AT 68, RICCI IS STILL FIDDLING STRONG

It hardly ever fails: Scratch a violinist, find a raconteur.

Ruggiero Ricci, who appears in five different series sponsored by the Pacific Symphony this week, is typical of his fellow fiddlers. Over an elegant lunch at the high-rise hotel where Ricci is staying, near the new Orange County Performing Arts Center, Friday, the veteran violinist tells stories and reminisces a little. A powerful personality in a compact presence, Ricci seems in his element on this occasion.

Not that he lives in the past. Energetic at 68, the swarthy fiddler, seated next to his wife of nine years, Julia, looks very comfortable in the present--even when he laughingly asks, “What year is it?”

Actually, this year will see the 58th anniversary of Ricci’s New York debut. But no talk of retirement, slowing down or putting away the fiddle comes from his throat.

He speaks about his teaching--after five years, he is about to leave the University of Michigan, and seek a post elsewhere.

“The level of the students is too low at Ann Arbor,” he says. “I need to be at a conservatory. The problem there is, the university can pay better than the conservatory.”

He also has other things on his mind.

--About the problem of competitions: “We seem always to eliminate the most talented musician in the first round, when they show any signs of individuality. How can we stop doing that?”

--About the tough decisions facing the young solo violinists now coming out of our conservatories: “It’s very hard on them. They need to distinguish themselves, to find their special places, and at the same time to do everything well. There is so much competition.”

--About his own career path: “I took a hard road, but at least it was an open road. I decided to specialize in Paganini.”

And it worked. Though Ricci could, and does, play classical, Romantic and contemporary concertos numbering more than 60, his unique repertory consisted of the works--both concertos and solo pieces, like the 24 Caprices--of the great 19th-Century violinist.

Ricci’s five performances with the Pacific Symphony this week include three Tchaikovsky concerts with the orchestra (Sunday in Fallbrook, and Wednesday and Thursday nights in Segerstrom Hall); an open rehearsal (Tuesday night, also in Segerstrom), and, tonight, a chamber music program, with members of the orchestra (at South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa).

The violinist plays all four works on that program: A movement from a Bach sonata; Prokofiev’s Sonata for two violins (with Pacific Symphony concertmaster Endre Granat), Bartok’s Sonata for solo violin, and Brahms’ Quintet for clarinet and strings (with clarinetist James Kanter).

About the Tchaikovsky concerto, the veteran soloist says he continues to evolve his interpretation of that work not by playing it a lot, but by leaving it alone for seasons at a time.

“Then, when I come back to it, things have changed, but not in a radical way. To make changes just for the sake of being different--that’s not good.

“I’ll tell you--I have made three separate recordings of the Tchaikovsky concerto over the years. And each one is quite different from the others.

“As one grows older, of course, one finds the conviction, the courage, in making music, to keep it simple, to keep it normal. There is nothing more unnatural than over-interpretation.”