making its debut in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The accomplishments of the orchestra, which seemed so virtuosic in Hollywood Bowl appearances this year and in 1987, have been called into question with these two downtown concerts (the ensemble was also scheduled to play Tuesday night in Orange County). On Monday, the Montrealers gave a performance more in line with the standards they met at the Bowl.

The slenderness of the Montreal sound and the transparency of the performances Charles Dutoit--music director of the orchestra for the last dozen years--elicits from it are admirable in themselves, but they may not necessarily create sonic lushness or overwhelming musical experiences.

Indeed, on Monday, in Alexina Louie’s “The Ringing Earth,” Bizet’s Symphony in C and a suite from Prokofiev’s ballet score, “Romeo and Juliet,” there was not a lot of plush sound or mighty noise-making. Still, the orchestra from Quebec played handsomely, and with first-rate instrumentalism, superior balances and remarkable solo contributions.

And Dutoit’s pointed readings of the “Romeo” excerpts, as well as of Bizet’s youthful symphonic essay, reminded us what a probing musical mind he possesses and how rare such a mind is.

Though sometimes more expansive than would be most viable at a danced performance, the “Romeo” pieces made all their points compellingly, with utmost instrumental articulation and dramatic sweep. At the end, the smallish audience gave conductor Dutoit the compliment of a long silence before applause.

The Bizet work remains its irresistible self, nearly 135 years after its creation. Dutoit & Co. stressed its inner contrasts, the real weight in its Adagio, the natural, but not-too-light buoyancy in the outer movements. It became a gem, newly polished.

Louie’s post-impressionistic “Ringing Earth” is a brief, minimalist-materials overture which invokes bells and descending major scales innocuously. It starts nowhere and goes nowhere, but does so in a short time. It was here forgotten before it was over.