MUSIC REVIEW : Some Highs and Lows With Moscow Virtuosi in Cerritos

Still on the road, still all-male, still often living up to its immodest name, the Moscow Virtuosi remains a viable musical ensemble worthy of its good reputation. Vladimir Spivakov leads the group he founded 15 years ago; these days, its headquarters is not the capital of Russia, but the Northwest region of Spain: Asturias.

Between East Coast and Northern California dates this week, the 22-member orchestra stopped in Southern California for a single concert at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts--and reminded veteran watchers that when it is alert, it plays wonderfully well, but when it is not interested, its performances can become boring.

Both kinds of playing characterized its Wednesday night concert at the Cerritos showplace, arranged on this occasion in that configuration, which holds 960 listeners. There was a Mozart symphony, two concertos by Haydn and Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony in F--a generous program not truly engaging until its last half-hour.

That was the orchestral version of Shostakovich’s Third String Quartet, a work that begins in empty-headedness and ends in poignancy, having passed by that time through melancholy, irony and bitterness. The performance emerged emotionally pointed, perfectly gauged dynamically and texturally transparent.

All members seemed to participate in the success and integration of this reading, but two soloists in particular contributed most strongly: concertmaster Arkady Futer and principal cellist Mikhail Milman.

What preceded this programmatic climax was a series of incomplete starts: Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 in a dutiful run-through clearly unconnected with its true greatness; Haydn’s C-major Cello Concerto, a fine showcase for the unfolding talents of the 20-year-old American soloist, Wendy Warner, and Haydn’s C-major Violin Concerto, in which Spivakov again revealed his steely brilliant technique, tight control and abundant skills as a fiddler.

The orchestra mustered a mediocre accompaniment for the guest soloist, a more careful musical collaboration with its violinist-leader.