Constantine Orbelian, the San Francisco-born music director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, likes to change programs. Tonight, for example, at a concert in Herbst Theater, he announced right in the middle of the event that he is moving up Boccherini's Symphony in D minor from the second half of the concert, to be played instead of Shostakovich's "Five Preludes for Orchestra." As to the work to end the concert, Orbelian said, there would be a surprise. That turned out to be the Tchaikovsky Serenade, played well enough, but to replace the Shostakovich? Why? It couldn't have been to attract an audience - too late for that. Here was one program change that didn't make much sense. But what Orbelian did on Sept. 11, 2001, made all the sense in the world. At the orchestra's performance in Santa Rosa, he replaced the program-ending work on that fateful day with Schnittke's Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra. Today was a "normal" day, but the Schnittke, opening the concert, still packed a wallop, it impressed and moved as no other part of the program did. The 1979 concerto is vintage Schnittke - dark, brooding, with beautiful harmonies interrupted by violent dissonance. I wasn't in Santa Rosa on 9/11, but I can imagine the impact of this traumatizing music in that context. The 25-minute concerto is all of one piece, disparate, conflicting elements melding into an overwhelming coherence that's impossible to put in words. Some of the dissonance is exaggerated, grotesque, the deliberate ugliness working as the contrast does in Strauss' "Elektra," good and evil bouncing off each other, completing the other. Orbelian conducted, minimally, from the keyboard, and he gave a superb solo performance. Whether playing centered, beautiful passages against the wrenching off-key derision from the first violins or switching over to the other side, the piano mocking the slowly rolling unison in the strings, Orbelian's performance came from the heart, with a musical-emotional authenticity that made one forgive him for skipping the Shostakovich. Something about Schnittke's use of "sound clusters" reminded me of Tan Dun's "Water Passion," which is trickling around the world after last year's US premiere at the Oregon Bach Festival, where I heard and disliked it. What a difference between Schnittke - sincere, simple, spiritual, communicating directly - and Tan Dun's showy, calculated work, always reaching for effect... and then reaching some more. Guess who's going to be more successful? Still, as long as I can hear Schnittke performed like this tonight, the rest of the world can have Tan Dun slushing water in huge acrylic bowls - to each his own. Besides the fine Tchaikovsky and the facile but unexceptional Boccherini, the orchestra also performed three Armenian Dances, arranged by Aslamazian, and offered a virtuoso violinist who doesn't play the violin well. Alexander Markov has the hair and looks to be one of the (yet to be formed but inevitably coming) Three Violinists, but his solo in Franz Waxman's Fantasie on Themes from "Carmen" was rather painful, with poor intonation, clipped phrases, distrust of the music, tentative attacks, incomplete phrasing, and exclusive attention on the flashy, showy, superficial. A solo encore, of Paganini's Capriccio No. 24, was much the same. To end with some good news: Daniel Levenstein, who presented the concert, in association with the San Francisco Russian Center, announced formation of a "Chamber Music San Francisco" organization, which will start producing a concert series next year in the Palace of Legion of Honor. I hope Orbelian's ensemble will be among the performers. It is a good orchestra and, apparently, a thrifty one. It's certainly the only one I know, outside high schools, in which groups of three violinists use a single music stand. For the add-on musician in the back, there is a distance of about 4 feet to the score, and yet I heard no missed note, demonstrating excellent eyesight. Janos Gereben/SF www.sfcv.org [log in to unmask]