MUSIC REVIEW : Change of Fare a High Note in Mozart Series

Wednesday evening’s foray into Russian repertory at the Mainly Mozart Festival proved a welcome diversion from music director David Atherton’s strict, Classical regimen during his 10-day festival in Balboa Park. The rich harmonies of Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme” and Rachmaninoff’s melancholic “Vocalise” softened the insistent, courtly formality of Mozart’s Symphony No. 27 in G Major, K. 199, and his C Minor Serenade, K. 388, which opened the concert.

Cellist Ronald Thomas gave a masterly account of the Tchaikovsky Variations, as fluent and compelling as Mstislav Rostropovich’s legendary interpretation. On the podium, Atherton coaxed an affecting, deft accompaniment, the festival orchestra’s finest endeavor thus far.

As the work’s technical difficulties increased for the soloist, Thomas became calmer and his fleet execution surer. His ardor--with no hint of indulgence--served the work’s effulgent neoclassical idiom admirably, and his dark but immaculately focused tone offered a reassuring alternative to the glassy, surface timbre favored by many younger cello virtuosos. (Because he is a member of Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory faculty, we can only hope that he will cultivate a new strain of American cellists.)

In both the Tchaikovsky Variations and Mozart’s Symphony No. 27, a light-hearted three-movement symphony written after the composer’s Italian excursion, the players displayed a comfortable, cohesive ensemble. The strings’ well-manicured phrasing and sense of integrated gesture made the group sound fuller that its modest 30 players.

The Serenade for eight winds, the sort of composition the 18th-Century composers intended for outdoor performance, demonstrated that Mozart knew how to score a work to minimize avian disturbance. Even the noisiest birds around the Lowell Davies Festival stage failed to cut through the busy, piquant counterpoint of the bassoons and oboes. In fact, their busy chirping added a kind of random grace notes. On the other hand, playing the haunting “Vocalise” at dusk invoked a sentimental mood that initially recommended the location to the festival planners.

Mainly Mozart’s final program, featuring soloist Nancy Goeres in the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, will be played at 7 p.m. today.