MUSIC REVIEW : Hege Leads Debut Orchestra at UCLA

To call the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra a training ensemble would be technically correct. But the orchestra is better than that label implies; its concerts are usually small jewels in the musical life of Los Angeles.

Sunday’s concert in Royce Hall, the first of the orchestra’s 36th season, proved typical in its excellences: These young musicians regularly make old music sound fresh. No small amount of the credit for Sunday’s event is due to Daniel Hege, who made his debut as conductor-in-training, a position he will hold for three years as winner of the YMF National Conducting Competition last spring.

Both orchestra and conductor were shown to best advantage in Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. Hege coaxed precise yet gracious playing from his musicians, revealing an already strong rapport with them. He stressed vigor and dynamic contrast in the outer movements without compromising their tunefulness. Glowing colors and elegantly singing lines characterized the Andante. In short, a mature, fully realized interpretation.

Earlier, principal clarinetist Andrew Lamy took on the solo duties in Copland’s “Clarinet” Concerto. His rock-solid technique allowed one to forget his mechanics and focus on the balletic gracefulness of his phrasing, the give and take with which he moved his music through the orchestral texture. Hege and orchestra accompanied with sensitivity, though their abilities were challenged by the craggy finale.

A misjudgment marred the opening work on the program, Handel’s Concerto a Due Cori No. 2. In this piece the two wind choirs must be separated for their antiphonal music to have proper effect. Sunday they were seated in a single group behind the strings. Otherwise, a solid performance, if a trifle bland for lack of stereo.