Music Review : Mehta, Youth Symphony Shine

The best parts of maturity and youth are what Mehli Mehta and the American Youth Symphony generally bring to performance, combining the venerable, patient interpretations of the 83-year-old conductor with the wide-eyed, enthusiastic execution of his orchestra.

At Royce Hall on Sunday evening, Mehta and the AYS again revealed the advantages their partnership provides for such a familiar work as Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony.

Mehta, in a clearly outlined yet subtle reading, with remarkable economy of motion, elicited gracefulness of line, poised balances, unforced emotion and expressive instrumental color--to which the reduced orchestra alertly responded. There was plenty of speed and vigor in the outer movements, but never at the expense of nuance in tempo or articulation, poetry and elegance in the inner movements, without sentimentality.

A rare performance (rare here, that is) of Elgar’s expansive and ruminative Violin Concerto took up the second half of the concert. Erich Gruenberg, former concertmaster of the London Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic, served as soloist.

He provided a solid, full-throated account of the ever-demanding solo part, despite occasional lapses in intonation. He was perhaps not the most persuasive of melodists, but never lacked for conviction or power or sweetness. Mehta and orchestra offered attentive underpinning, breaking out into hefty and dramatic declamation in their many featured moments. Bernstein’s “Candide” Overture supplied the ear-clearing preliminaries, in a nicely noisy yet nimble reading.