In-between readings of cold excellence in Mozart's Symphony No. 31 and Debussy's "La Mer," David Roberston found his match tonight, with Viktoria Mullova as the soloist in the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Santa Monica's gift to France (formerly in Paris and now in Lyon), Robertson is the brilliantly heartless Tin Man of music, with superb control and precision. . . and incongruous excursions to opera, setting one's teeth on edge with what he mistakes for a score written by Verdi. True, it was not Robertson's excruciating "Rigoletto" (heard across the street, in the War Memorial a long but still unforgiven time ago) that was on the program in Davies Hall tonight, but George Balanchine and I happen to believe that the Stravinsky has some romantic passages, right up there with Verdi at his most passionate. Not tonight. The man is brave and his work on behalf of contemporary music is obviously important, but he shares something with a large segment of "modern music" - he does not connect. And yet, working with a San Francisco Symphony missing almost all of its principal and associate principal players (third chairs moving up to the front), Robertson got impeccable playing from the orchestra. Unlike his work in opera, that lack of communicated passion is not obvious in symphonic works - and yet you can hear it. In the unusual combination tonight of a three-movement symphony and a four-movement concerto, the notes were all there, properly played, and with a consistency of tempo and balance that would speak well of any conductor. Precision, intonation, balance, technical excellence - they all applied to Mullova as well, the London violinist and frequent visitor to San Francisco playing impressively as ever. The problem was exactly the same as for Robertson: portrait of the musician as a cold fish. Although she is trying the Kennedy image in dress (red tunic over black pants and boots, with a bizarrely-cut red coat), Mullova falls way short of the Kennedy commitment and passion; technically, she is a fair match for the former Nigel or anyone. As long as Robertson stays away from the Opera House (and doesn't spend more time speaking about a work than it takes to play it - as he did in the case of Vivier's "Siddhartha"), he is welcome back here for to flaunt his rare, peculiar and frustrating musical abilities. Janos Gereben/SF, CA [log in to unmask]