CLASSICAL MUSIC : Chamber Orchestra Finds Groove in All-Russian Disc

In its inaugural recording on the Koch International Classics label, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra has put its best foot forward. The all-Russian compact disc, released earlier this month, sparkles with clean, vital performances of Kabalevsky, Prokofiev, Glinka and Tchaikovsky. Russian music usually calls to mind grandiose symphonies and ballet suites that require vast symphonic resources, but music director Donald Barra found four more-deftly scored works that show his 35-member chamber orchestra in a highly favorable light.

The disc’s strongest offering is Kabalevsky’s popular suite “The Comedians.” Barra and his orchestra give a highly polished, infectious performance that resonates with the composer’s wit and sardonic melodic invention. Notable is Patrick Pfiffner’s brilliant xylophone solo in the “Comedian’s Galop.” (Those who watched television in its early years may identify the catchy tune, which was used as the theme music from the popular “I’ve Got a Secret” panel show.)

In the lilting “Gavotte,” the orchestra displays a sweet, unforced sonority that all too rarely characterizes the ensemble in its regular performances at La Jolla’s Sherwood Auditorium. Barra wisely chose the warm, flattering acoustics of Founders Chapel at the University of San Diego for his recording sessions, and the disc’s engineering sounds absolutely first rate. (Part of the orchestra’s sonic discrepancy can surely be ascribed to the dry, unfriendly acoustical setting of Sherwood Auditorium, where performers regularly complain that the on-stage acoustics are even more difficult than those in the room. Local audiences can only hope that the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art’s upcoming renovation will include some helpful acoustical improvements in its frequently used auditorium.)

In Glinka’s “Kamarinskaya,” a short tone poem based on two Russian folk tunes, Barra caught the spirit of bucolic merriment without the slightest loss of ensemble precision. Though Prokofiev’s suite “A Summer Day” is a rather lightweight contribution to the recording--the suite is the composer’s transcription of some children’s piano pieces--it brings out the orchestra’s subtle side with shimmering textures and wistful solos.

If Barra does not give a definitive interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Orchestral Suite (“Mozartiana”), it is not without its rewards, especially concertmaster Igor Gruppman’s flashy but stylish arabesques in the ninth variation.

The chamber orchestra’s next recording, an all-French program, with Koch is scheduled for early May. There must be some irony that the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, a relatively new organization that was formed in 1984, is well ahead of the long-established San Diego Symphony in the arena of serious recordings. The symphony’s first entry will be recorded in late May for Tel-Arc recordings. In terms of performance and recording quality, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra has given the big boys an admirable standard to shoot for.

Kudos. San Diego teacher Robert Cooper was honored earlier this week as teacher of the year by his colleagues in the Southern Border section of the California Music Educators Assn.

Cooper, a choral instructor at Wangenheim Junior High School in Mira Mesa, has taught in the San Diego school district since 1958. While at Hoover High School, Cooper founded the Masterwork Chorale, an organization that still meets and performs regularly with the Chancel Choir of San Diego’s First United Methodist Church, where Cooper serves as director of music.

Commission for young ears. Mexican composer Raul C. Romero has been commissioned by Young Audiences of San Diego to write music for a children’s fantasy titled “John Mason Meets Pollie Jones.”

Based on a story by San Diego author Alyce Smith-Cooper, the work will include dance and narration. A private, nonprofit organization, Young Audiences sends musicians, artists, and dancers into elementary through high schools to supplement their arts programming.

The new work will premiere April 13-14 at the Lyceum Theatre as part of a potpourri concert that will include several of Young Audience’s regular ensembles: Trio Flamenco, 3’s Company and Kazoo the Mime.

Feminist opera. The La Jolla Civic University Orchestra and Chorus has announced it will present Virgil Thomson’s “The Mother of Us All” Nov. 2-4 at UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium.

The 1947 opera, a setting of Gertrude Stein’s libretto based on the life of Susan B. Anthony, will open the La Jolla orchestra’s 1991-92 season. The Christmas concert, Dec. 7-8, will feature Daniel Pinkham’s “Christmas Cantata” and Ralph Vaughan Williams “Fantasia on Greensleeves.”

A program devoted to composers from turn-of-the-century Vienna will be given March 14-15, followed by an all-American composer concert April 11-12.

Mussorgsky’s popular “Pictures at an Exhibition” in an orchestration by Vladimir Ashkenazy will dominate the May 23-24 program, which will also include Vaughan Williams’ choral work “Dona Nobis Pacem.” The orchestra’s annual young artists concert on June 7 will complete the season.

Words of alarm. When trumpeter Wynton Marsalis appeared before the National Commission on Music Education in Los Angeles last fall he gave this warning (quoted from a commission report):

“Our nation really suffers from a cultural problem more than a scientific one. Whether we’re behind the Japanese people is secondary. Our culture is dying from the inside.”