Moscow State Radio Symphony Shows Its Polish in Santa Barbara

Formed in 1978 during the Brezhnev era, the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra was modeled after the BBC Orchestra with the idea of disseminating classical music in public via regular broadcasts and performances. Would that the last remaining superpower would enact such a noble gesture on the behalf of classical music evangelism.

State-mandated culture isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the fine, ruggedly gifted orchestra showed Thursday night at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara. The concert, an early appearance in Southern California on the orchestra’s first U.S. tour, also was an auspicious opening event of the 81st season of concerts presented by the Community Arts Music Assn. in Santa Barbara.

The playing was solid and identifiably Russian in emphasis, and few surprises awaited us in the programming department, grounded in hoary Russian themes. The choices leaned toward the 19th century--away from the 20th century domain of Stravinsky and Shostakovich--and were played with boldly articulated bravura. The fanfare-like introduction of Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from “Eugene Onegin” was followed by what may have been the evening’s highlight, Mussorgsky’s innately picturesque tone poem, “Night on Bald Mountain,” its fantastical design enhanced by the Arlington’s wonderfully kitschy, pseudo-villa-like decor and stage set. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol extended the Russian reference in the direction of Spanish influence, in an aptly colorful, dynamic reading.

For its after-intermission showpiece, chief conductor Nikolai Alexeyev led the charges through Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, bringing the work to life in all its late Romantic splendor and excess. More assertive passages emerged muscular, while the bittersweet tunefulness of the Adagio was wrung for all its pathos.

The overall impression here was one of orchestral polish and muster. Under Alexeyev’s hand, this orchestra is a crack ensemble that brings a rigorous approach to music-making that left little to ambiguity.

* Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra, tonight at 8, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive. $50-$70. (800) 300-4345; Monday, 8 p.m., Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $15-$55. (949) 553-2422.