MUSIC REVIEW : Pianist, Conductor Give Russophiles Their Fill at Symphony Feast

American symphony audiences have always shown a strong predilection for Russian music. When New Yorkers inaugurated Carnegie Hall in 1891, they brought over Tchaikovsky for a week of concerts. Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote his Third Piano Concerto in 1909 for an American tour, giving the eager Russophiles of New York City the first hearing of his new concerto.

Thursday’s San Diego Symphony program of Glinka’s Overture to “Ruslan and Ludmila,” Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto paid homage to this longstanding love affair with Russian Romanticism. Guest conductor Varujan Kojian, a late podium substitute for Walter Weller, obviously relished this Russian feast. Music director of the Santa Barbara Symphony, Kojian elicited a full, generous sound from the orchestra.

There was nothing perfunctory about pianist Olli Mustonen’s approach to the ubiquitous Rachmaninoff Concerto. The lanky 22-year-old Finn is an unabashed virtuoso after the Lisztian prototype. His musical athleticism exhibited itself in grand arm gestures, vigorous digital technique and a constant swaying of his entire torso on the bench. No strings popped from the mighty Steinway, nor did any young maidens faint, but all the other archetypal Lisztian traits were there in abundance.

Mustonen’s keyboard style favored percussive attacks and a highly dramatic delineation of individual musical motifs. Even in the most dense portions of the demanding piano solo, because he used the pedal sparingly, Mustonen’s textures remained surprisingly transparent. If no tempo was too fast for this powerhouse, he did not fail to bring out the darker overtones in the plangent themes of the slow middle movement. Kojian tailored the orchestra’s supple, full-blooded accompaniment to the path chosen by his strong-willed soloist.

Even thoughtful conductors face the danger of sliding into automatic pilot when faced with “Scheherazade.” Taking no detail for granted, Kojian fashioned a fresh-sounding account, full of shimmering solos and a solid orchestral ensemble that rated as one of the symphony’s better efforts of the season. Concertmaster Igor Gruppman suffused his graceful solo arabesques with a haunting, silvery timbre, and the trumpets and trombones redeemed their sins of last week with solid, well-focused support.

The opening Glinka Overture at first threatened sonic overkill, but Kojian’s better judgment quickly returned balances to a more civilized roar.