At the annual Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert Saturday night with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Richard Strauss' one-act opera "Elektra" veritably roared with sound over and over again. Yet the ever-efficient Levine, in a blue polo shirt and black slacks, maintained a modest presence at the podium.

Throughout the 100-minute work, Levine kept a steady beat with his baton and probably did give more cues to the student players than he might have to the Boston Symphony Orchestra. During a quiet passage of the strings, he laid aside his stick and practically embraced the sound in his arms. And for a few particularly grand crescendos, he stood up. Meanwhile, members of the stellar vocal cast were singing their guts out, recounting one of the most harrowing family tales in history.

It's not hard to imagine the histrionics that a conductor like Seiji Ozawa, Levine's predecessor at the BSO, would have brought to such an evening. With Levine, we got a redoubtable performance of the music, without an interference of personality from the maestro.

Though it was a concert performance, this "Elektra" had plenty of marvelous acting, musical and otherwise. In the title role was the powerful soprano Lisa Gasteen, who arrived on stage with an upturned lip and hardened eyes. Still smarting from the murder of her father, Agamemnon, it would be an understatement to say the girl had a chip on her shoulder.

Gasteen's confidence in the role was matched by charged emotion. She so embodied the character that she stomped her foot during a silent beat that preceded a major vocal and orchestral outburst.

The equally fine mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer played Elektra's mother and nemesis, Klytemnestra, with a shrewish appeal. Not to underplay Palmer's own supercharged voice, but her physical presence also counted for a lot. During her passages with Gasteen, Palmer repeatedly turned and scolded with a pointed finger. When her voice was once covered by the surging orchestra, her large mouth, dark and full of teeth, was wide open. Skeletal and creepy, it made for a perfect moment.

The evening's real stars were the extraordinary forces, 100 strong, of the TMC Orchestra. Though the players came together less than a month ago, they had the assuredness and cohesion of the highest level of professional symphonies. Of course, a new batch of terrific students shows up every summer, but Levine is taking them to new heights. Joseph Dalton is a local freelance writer who contributes regularly to the Times Union.

Music review
STRAUSS' "ELEKTRA"
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Tanglewood, Lenox, Mass.
Duration: One hour, 40 minutes
The crowd: Wildly enthusiastic but surprisingly small at 5,761.
Coming up: Levine conducts three Mozart programs next weekend.