Music : 2 Soloists Distinctive at Pepperdine Festival

The Malibu Strawberry Creek Music Festival wheeled around into its orchestral phase Saturday night at Pepperdine University’s cozy Smothers Theatre.

Until this midway point, the five-concert series had been preoccupied with chamber music--a medium more suited to the dry, intimate Smothers acoustics than big-thinking orchestral classics. Nevertheless, Yehuda Gilad and the mid-sized Festival Orchestra served up a trio of orchestral works planned around no less lofty a theme than last November’s fall of the Berlin Wall.

And yes, there was distinction to be heard--mostly from the two guest soloists, New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and cellist Peter Rejto, in the Brahms Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra. Dicterow was virtually faultless, brandishing a gleaming, marvelously agile, world-class tone that blended beautifully with Rejto’s less secure, but mostly smooth, suave cello. It was a true collaboration, with neither player dominating.

For his part, Gilad was content mostly to push straightforwardly ahead while giving his soloists plenty of room to sing. Had the performance taken place in a more reverberant hall, it might have had an even more powerful impact.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 opened with a cautious, somewhat broadly paced movement and sported lean, clear textures everywhere. As the piece wore on, Gilad eventually was able to produce some essential sharp-edged rhythm from his generally tight ensemble, though he couldn’t do much about the frequently sour intonation of the violins.

Before the Brahms and Beethoven, Gilad offered a rarity--the first seven of Max Bruch’s 15 “Swedish Dances.” The portion heard here revealed a rather earnest attempt to emulate Brahms’ own “Hungarian Dances,” one that never quite lets its hair down despite a few dashing moments.

The program booklet, by the way, couldn’t make up its mind as to whether the Brahms Double Concerto was written in A minor or C. The former is correct.