MUSIC REVIEW : Tamarkin Leads Pacific Symphony in Irvine : The orchestra responded inconsistently to her no-nonsense conducting of the Mozart program.

Kate Tamarkin may not have grabbed the brass ring during the Pacific Symphony’s search for a music director last season, but she did bring logical, no-nonsense leadership. And Saturday evening at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, she defined a Mozart program with the same quality.

This time, the orchestra’s response to Tamarkin’s clipped, businesslike conducting style was less consistent. Though missing some familiar first-chair members, the group did rise to the challenge for the Overture to “Le Nozze di Figaro” and the “Jupiter” Symphony, both marked by precise entrances and balance that emphasized clear textures. An energetic tempo and telling use of accent gave jaunty voice to the inherent humor of “Figaro.”

Tamarkin chose less risky tempos for the symphony, however. Conservative speeds permitted graceful, animated energy in the opening Allegro Vivace and a shimmering interplay of lines in the closing Molto Allegro. Between these movements came the transparent, sweeping melodies of the Andante Cantabile. Here, Tamarkin pushed the orchestra to maintain momentum. And, though she seemed to ask for more bass than orchestra members were willing to relinquish, the movement emerged effective in its simplicity.

Considering the heights reached after intermission, the first half of the program--the Serenade in G, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” and the A-major Violin Concerto, the “Turkish”--elicited less felicitous results.

During the Serenade, violins failed to find a firm grip on intonation, particularly during the first movement and the Minuet. Moreover, while the Romanze offered glimmers of promise in bright, soaring middle passages, the more crucial opening section remained earthly rooted, missing buoyancy, and marred by mushy entrances. Only in the fourth movement did the scaled-down orchestra manage energetic, accent-punctuated direction. Still, it could not compete with the noise of an intruding jet at the end.

Balance, generally well-controlled on this occasion, suffered mightily in the “Turkish” Concerto. Violinist Isabella Lippi made a romantic-looking protagonist--21 years young, dressed in bright red, sporting a cherubic smile beneath a mop of dark curls--but could not muster sufficient power to offset her assertive partners.

She did, nevertheless, prove herself a Romantic colorist, with a good command of Mozartean mood contrasts. The soloist gave a quietly tender, introspective account of the Adagio and painted a myriad of dynamic nuances in a light, spirited Rondo enlivened by digging-in aggressiveness that might have benefited other movements.

Attendance Saturday evening was reported at 7,531, almost 1,000 stronger than at Tamarkin’s appearance last summer. The audience, which missed the opening of the violinist’s first cadenza due to an overwrought toddler, acknowledged the end of every movement (except the third movement of the “Jupiter” Symphony, after which Tamarkin refused to comply with a suitable pause) with appreciative, if ill-placed, applause.