PIANIST TRIUMPHS AT LAST

Eduardo Delgado has had easier nights at the keyboard than Saturday at Robert B. Moore Theater of Orange Coast College. But he converted trial to triumph in Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, and the results ultimately proved satisfying and even cathartic.

The occasion was the final concert of the season for the South Coast Symphony. The program began late, after remarks from two orchestra officials. Delgado then had to wait through a stiff, lightweight account of the long orchestral exposition, accompanied by an indefatigable cricket.

When he finally put his hands to the music, the Argentinean pianist sounded impatient and slightly distracted. Coordination with director John Larry Granger and the orchestra was not always precise, and clinkers flew out of the more strenuous passages.

Granger seemed to want to make an expansive, measured statement of the massive opening movement, while Delgado aimed at something more direct and emotionally exigent. Neither could be completely happy with it, but there were moments of promise.

These were fulfilled in the Adagio. It too began prosaically, but Delgado shaded his lines with increasing subtlety and found a reflective poise in which the previous struggles were resolved. After that, Delgado could leap into the main theme of the finale with almost exultant vigor and relish. There was nothing forced in the heroics here, and he finished with a palpable sense of accomplishment.

The orchestra seemed invigorated as well. The South Coast Symphony does not have the warmth or depth of sound for truly imposing Brahms, but it can supply bright, bustling energy and a fair degree of accuracy.

These virtues Granger deployed effectively in Beethoven’s Second Symphony, a piece more cut to the measure of his players. The results were taut, well-balanced and muscular, without sacrifice of wit or charm. Granger elicited drive and a surprising elegance on behalf of his straightforward, quick-tempo interpretation.