CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEW : Note of Triumph at Organ Concert

Monday night’s festivities at the Spreckels Organ pavilion in Balboa Park exuded an unmistakable tinge of triumph, and a crowd of about 1,500 was on hand to relish the victory. Had it been a scene in a melodrama, it would have been that moment of revelation when the orphan discovers he not only has parents, but also parents who are rich and benevolent.

Less than a decade ago, the city fathers looked at the aging park landmark as an unwanted orphan and even talked of putting the organ into storage and turning the pavilion seating area into parking space.

Monday, the City Council proclaimed June 13 Spreckels Organ Day, marking the organ pavilion’s $2-million restoration carried out over the past several years, as well as a recently completed 1,000-pipe expansion of the 1915 Austin organ, provided by generous San Diego organ aficionados.

Guest organist Hector Olivera demonstrated the new ranks of pipes, including three sets of throaty, fiery trumpets. In his opening piece, Bach’s “Now Thank We All Our God,” he demonstrated that the new tonal firepower could effectively drown out the competition from the roaring overhead jets on their approach to Lindbergh Field.

After a bit of perfunctory speech-making, thanks-rendering, and plaque-unveiling, Olivera launched into his concert. His melodramatic rendering of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, from the popular point of view of the sine qua non of organ music, revealed his approach to the instrument. He used virtuosity and velocity for exhilarating short-term effect, sacrificing the overall logic of the piece to momentary thrills.

This approach was more successful in his own arrangements. A jazzy, fleet rendition of “Sweet Georgia Brown”--including an improbable but smashing fugue on the old blues tune--was a genuine tour de force. Olivera indulged his fantastic double-pedal technique and used the theme’s infectious syncopation to build to a grand climax. His variations on “Moonlight Serenade” put some of the instrument’s novelty stops--drums, cymbals and bells--to clever use.

Olivera included two orchestral transcriptions, an affectionate nod to the type of music intended for concert organs of this vintage. His performance of Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” was a paradigm of apt orchestral coloring, shaping each section with the same care a conductor would lavish over a symphony orchestra. On the other hand, his transcription of Holst’s “Jupiter” from “The Planets” sounded overly disjointed and halting. It was an organist’s approximation of the score rather than a suave transcription.

Olivera’s finale proved another populist indulgence, a potpourri of themes associated with the craft of Walt Disney. Starting and ending with the immortal theme from “The Mickey Mouse Club,” he wandered into “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go” and “When You Wish Upon a Star.” During this amorphous, over-extended meandering he reminded his listeners that accuracy is a secondary virtue.

This program was the first in a series of eight Monday evening organ concerts this summer. Civic organist Robert Plimpton will give the next recital on July 11.