Music Reviews : Chamber Orchestra in Norris Theatre Concert

With a potent and muscular account of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, Frances Steiner brought a problematic three-part concert by the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay to a close Sunday at the Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts in Palos Verdes.

Steiner put the emphasis on the brusque iconoclast, rather than on the refined traditionalist, leading an orchestra of approximately 30 players. Tempos were brisk, accents strong and dramatic, details telling.

Less happily emerged the collaboration between Steiner and soloist Gerald Robbins in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21.

Against Steiner’s direct, straight-forward conducting, Robbins made efforts to spin out the theme of the Andante utilizing a free but discreet rubato. Steiner would have little of it, and though she kept ensemble together, she did not try to match his phrasing and sense of line.

Elsewhere in the work, however, Robbins offered less involving playing. While reasonably fluent, his interpretation as a whole remained short on depth, warmth and insight.

The conductor opened the program with a brisk reading of the Overture to Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro,” marred by blurry articulation in strings and winds.