MUSIC REVIEW : St.Clair Has Quiet Debut in Big Apple : The music director of Orange County’s Pacific Symphony conducts the Philharmonic with customary flair and finesse, but the elite audience is elsewhere.

Everyone who is anyone in local musical circles was at Lincoln Center on Thursday night when Carl St.Clair, music director of the Pacific Symphony, made his debut on the podium of the New York Philharmonic.

But there was one little hitch. St.Clair held forth at Avery Fisher Hall. Everyone who is anyone was next door at the Metropolitan Opera House, attending the much-belated premiere of Dvorak’s “Rusalka.”

According to a spokesman for the orchestra, only two critics witnessed St.Clair’s baptism by Philharmonic fire, and both came from Southern California. The New York contingent, it was hoped, would show up for a later installment in the four-concert series, which ends Tuesday.

St.Clair’s engagement had been heralded in Lincoln Center publications as “a clear affirmation of the orchestra’s long tradition of advocacy for emerging talent.” The relatively youthful maestro was described as a “Leonard Bernstein protege.” Pedigrees are very important in this town, and Bernstein, official laureate conductor of the Philharmonic, is being groomed urgently these days for musical sainthood. The concert was dedicated to his memory in commemoration of what would have been his 75th birthday.

The management tried hard to make the occasion seem special. To spike the glamour appeal, Vladimir Feltsman was engaged as stellar soloist in the beloved Schumann piano concerto.

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Still, an air of dutiful routine hung over the hall. In the busy orchestral scheme of things, this was just another Thursday night at the cultural mall.

The house was full at the outset. Quite a few subscribers left at intermission, after Feltsman had finished. Further defections preceded Ravel’s would-be climactic “Daphnis et Chloe,” which closed the program. When the final cadence finally crashed, much of the crowd headed instantly for the exits. New Yorkers live in a constant race to beat the traffic.

None of this should imply, however, that St.Clair’s debut was anything but a success. He chose a conservative program that accentuated the positive elements in his interpretive armory and conducted it with his customary combination of flair and finesse.

Although some of the first-desk players--including Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster from Los Angeles--took the night off, the Philharmonic responded to St.Clair’s urgings with cohesive precision. And this, it should be remembered, is an orchestra that doesn’t always spread the welcome mat for baton-wielding visitors, especially those who might be regarded as neophytes.

St.Clair opened the evening with an essentially brisk and crisp performance of Mozart’s “Zauberflote” overture. Both drama and lyricism were sacrificed to speed for its own superficial sake. It was a nervous beginning, but the tempo didn’t fluster the seasoned players.

Next came Feltsman. The ex-Soviet virtuoso may not have found Schumann’s hum-along platitudes particularly inspiring, but he whizzed over the inherent hurdles with aplomb and sustained a proper illusion of romantic improvisation throughout. If the slow movement sounded a bit callous, the outer allegros bristled with impetuosity.

St.Clair accommodated the soloist’s melodic whims and rhythmic quirks with unerring flexibility. He apparently was content to serve here as accompanist, and he did so sensitively. He knew, of course, that his moments would come after intermission.

His finest moment came with Alberto Ginastera’s “Variaciones Concertantes” (1953), a fragile set of 12 interrelated mood pieces predicated on expressive delicacy amid transparent textures. St.Clair sustained remarkable tension while savoring the subtlest nuances of color and inflection. The orchestra--which, not incidentally, has recorded every item on the agenda except this one--met the intimate challenges with exquisite poise and point.

St.Clair abandoned restraint in the second “Daphnis et Chloe” suite. The result may not have been the most elegant performance in memory, but it was nicely detailed.

Those not in a rush to get home gave the conductor a polite ovation. One assumes he will be back.

Who knows? As familiarity breeds familiarity, the program editors might even learn to print his name as he prefers it: with no space separating St. and Clair .