Long Beach Symphony Searches for Balance

Music director JoAnn Falletta led the Long Beach Symphony with commanding purpose Saturday night at the Terrace Theater, at times with great effect, but also with seemingly stubborn single-mindedness.

Except for an exciting closing Allegro, she guided the instrumentalists through a slow reading of Brahms’ Third Symphony. The group disclosed much gentle lyricism, full of flowing phrases and considerate voicing. Individuals took their turns with thoughtful tenderness: Principal clarinetist Gary Bovyer imparted bucolic charm during the first movement--here, neither allegro nor con brio; first hornist Calvin Smith found spine-tingling poignancy in his thematic statement during the subdued Poco Allegretto.

Yet Falletta downplayed dramatic impact. During the opening movement, she insisted on many contrasts in dynamics, but few in the character of the themes and their transformations. Moreover, the leisurely pace of the first movement minimized the contrast between it and the following Andante. Only the finale coalesced into an exciting performance, full of romantic surge and delineated by sweeping legato melodies and terse counter themes.

Falletta turned from the subtleties of the symphony to a no-holds-barred performance of Walton’s “Belshazzar’s Feast,” for which the orchestra was joined by an expanded roster of brass players as well as a chorus made up of the Angeles Chorale and the University Singers of Cal State Fullerton. The combined forces excelled in energetic, rhythmically animated revelry--though sopranos showed wear and tear in the upper register--and engaged in considerable rivalry, with the orchestra usually emerging victorious.

During quieter moments, one longed for dynamic nuance and textual awareness. Baritone soloist Louis Lebherz brought authoritative presence and--except for unveiling real content in the pause for “And the souls of men” during his litany of the wealth of fallen Babylon--a sense of emotional detachment throughout.