Little sparkle in USC concert

Veteran conductor Sergiu Comissiona brought his USC Thornton Symphony to Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sunday night for the fifth of six youth orchestra concerts in the hall’s inaugural season. The performance was creditable but somewhat unpolished.

The program began with a new work by USC composer Frederick Lesemann, “Grand Hope Crossing.” It crested with Brahms’ Double Concerto for violin and cello and concluded with Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. Conservatory orchestras vary in quality from season to season as widely as do college football teams. This band did not live up to the standards of some previous USC orchestras.

It played bravely, however, and with great enthusiasm, though taking nearly half an hour to settle into the new acoustical setting. Overplaying was a problem at first.

Lesemann’s new piece uses the orchestra’s lavish resources generously and builds to an exciting, naturally accumulative climax. Comissiona and his charges gave it careful treatment, if with a lower energy level than might have been expected.

Sheryl Staples, a USC alumna and now an associate concertmaster at the New York Philharmonic, and veteran cellist and USC faculty member Ronald Leonard were the splendid, beautifully matched soloists in the Brahms. Conductor and orchestra came close to meeting the pair’s level of musical commitment and their fluid reading.

All the parts were in place for Bartok’s masterpiece, but a lack of passion and intensity on the podium kept the total achievement modest. Many bright moments colored the performance, yet the focus never became clear.