Lean Cut of Mozart on Irvine Barclay Theatre Menu : Music: Pianist Jeffrey Kahane will find the stage a little empty at a stripped-down performance of Concerto No. 12.

Normally, pianist Jeffrey Kahane can be found playing and occasionally conducting Mozart piano concertos in front of a full orchestra. But when he hits the stage of the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Friday night, Kahane might wonder just for a second: “Where did everybody go?”

Following a tradition actually sanctioned by Mozart, Kahane, the Angeles String Quartet and bassist Nico Abondolo will perform a stripped-down version of the Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414.

“Since I have yet to do it in a chamber version, it’s going to be a new experience,” the still boyish-sounding Kahane said last week from his home in Rochester, N.Y., where he teaches at the Eastman School of Music when not on tour. “In fact, I’ve never been to a concert where they’ve been done in a chamber version, although I’ve heard recordings that way.”

Besides being your not-so-average everyday genius, Mozart also could be a rather practical man. In order to sell some of his early Viennese piano concertos to a wider audience, he wrote them with optional wind parts, allowing home music makers to play the concertos with just a string quartet accompaniment.

Kahane, who turns 35 on Sept. 12, finds himself quite intrigued by this bare-bones approach, despite the loss of Mozart’s attractive oboe and horn timbres. “There is a kind of flexibility and attention to nuances and small detail that you don’t often get in a concerto in a large ensemble,” he said. “The pieces are wonderful as full-scale concerti too, but he knew what he was doing.”

Long known for his character-filled, cleanly articulated Mozart, the Los Angeles-born Kahane predictably has been giving the composer a full-tilt workout in this bicentennial of Mozart’s death. Indeed, when he returns to Southern California on Nov. 21-24 with Franz Welser-Moest and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Music Center, Kahane will come armed with yet more Mozart, the Rondo in D, K. 382.

Taking note of the rampaging authentic instrument movement, Kahane started playing Mozart-period fortepianos for the first time last spring. Backed by authentic instrument maven Christopher Hogwood and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kahane played the Concerto No. 12, K. 414 Concerto on the fortepiano in the first half of a concert and the Concerto No. 22, K. 482 Concerto on a modern grand piano in the second half.

In doing so, he seemed to be making a statement, refusing to take sides in the heated debate between fortepiano-only advocates and those who loyally defend the modern piano. “There are sonorities that are quite easy on the fortepiano, that come off with less effort and more naturally,” he said. “On the other side of the coin, the modern piano has a much wider dynamic range and range of color. While there are those who say it is not appropriate to Mozart, it all depends on how it’s used.”

There was talk of using a fortepiano Friday in Irvine, but Kahane said he could not find an adequate instrument in the area. “While it is possible to manage with less than a great Steinway, it is much more difficult to manage with a less than good fortepiano,” he asserted.

With Mozart coming out of everyone’s ears this year, inevitably there is concern that concert promoters are overdoing it, creating an unhealthy glut on the market. Even Kahane has to admit: “As much as I love Mozart, I wouldn’t want to play only Mozart.

“I think there’s a danger that people will get tired of Mozart, but it’s toward the end of the year, and things will calm down and arts programmers will program a bit less Mozart. One of the wonderful things is that we’ve heard so many things that aren’t normally programmed. There are a lot of good pieces that one rarely gets to.”

Eight years ago, after winning the Artur Rubinstein Competition launched his career into orbit, Kahane told Musical America that he never wanted to find himself playing as many as 100 concerts a year. So far, he has stuck to that, refusing to over schedule himself on the road, preferring to spend as much time as possible back in Rochester, where he has been living since 1988 with his wife, Martha, and their two children.

“I’ve never played 100 concerts a year and I’ve never wanted to,” he said. “I don’t envy people who do that. In a heavy year, I’ve played 80; 60-70 concerts is plenty.

“Rochester is a wonderful place to raise kids. It’s a very sane place for someone like me to live. Rochester’s not the most exciting city, but for an American city it’s quite a decent, livable place.”

The Angeles String Quartet will play Dvorak’s “American” Quartet; Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 1 in B Minor, and Mozart’s Concerto No. 12 in A for Piano and Strings (with pianist Jeffrey Kahane) Friday at 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. Tickets: $10 to $20. Information: (714) 553-2422.