"softer performance" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is typically used to describe a performance that is less intense or less forceful than expected or compared to previous performances. Example: The pianist's softer performance of the sonata was a refreshing change from his usual powerful and energetic style.
It's hard to sit here on a soft performance to question the players.
That mini-studio, hurt by the soft performance of last fall's fantasy epic "The Golden Compass," has been eager to get "The Hobbit" under way.
Compare this with Tintoretto's titillating version in which Susanna seems to know she is being watched and exhibits her white nakedness in an obliging soft performance.
A soft performance would also compound the embarrassment of "The Love Guru," the Mike Myers raunchfest that flopped when Paramount released it in June.
The soft performance of "Edge of Darkness," which took in only about $37 million in foreign theaters after its release in January, increased skepticism about his bankability.
Cook was more immediately concerned with his team's fairly soft performance on a final day which saw them lose six wickets within 43 overs.
All the legal work resulting from government scrutiny of big banks has propped up earnings at the country's top-tier law firms, which have struggled with soft performance since the financial crisis.
Eventually, Mr. Skoll said, Participant is expected to become self-sustaining, though both expansion and the soft performance of some films have kept it from making a profit to date.
The sales growth figure was also flattered by a relatively soft performance in the autumn of 2011, against which the more recent sales figures have been compared.
Again, while a soft performance was expected, it doesn't help that the company's forecasts for the third quarter projected an operating loss of between $350 million and $50 million, a significant dip from $79 million in Q3 2011 — which analysts did not expect.
