MUSIC REVIEWS : Brahms, Larsen, ‘La Mer’ in Long Beach

For a while, before intermission at the latest Long Beach Symphony concert, at Terrace Theater in the Long Beach Convention Center Saturday night, one anticipated suffering an embarrassment of riches--lavishly colored, instrumentally showy, thickly textured orchestral music of real density, 48 minutes of it.

Near the beginning of the local premiere performance of Libby Larsen’s “Symphony: Water Music,” all the Minnesota composer’s abundant and colorful writing threatened to cloy--not unlike the sensation one feels at a meal with a succession of too many rich sauces.

But overdose never arrived. Larsen’s four-movement, 18-minute piece, atonal but aqueous, turned out to be, though brilliant, not flamboyantly so. Its complexities complement each other; it is bright rather than blinding.

And Debussy’s “La Mer,” handily detailed by conductor JoAnn Falletta, exerted its charms in ways subtle rather than glaring; its pointillistic effects and engaging climaxes never came close to overwhelming the listener. The orchestra’s ever-growing palette of instrumental colors inspired admiration, not aural overconsumption. The performance emerged contained but virtuosic.

The second half of this generous program also succeeded in ambitiousness and accomplishment. Though one notes that Jeffrey Biegel, the 30-year-old American pianist and international competition winner, has not yet internalized the many facets of Brahms’ B-Flat Piano Concerto into a comprehensive overview, what he has put together so far is quite impressive.

The work’s technical difficulties, musical sweep and danger/stamina ratio are well within Biegel’s grasp at this point. In time, he will probably personalize them to his own musical character.

And for now, he is a worthy Brahmsian. Here he was assisted intelligently by an alert conductor and a resourceful orchestra--including wonderful solo lines from, among others, cellist John Walz. For those still cherishing memories of Artur Rubinstein in this work, all one can say is: Get over it. That was then; this is now.