MUSIC REVIEWS : Symphony Strays From Familiar Ground

It is always pleasing when performers take the time to exploremusic off the beaten path, even though the discoveries they turn up, in the event, may not have been worth the trip.

Such was the case with the latest concert by the South Coast Symphony, under its music director John Larry Granger, at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Saturday. For, even with the considerable talents of pianist David Buechner propelling the work, Saint-Saens’ seldom-bothered-with Piano Concerto No. 4, Opus 44, seemed better left that way.

True, the work has its bright spots, chief among them a sparkling Scherzo, complete with a mindless little tune (and treatment of it) of which Poulenc could have been proud. Elsewhere, however, it reveals a considerable lack of inspiration, particularly in the insipid melodies that open and close the work, both dressed up as gravely and grandly as if they were the most exalted themes of Beethoven and Brahms.

Buechner impressed nevertheless with his meaty tone, noble declamation, ample technique and the spontaneous energy of his playing. He’s an exciting pianist. Granger and orchestra supported lushly, lagging at times but generally solid.

Another rarity, Henry Cowell’s Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 10, for strings and oboe, served to open the concert. Far from the ear-opening, tone-clustering, iconoclastic music Cowell became famous for, the work proved luxuriously harmonized, lyrical, calmly polyphonic--as congenial as Vaughan Williams at his most folksy. Pleasant but ho-hum. This, again, despite oboist John Ralston’s graciously arched lines, and the warm and fluent string work.

To conclude the concert, Granger led a stately, well-played reading of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. Tempos remained uniformly broad, textures thick and weighty, accents big and lofty. Sturdy, Germanic, ultra-serious Beethoven.

But the performance all too often seemed lumbering, and one missed the many felicitous touches of scoring, the wit, that make this music soar. One certainly couldn’t fault the forcefulness of feeling or the genuinely robust sound the orchestra produced, however. And if, in the end, this Beethoven Second remained earthbound, it was at least firmly and purposely planted there.