POP WEEKEND : Torme, Symphony Share Very Merry Christmas

Christmas programs are often hastily assembled affairs that could benefit from a little more time in Santa’s workshop, but the Pacific Symphony avoided any need for tinkering by inviting America’s premier holiday crooner to sing with the orchestra over the weekend at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

“Christmas With Mel Torme” was an event to cherish. A packed house on Saturday--the second of two evenings--brought Torme back for two encores filled with all the gung-ho merriment his velvet eminence could muster.

The first was the obligatory but always welcome “Christmas Song,” which has earned Torme considerable songwriting royalties and which reflected the warmth of the occasion. Beginning with a shimmering introduction from the violin, Torme massaged his whiskey baritone to its vocal limit.

But the second encore tore away the fog to let everyone see how great the 63-year-old singer’s chops still are. Cole Porter’s “Just One of Those Things” galloped at a crazy sprint to one of those unexpected, remarkable moments such evenings are made for. Seldom does an interpolated melody seem as surprising as did “Green Dolphin Street” set inside Porter’s tune. The uncanny bridge Torme used to put them together was the Rodgers and Hart chestnut “Lover.” A romping, reaching ensemble surge--complete with stop-time, double-time and chronographic precision--capped a program of nostalgia, beauty and high energy.

Perhaps the most impressive quality of Mel Torme’s musical career is the range of his talents.

He remains a marvelous singer with a voice that stands unblemished despite years of travel. It is not a voice that immediately captivates attention, but it wears well and inches forward to earn a listener’s deep respect. There is a distinct “Torme sound,” and part of the pleasure it hands out so generously derives from Torme’s interpretive good taste. One might say that Mel Torme is a song stylist. But that would understate his creative integrity. Torme is a singer who, like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, thinks like an instrumentalist.

Further evidence can be found in the orchestrations for his program, which with one exception he crafted. Another example is the innate time sense that marks his singing. It was no surprise, therefore, to find Torme behind the drum kit on “Sing, Sing, Sing,” capping a flag-waving tribute to Benny Goodman and the Big Band era.

Beyond everything else, Mel Torme is a savvy, self-confident performer who links our era to an earlier cultural epoch when musical knowledge, personal intimacy and unfettered enthusiasm dominated the emerging commercial values.

Preceding Torme on the first half of the program, conductor Keith Clark led the orchestra through a set of traditional holiday music. Their portion also presented a massed chorus and 10-year-old violin prodigy Leila Josefowicz. After intermission, the orchestra joined Torme and his sidemen--pianist John Campbell and drummer Donny Osborne.