‘THIS IS A CRISIS’ : A STOP-AND-GO CONCERTO AT ROYCE HALL

The dramatic intensity of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto took an unexpected turn Sunday night in Royce Hall, UCLA, when soloist Norberto Cappone suddenly stopped in the middle of a solo passage, rose to his feet and announced he would play no more.

As a stunned Mehli Mehta looked on from the podium, the 34-year-old pianist calmly told the hushed crowd, “This is a crisis I’ve been dealing with. I don’t want to play in public anymore. I’m sorry.” And he sat down on the piano bench.

Without leaving his place on the podium--and without losing his composure--Mehta whispered briefly to the pianist. “I said to him, ‘You don’t say these things in public.’ ” Mehta explained Monday. “He just looked at me and said, ‘What a way to live.’ ”

After a moment of reflection, the pianist picked up in the slow movement where he had left off, and the unflappable American Youth Symphony, quietly observing this mini-drama, joined in.

Though earlier rehearsals had gone well, Mehta said that Cappone’s actions did not come as a total surprise, noting that near the end of intermission, the locally based pianist appeared despondent.

“He said to me,” the conductor recalled, “ ‘Why do we do this? It’s too much hassle, too much strain.’ I told him, ‘You chose this profession--no one forced you into it. Of course there is strain. But we do it because we love the music.’ ”

Once the performance resumed, Mehta noted, “He played so fast, it was hard to keep up with him.”

On Monday, Cappone, who has performed professionally for more than 12 years, said, “Whatever had been brewing in me had come to a culminating point. I felt like airing what was in my heart. It was a reflex--I didn’t plan it.

“I’ve been wrestling with this panicky feeling I’ve experienced (in performance), for a couple of years, this moment of fear when I feel a paralysis in my arms. I still feel some stiffness this morning.”

The pianist, who said Monday that he intends to continue performing, wasn’t certain whether his was merely a case of advanced stage fright, though he confessed to “suffering the tortures of the damned” during the remainder of the performance. “I felt trapped at that point. I don’t regret what I did. It may even have had a therapeutic effect.”

Indeed, what had begun as a rather routine run-through of Rachmaninoff’s sprawling concerto gradually gained momentum and by the middle of the finale, the performance seemed to take on a life of its own, as Cappone attacked the keys with renewed vigor and speedy, sure-handed bravura.

Or maybe he was merely anxious to get it over with.

When the piece ended, conductor and soloist embraced while an obviously moved audience stood and cheered. The pianist made an apologetic gesture, bowed deeply, and accepted two bouquets of flowers--presenting one to Mehta.

It was a strange, troubling way to end the orchestra’s season. Indeed, the rest of the concert had its share of dramatics, as actor Lew Ayres preceded Cappone with a plea for money to help rescue the orchestra from a financial crisis that has forced a cutback of two concerts next season.

The evening began touchingly with Grieg’s “Last Spring,” Mehta’s tribute to the late Dorothy Huttenback, longtime friend to the orchestra and guiding light of the Music Guild chamber series.

Then, it was time for typical Youth Symphony fireworks: Bartok’s virtuosic Concerto for Orchestra. Conducting this complex score from memory, Mehta never missed a cue, yet failed to bring cohesion to the work’s numerous gear shiftings. The result was a loud yet disjointed performance.

Ironically, the orchestral concerto suggested what was to come in the piano concerto. The fourth movement of the Bartok is titled “Intermezzo interrotto”--Interrupted Intermezzo.