Music : Behr Conducts ‘Nixon in China’ at Pavilion

“Nixon in China” is not much of a conductor’s opera, but all those who have had a turn with it have seemed able to impart a distinctive character. Certainly Randall Behr did so Saturday evening, when the piece returned to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion after a 13-day layoff.

Behr, Music Center Opera’s resident conductor, stressed the lyrical aspects of the lush score, leading a suave, rounded performance that retained the clear textures and vitality instilled by his predecessor in this run, Kent Nagano. Behr also brought out the dance-based, vernacular rhythms, in a gracefully swinging account that provided scope for explosive contrasts.

The reinforced Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra played with cohesive, stylish aplomb for Behr, momentary lapses at the end of Act I and the beginning of the ballet notwithstanding. This is a very persuasive orchestra for composer John Adams--its luminous “Shaker Loops” still glows in some memories--and it makes much of its manifold opportunities here.

Some amplification inconsistencies skewed balances for the voices, both the established solo cast and the Music Center Opera Chorus, but otherwise the performance retained its now-familiar vocal character.

A matinee Sunday is the final performance.