MUSIC REVIEW : Kord Conducts in Finale With the Pacific Symphony : Execution was solid on some well-worn Debussy, Brahms and Mozart at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Does it pay these days to perform thrice-familiar masterpieces? At the box office, it usually does. But artistically, when a performer opts for the safety of such music, he only invites comparison with the best performances of the past.

For his final program as the Pacific Symphony’s music adviser and principal guest conductor, Kazimierz Kord offered some well-worn Debussy, Brahms and Mozart, and though the results Wednesday night at the Orange County Performing Arts Center were uniformly solid in execution, they lived up to expectations less consistently.

The high point came after intermission, with the Symphony No. 4 by Brahms. Here, Kord flourished where many conductors fail, giving an impelling, continuous propulsion to the musical argument. His phrasing was concise and discerning, his tempos generally quick. He didn’t dawdle over expressive or coloristic detail and clearly projected his thoughts across vast stretches of music.

The results proved invigorating. The first movement took on a heroic profile not often captured under its luminous surfaces. He gave forthright, noble statement to the Andante moderato and made compelling rhythmic points in the sometimes heavy-handed finale. Only the third movement march, played quickly and with little accentuation, failed to persuade fully. The Pacific Symphony responded with energetic authority, the strings in penetrating focus and the brass illuminatingly robust.

Kord began with Debussy’s “Prelude acq l’apres-midicq d’un faune.” Though the orchestra gave a glowing and poised account, Kord’s tight control over the proceedings deterred the music from reaching its heights. Too much ebb, not enough flow.

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 followed, with Jose Feghali, winner of the 1985 Van Cliburn Competition, as soloist. He gave firm shape and pointed articulation to the melodic lines in a performance of upright elegance. But where was the playfulness, the lyricism, the drama? He chose to underplay these elements, all plentifully supplied in this concerto and thereby missed the point. Kord, too, brought little charm to the accompaniment, its bracing, pertinent woodwind parts all but buried.