MUSIC REVIEW : Triumphant Homecoming for Kate Tamarkin at Meadows

If conducting is still one of the last male bastions, Kate Tamarkin is sure to help storm the ramparts.

Saturday night, she led the Pacific Symphony in its third summer concert at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. It was a triumphant homecoming for the Laguna Beach native after 10 years of studies and engagements away from the West Coast.

From the opening strains of Berlioz’s “Roman Carnival” Overture to the finale of Stravinsky’s 1919 “Firebird” Suite, Tamarkin demanded precision, and her players responded with clean, balanced lines.

At times when passion might have ruled, Tamarkin’s interpretations did not stress overt sensuality. In the Berlioz piece, the amorous melody--engagingly introduced by Leanne Becknell on English horn--emphasized an easily unfolding grace. Even Stravinsky did not tempt Tamarkin; in “The Princesses’ Round,” woodwinds and horn passed plaintive lines among themselves in unhurried and shimmeringly clear ensembles.

But logic and clarity do not preclude excitement. Under Tamarkin’s direction the orchestra made sense out of the wilder sections of “Firebird”--the Infernal Dance and the Finale--but biting rhythmic propulsion insured electrifying energy as well.

While the Pacific Symphony’s guest conductor may have sidestepped chances to tug at the heartstrings, violinist Elmar Oliveira ventured to leave no heart untouched.

True, Mendelssohn’s E-minor Concerto is so popular that it is by now hard to bring fresh ideas to this much-programmed piece. Instead, Oliveira succumbed to the siren of overly serious hokem, seizing every sigh with a loving caress in the opening movement, saved only by the performer’s ability to impart a sense of intensity to his work.

Even intensity could not save the second movement. Oliveira brought a serious but unenlightening approach to the Andante, ultimately failing to find a definitive direction.

He did, however, find his footing in a rather fast final movement, which does not require profound interpretive perspicacity--nimbleness and a knack for fun will do. Oliveira provided ample gaiety. And Tamarkin led his orchestral partners with a clarity that characterized the evening.

Attendance on this evening was reportedly 1,500 greater than at the third concert of last summer’s series. If the screams that greeted Tamarkin’s entrance were any indication, at least some of the 6,587 had come to offer a welcome to a returning friend.