Music Reviews : Blomstedt in Program of Second Symphonies

Herbert Blomstedt is not a star conductor, and the San Francisco Symphony, Blomstedt’s orchestra for the last five years, is not a virtuoso ensemble.

But Tuesday night in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at its third Southland appearance in three days, the San Franciscans shone.

What could have been an ordinary symphonic concert became a special occasion, through superior music making alone. Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 2, not always a thriller, made a terrific impact. And second-level works by Roger Sessions and Tchaikovsky showed their more impressive facets. One left the Music Center uplifted.

The American-born Swedish conductor accomplished these feats simply and modestly. His long association with the orchestra has resulted in solidity and single-mindedness in its playing. There seems to be a trust and mutual respect between players and podium that bridges any technical or mechanical gaps in the ensemble’s execution.

Then there is the apprehendable musicality of Blomstedt’s view of these works--in addition to the overture, the second symphonies of Sessions and Tchaikovsky. He projected logic, motivation, emotional balance and continuity through both readings, which offered flow and contrast and telling details.

The deepest probing is not this conductor’s style; Blomstedt does not grab the listener by the ear and force him to feel. His performances do not reek of sweat, tears and compulsion. But they are eminently listenable, and usually admirable.

Beethoven’s Second “Leonore” opened this program authoritatively, in wondrous instrumental transparency. Sessions’ enigmatic Second--even after 43 years (this ensemble introduced the work in 1947), the work does not give up its mysteries easily--moved along in its earnestly light-footed and brainy way.

And Tchaikovsky’s cherishable “Little Russian” Symphony, less than crisply articulated and in moments lacking that choral weight we associate with most American orchestras, nevertheless exerted its charms in a jaunty, if not always touching, reading.