‘ORPHEUS’ RETURNS IN SAN DIEGO

The California Ballet is heralding this weekend’s performance of “Western Orpheus” as a premiere.

But to David Ward-Steinman, who composed the score for “Western Orpheus” in 1965, the three-performance run scheduled for the East County Performing Arts Center tonight at 8 and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. is something else again.

“It feels like deja vu,” said Ward-Steinman. “I wrote the music over 20 years ago for the (now-defunct) San Diego Ballet. It was commissioned for a ballet to commemorate the opening of the Civic Theater, and it was performed live by the San Diego Symphony.”

The original choreography for “Western Orpheus” was buried with the ballet company. And if Cal Ballet director Maxine Mahon--a dancer with the San Diego Ballet back in the ‘60s--had not rescued the rehearsal tape and tucked it away for future use, the score might have shared the same fate.

“I confiscated the music,” said Mahon, “because I felt it was too good to be lost. It was never scored, and the music was never taped (except for that crude rehearsal tape). Everyone had forgotten it--except for the composer and me.”

Although the project was put on hold for years, Mahon was determined to adapt the music to her own ballet, based on the Orpheus legend.

“I always knew I wanted to redo the ballet,” she said. “I felt it would fit into our California Heritage project,” a long-range plan to showcase California artists and local historic themes.

“David is a California composer and the ballet takes place in the Old West,” she explained.

When Mahon decided to restage the ballet--focusing more literally on the story line and decking the dancers out in period Western wear, Ward-Steinman was ecstatic.

“It was conceived as a Western version of the ‘Orpheus’ legend (by the San Diego Ballet), but their ballet was abstract and surrealistic,” the composer recalled.

“Maxine transformed the underworld into a Western bordello, and made the dancing in the ‘Rodeo’ style (buoyant and energetic). This version is more accessible, and the concept is a little more spacious. I’m very excited about it.”

As a result, Ward-Steinman fleshed out the music to suit Mahon’s vision, altering tempos to accommodate the new choreography.

“There’s a certain amount of instrumental symbolism in ‘Western Orpheus,’ ” he said. “With modern studio techniques, we were able to make the music closer to my original intention than it was when it was first performed. The solo violin will seem to float over the audience in a celestial sound--something we couldn’t accomplish with a live orchestra.”

Mahon has never worked with an original score before. The choreography represents a departure for her as well.

“It’s real contemporary--a combination of jazz and modern,” she explained. “It’s definitely more modern and eclectic than what I normally do. And it’s a little different for the dancers. It was wonderful to work with David, and he was so pleased with what I’m doing with the ballet, he wrote some original music for me.”

Ward-Steinman, a music professor at San Diego State University, has a special fondness for “Western Orpheus,” even though his musical style has evolved since the work was written.

“I was only in my 20s when I wrote it, and since then, my style has become more experimental--more original,” he said. “ ‘Western Orpheus’ is more melodic, rhythmic and colorful, and it was hard getting back to that style to compose the new music.

“But working on it again has been like meeting an old friend,” he said. “It was very important for me when I wrote it. It led to other commissions. It even got me a commission from Eugene Loring (a nationally renowned choreographer) who asked me to collaborate with him for a Joffrey ballet when he heard the score.”

Sharing the weekend’s repertory program with “Western Orpheus” is another premiere--Kathy Auten’s “Brandenburg Concerto, No. 2,” and two classics featuring Soviet danseur Stanislav Issaev.

Issaev, who danced the Cavalier in the company’s Christmas “Nutcracker,” will dance the pas de deux from “Le Corsaire” with company ballerina Denise Dabrowski, and “Paquita,” as partner to Karen Evans.

Another guest artist, Joe Wyatt of the Pacific Ballet Theater, will dance the leading role in “Western Orpheus.”

Why isn’t Issaev, the company’s star property, featured in its big premiere?

“Stanislav didn’t arrive from the Soviet Union in time to learn ‘Western Orpheus,’ ” said Mahon.

For Dabrowski and Evans, performing with Issaev is a learning experience as well as an artistic challenge.

“Soviet dancers are so well trained in the classics--especially Russian-style,” said Dabrowski, “it makes me nervous. But I know I’ll learn a lot from him.”