MUSIC REVIEW : RICCI, FRIENDS ILL AT EASE AT SOUTH COAST REP

Squeezed on the apron of South Coast Repertory’s Mainstage Theater, dwarfed by the gaudy blue, steeply raked set of “Three Postcards,” violinist Ruggiero Ricci and members of the Pacific Symphony never looked particularly comfortable. Likewise their playing, in a Monday night program sponsored by the orchestra’s Chamber Music Society, often emerged unsettled and ill at ease.

Even the repertory--though challenging and offbeat--came off as slightly disjointed. The opening half displayed the violin in a most intimate fashion: in music for two instruments (with Ricci joined by Pacific Symphony concertmaster Endre Granat) and for solo violin (Ricci alone).

All well and good. Yet one was hard-pressed to establish a relationship between the first half and the second, which consisted solely of Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet.

Though matters began rather weakly, with Ricci and Granat sawing their way through a movement from a Bach G-minor sonata (arranged by Brahms and Ricci), the two musicians quickly made amends with the rarely heard two-violin Sonata by Prokofiev.

Any minor pitch problems that might have surfaced in the Bach piece were vanquished in a lively account of an unjustly neglected gem. Here was Prokofiev at his witty, extroverted best, and the two musicians seemed to revel in its pleasures.

Before intermission, Ricci stood alone, without music stand, and planted both feet firmly center stage for a riveting performance of Bartok’s staggeringly difficult “Solo Sonata.” There may have been a slipped note or a blurred phrase here and there, but hardly enough to detract from the overall impact of his playing. Though elsewhere during the evening the violinist’s tone may have strayed toward the uncomfortably thin, here the sound was rich and full.

In the Brahms, Ricci was joined by Granat and three other Pacific Symphony principal players: clarinetist James Kanter, violist Robert Becker and cellist Stephen Erdody. Despite Kanter’s warm, resonant playing, the ensemble never seemed to jell. Pitch problems surfaced with alarming consistency, mainly from Ricci. Perhaps the violinist, who played in every piece on the program, was finally beginning to tire.

The opening allegro only intermittently flowed, the heavenly adagio rarely left the ground and the andantino and concluding variations often sounded detached and uninspired. Though the veteran violinist hardly looked fatigued, it’s possible he had stretched his energies too far. Ricci will appear tonight and Thursday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center as soloist with the full Pacific Symphony in Tchaikovsky’s D-Major Concerto.