MUSIC REVIEW : Beethoven Overcomes All Obstacles

The nightly news recounts the grim litany of man’s inhumanity toward his own species. From Belfast to Beirut, from Sarajevo to Somalia, the ugly tales mount. Against the reality of these daily horrors, the uplifting ode to the ideal of universal brotherhood in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony struggles to prevail.

Thursday evening’s performance of this indomitable work by the San Diego Symphony and Master Chorale at Embarcadero Marina Park South struggled against more than the world’s moral malaise: sluggish strings, a sense of fatigue in the lengthy opening movement and an unbalanced amplification system that allowed four vocal soloists to drown out the entire orchestra. Despite these odds, Thursday’s all-Beethoven concert provided ample testimony to the more lofty possibilities of the orchestra’s SummerPops series.

Guest conductor Enrique Barrios made an auspicious debut, emphasizing the composer’s lyrical side and illuminating contrapuntal forays in both the Fifth and Ninth symphonies. Barrios, who is music director of Mexico City’s Opera de Bellas Artes and the San Antonio Symphony’s associate director, favored large, expansive gestures, but kept his feet firmly on the podium. His approach to the Ninth was clearly middle-of-the-road, neither overly ruminative in the slow sections nor too bombastic in the finale. Conductor and orchestra plumbed an admirable, hymn-like serenity in the third movement.

Bass soloist Stephen West opened the choral movement with stentorian authority and solid vocal control. Jonathan Welch’s more italianate tenor proved an apt complement to West. (West sang the wily Rangoni in San Diego Opera’s 1989 “Boris Godunov” production, and Welch most recently appeared in the company’s 1992 season-opening “Der Rosenkavalier.”) Soprano Pamela Kucenic gave laudable brilliance to the quartet’s top, although mezzo-soprano Alyce Rogers’ dark voice suffered some pitch discrepancies. The Master Chorale sang with brio and discipline, although the miking made it sound piped in from Coronado.

In the Fifth Symphony, the orchestra put its best foot forward, making the old warhorse sound fresh and vital. The Andante con Moto displayed unusual warmth and tenderness, turning it into an ingratiating pastorale.

Attendance was more than 2,700; Barrios repeats the program, the orchestra’s final SummerPops offering, tonight at 7:30 at Embarcadero Marina Park South.