Music : South Bay Orchestra Shines

Frances Steiner seems to consistently put together intelligent, unhackneyed programs for her Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay.

Saturday night was no exception: in pointed contrast to untroubled teen-age works by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Rossini stood the Study for Strings by Pavel Haas, written in the Terezin concentration camp shortly before the composer was sent to the gas chamber.

Giving their first entirely classical concert in the new James R. Armstrong Theatre of the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Steiner and orchestra offered typically energetic, detailed, polished performances.

The 500-seat Armstrong Theater with its open sight lines and roomy, lavender-paneled stage proved a friendly acoustical venue for the group.

The high point of the evening came with Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings with L.A. Philharmonic concertmaster Sidney Weiss and Jeanne Weiss in solo roles. The Weisses’ dramatically focused account of this surprisingly strong score (completed in Mendelssohn’s 14th year) and Steiner’s purposeful support made for engrossing listening.

Haas’s brief work, a ruggedly rhythmic, acerbically harmonized work--Janacek and Bartok are the closest models--made its points clearly in a mostly neat, forthright and fluid reading. An assiduously shaped and vital performance of Mozart’s Divertimento, K. 136, opened the concert.

Scruffy intonation occasionally turned up (mostly in the high-register violin parts) in Rossini’s Sonata for Strings No. 3 in an otherwise spirited and satisfying account. Special mention for sparkling solo turns by violinist Miwako Watanabe and bassist Norman Ludwin.