Music and Dance Reviews : Falletta Conducts a Long Beach Symphony Full House

After some lean times, things are going pretty well for the Long Beach Symphony these days. Saturday night before a sold-out audience at the Terrace Theater, the orchestra gave spirited and accomplished performances for its new music director, JoAnn Falletta, that seemed to exemplify this new-found prosperity.

The concert began with the Overture to “The Bartered Bride” by Smetana, in a neatly executed, attentively detailed reading. Clarinetist David Shifrin then joined the orchestra for Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, in a performance of graceful nuance and technical precision. He gave the widely spaced melodies of the opening a smooth, connective arch with his evenly-voiced tone and reticent, though intent, expression. The jazzy, syncopated finale was playfully understated: His light accents and soft articulations lent the music a cool, confident ease. The accompaniment, its brittle textures clearly to the fore, was dispatched alertly.

Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique” concluded the program. Falletta’s interpretation was notable for its careful control of pacing and detail and the solid playing of her orchestra. She emphasized clarity of line over bizarre orchestrational effects. Balances were finely calculated. And there were some unusual touches: She included the oft-omitted cornet part in the waltz, she placed the oboe/shepherd in the balcony for the third movement, she took all the repeats.

Still, for all its real accomplishment, the performance remained earthbound. The emotional peaks were few, the melodrama scarce. It was all, ultimately, just a little too well mannered.