MUSIC REVIEW : Chamber Orchestra Ends Its 8th Season

IRVINE — The Orange County Chamber Orchestra ended its eighth season Monday with a program that ran more than 2 1/2 hours--a little long, but not without rewards.

The concert, at Irvine Barclay Theatre, featured first violinist Diana Halprin in two Romantic works--Christian Sinding’s Suite for violin and Paganini’s Concerto No. 1, both more notable for challenging the soloist technically than for taxing interpretive sensibilities.

The Norwegian composer’s piece provides a virtuosic workout for the violinist, but a paltry, static role for her accompanists. Halprin delivered facile fireworks with gutsy enthusiasm and security, pausing to indulge in a brooding Adagio. Violist Pamela Goldsmith and cellist Anne Karam joined her in dark duets during the slow movement.

Halprin attacked Paganini’s concerto--the first movement only--with exuberance and unabashed showmanship. She also composed the flamboyant, stylistically true cadenzas. Her companions punctuated whirlwind passages punctiliously.

Music director Micah Levy led his band in a rhythmically crisp reading of Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” alternately brisk and touching. Solos by clarinetist Julian Spear, flutist Carol Lockart and bassoonist David Muller melted seamlessly into the texture. Spear, in particular, lent dignified simplicity to “The Gift to Be Simple.”

Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings opened the program. The work received an evocative reading, though troubled by moments of questionable intonation and imprecise sectional coordination among the violins.