MUSIC REVIEW : New World Festival Opens at UC Irvine

It wasn’t a crowded, gala orchestral concert that opened the New World Music Festival Monday evening. The program in Village Theatre at UC Irvine--in fact, the first of three chamber music programs in the festival--was a rather low-key, informal affair.

There was Michael Tilson Thomas, artistic director of the festival, with collar open and hands in pockets, giving a relaxed if somewhat professorial introduction to each work. And there were the musicians, aged 22 to 29, in shirt sleeves and seemingly having a grand old time.

Formality, of course, is no prerequisite to excellence, and the program proved memorable both for its first-rate music-making and its insightful agenda.

Thirteen wind players opened with an unconducted reading of Strauss’ Serenade, Opus 7. Not only did the musicians maintain technical precision, correct balances and good intonation, but they also infused their reading with the kind of subtlety that comes only with thoughtful rehearsal. And yet, it is reported, they relied on no coaching from the maestro.

Tilson Thomas did take an active part in the next two works, both piano quartets. The score of Mahler’s Quartet in A minor, he noted, is without dynamic markings. That proved no handicap for this ensemble--violinist Navroj Mehta, violist Anna Schaum, cellist Peter Steffens and Tilson Thomas on piano--which made effective contrasts and played with urgency and expression.

Tilson Thomas’ crisp, clean, leggiero playing set the tone for a buoyant, spirited reading of Mozart’s Quartet in G minor, K. 478. The three string players--violinist Robin Hansen, violist Julius Wirth and cellist David Low--delivered their lines with clarity and drive, and brought fine lyricism (slight intonation discrepancies aside) to the Andante.

The logic of Monday’s agenda became evident at the end. We had already learned that all of the works were early compositions; certainly this was an appropriate tack for the program. But the coup de maitre was to place the work requiring the fewest players last.

Following the elegance of Mozart, the neoclassic sparkle and Gallic wit of Poulenc’s Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano made for an exquisite nightcap. Thanks to the sure leadership of pianist Bill Eddins and extraordinary sensitivity all around, the three--including oboist Ron Sipes and bassoonist Philip Pandolfi--made their account an especially satisfying one.