Lowell Liebermann Work Premieres

The Long Beach Symphony convened Saturday in the Terrace Theater with the world premiere of a new work by Lowell Liebermann, a young and prolific New York-born, Juilliard-trained composer.

Liebermann’s “Loss of Breath,” Opus 58, inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name, is a thoroughly tonal, audience-friendly piece. Its 15 minutes are suggested by the episodic events of the story and take its formal design, a series of disasters that befall the hero, who has literally lost his breath.

But whereas Poe’s tale clearly describes an increasing descent, Liebermann’s “Loss” is merely episodic, turning musical corners with a bang from the brass and percussion into new adventures. The progression seems missing.

It is breezy and likable music, though--as athletic as Torke, as bubbly as Bolcom--juiced with demonically sawing strings, threatening brass motifs and overtly comic touches from slide whistle and oboe reed, all of which capture the black humor of Poe. Conductor JoAnn Falletta and the orchestra gave it a muscular, dashing reading.

The orchestra was in good form all evening. Falletta’s fluid conducting style drew warm and comfortable playing from the ensemble, pliant and powerful.

But the conductor’s interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony lacked distinction. She went for its general, lush sweep--and got it--but showed little interest in the minutia of phrasing, the contrast of dynamics, the polishing and pointing of textures. The result was tidy and ample and kind of singsong.

Long Beach concertmaster Roger Wilkie took center stage for Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto, in an elegant and crisply dispatched account. Though he hit a rough patch in the middle movement, he readily caught the sweetness of Prokofiev’s lyricism and the bite of his rhythmic gambits. Falletta accompanied unobtrusively.