MUSIC REVIEW : Beverly Hills Symphony Plays Familiar Fare at Greystone

The Beverly Hills Symphony did its part in kicking off the summer outdoor concert season Sunday afternoon with an elegantly performed program in the inner courtyard of Greystone Mansion. The stone floors and walls turned out to be ideal acoustically for the chamber-sized orchestra, providing it with ample clarity and resonant warmth.

Conductor Bogidar Avramov made the most of the congenial sonics and program: With compact, yet ever-persuasive gestures, he coaxed finely wrought and communicative performances from his orchestra in familiar music by Rossini, Mozart and Schubert.

Chief among the afternoon’s pleasures was the gracious and intimate reading of Mozart’s Violin Concerto, K. 216, with Bruce Dukov as soloist.

Dukov revelled in the score’s high spirited melodiousness, singing his phrases confidently and easily, never overstating their points, never exploiting their bravura. Avramov and orchestra accompanied in kind, with attentive, energetic and polished back-up.

After intermission, Avramov offered an easy-going, sensitively shaped reading of Schubert’s Fifth Symphony. The small details, readily heard--a gentle swell in the phrasing, a warming of tone, a pointed accent--gave the music both direct and subtle impact.

A tidy and buoyant performance of Rossini’s Overture to “La Scala di Seta” served as the concert opener.