A Composed Performance by Te Kanawa

Genial and relaxed, Kiri Te Kanawa began her recital in Royce Hall at UCLA Saturday night again--as she had two years ago at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion--by asking her audience to turn off its cell phones and beepers, then explaining briefly why her pianist this month is Armen Guzelimian and not one of her two previously announced partners.

She then sang--with the same beautiful sounds and distinctive musicality that one has come to expect in her solo appearances.

Only once, at the very beginning of the second half, when someone’s cell phone rang, did she seem slightly irritated. Otherwise, Dame Kiri--she has been a dame commander of the British empire since 1982--retained her characteristic serenity for the full length of this performance, which had some dynamic peaks, but few emotional ones.

The perfection of her demeanor clearly thrills some in her audience--the crowd in Royce Hall cheered this performance lustily--while it bemuses others.

All that calmness, which some might call detachment, is never broken. At the climax to Richard Strauss’ “Zueignung,” for instance, both the soprano and her resourceful pianist seemed to be saving themselves. For what? one had to wonder.

A similar lack of abandon, or just a choice to avoid risk-taking, marked the rest of the program, which looked on the page to possess variety but actually delivered a generic calmness. Another aria, by Vivaldi, “Io son quel gelsomino,” from “Arsilda Regina di Ponto,” added a bit of contrast.

Three arias from Handel operas--”Giulio Cesare,” “Agrippina” and “Atalanta”--ran together rather facelessly, despite beautiful phrasing and exquisite tone. Five lieder of Strauss--his greatest hits, some might say--lacked pungency and passion, though their sound was ravishing.

Then, before the first encore, “O mio babbino caro,” from “Gianni Schicchi,” a French group, songs by Hahn and Debussy and Bachelet’s “Chere Nuit,” which also emerged pretty but with few colors.

One remembered the passion and intensity with which Mary Costa used to imbue the last song, passion and intensity here sadly missing.