MUSIC REVIEW : Santa Barbara Symphony Welcomes Ben-Dor

SANTA BARBARA — All that was missing were the klieg lights. It was the night that Gisele Ben-Dor came to town to take charge of the Santa Barbara Symphony. A full house packed the Arlington Theater and reps of officialdom extended kind words to welcome her.

Ben-Dor’s stellar performance in last season’s round of live auditions earned her the post left open by the death of music director Varujan Kojian. The season-opener, Saturday, was marked by a sense of resolution.

Clearly gifted, Ben-Dor brings charisma and cachet as this orchestra’s first female conductor. She lends a firm, flexible hand to the task, as heard in a solidly executed--if predictable--program.

Less ecstatically, some have criticized Ben-Dor’s revision of the season’s planned programs. After being stripped of some of the more enticing works, the repertory looks less balanced than it might have been.

For starters, Ben-Dor took a confident trip down the middle. The concert’s first half boasted crisp clarity and neatly sculpted dynamics from the orchestra, in material that seemed like an extended fanfare. It’s hard to squeeze much new life out of Bernstein’s Overture to “Candide,” and from Richard Strauss’ Suite from “Der Rosenkavalier.”

Pianist Santiago Rodriguez brought finely tuned sensitivity and commanding technical flourish to Brahms’ Concerto No. 1, with an orchestra that was, aptly, alternately brooding and bold.