MUSIC REVIEW : Gross Leads Santa Monica Symphony

As the search continues for a music director for the Santa Monica Symphony, hopes for finding one might have risen since Sunday night at Civic Auditorium. That’s when Allen Robert Gross, the third of four contenders this season vying for the post, led the ensemble competently, if not exceptionally.

As a conductor, Gross approaches a score cautiously, but still lets the orchestra produce a spirited, full sound under good control. His is a style that painstakingly attempts to indicate most entrances and nuances, no matter how insignificant, and actually succeeds much of the time, crisply and lucidly.

The centerpiece of the evening, Dvorak’s flowing, sentimental Eighth Symphony, received intelligent attention as Gross tautly shaped every phrase. Although the performance sometimes sacrificed Romanticism for sturdy architecture, a pleasing balance between the two was preserved.

A few minor mishaps, especially by the horns, caused more than a few grimaces. Yet under the circumstances--inside a boomy hall complete with screaming children, audience members continually wandering the aisles and even the occasional pop of a soda can opening--one had to marvel at the overall quality of the free event.

In Mozart’s Flute Concerto in D, careful attention to phrasing and tempos produced a more deliberate, though ultimately convincing, reading than usual. Flutist David Shostac raced through the three movements with agility, but found less inspiration in giving the work a pronounced stylistic direction.

Gross opened the evening with a dramatic performance of Beethoven’s “Egmont” Overture.