MUSIC AND DANCE REVIEWS : Perick Leads Chamber at UCLA

Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 work together in a number of surprising ways, but sheer dynamism proved the most obvious connection Friday at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

There, Christof Perick led the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in a compelling display of sustained vitality. For lyric--but no less virtuosic--contrast, Miriam Fried joined the company in Beethoven’s noble Romances for violin and orchestra.

Perick appreciated the interplay of color and texture as much in Schoenberg as in Beethoven, without blurring the crucial distinctions of individual and period style. He revealed playfulness and an astonishing delicacy--particularly in the Chamber Symphony--with pointed control of articulation and balances.

His clarifying concern for precision and detail did nothing to diminish the exuberance characterizing both symphonies. He maintained a supple elegance in the lines, while insisting on forward rhythmic drive.

Perick’s orchestra gave him the zest and accuracy we have come to expect of it. Fifteen virtuosos provided Schoenberg with the leaping, affectionate abandon that paradoxically comes only from well-drilled teamwork, and the full orchestra supplied Beethoven with a taut, cohesive sound, even at Perick’s volume extremes and quick pace.

Fried took a supremely legato approach to Beethoven’s Romances, Opera 40 and 50. She offered a remarkably even tone, complete mechanical assurance and real sympathy for the power of expressive simplicity.

Perick guided a sensitive and collaborative accompaniment, less consistently legato than the solo line, but complementary rather than contradictory.