MUSIC REVIEW : Pacific Symphony Offers More Than a Bang for the Buck

The promise of cannons and fireworks may have drawn many of the 8,991 who attended the Pacific Symphony’s “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” summer finale, but once inside the gates at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Saturday, much more exciting elements captured attention.

Amid all the saber rattling of the “1812” Overture, the bravura of the first Piano Concerto and the gooey romanticism of five excerpts from “Swan Lake,” refinement, clarity and purpose flourished.

After eight years on the podium of the American Ballet Theatre, guest conductor Jack Everly could hardly help but develop a special rapport for the music of Tchaikovsky. On this occasion, he insisted on a crispness to martial sections, found the nostalgia--without sloppy excess--in folk influences, drew long soaring phrases and made sense of shifting tempos and time signatures.

Pianist Brian Ganz provided a counterpart to Everly’s intelligence and good taste. As protagonist in the B-flat minor concerto, Ganz handled all of the oft-pounded chordal sections with gratifying reliability in tone and surprising sensitivity to both direction and minutia.

With technical adeptness to spare, Ganz found plenty of drama in the work, but he relished in lyricism and light scherzando passages. His poetic thoughtfulness received sturdy support in mood-setting solos from first-chair wind players and principal cellist Timothy Landauer.

While accompanying Ballet Theatre soloists Christina Fagundes and Charles Askegard--whom he could not see unless he turned around--Everly brought expected assurance to the podium, drawing a buoyancy from the orchestra to match that of his dancers.

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As Odette and the Prince, in the “White Swan” pas de deux of Act II, Fagundes and Askegard made sensual and sympathetic partners, strong, fluid and appealing. Sharing the stage with full orchestra, the two could not always triumph in struggles with cramped space and an apparently slippery surface during the “Black Swan” pas de deux and variations from Act III, though they managed to convey a sense of airborne strength and overall confidence nevertheless. Concertmaster Sheryl Staples’ solo reflected the Odile/Black Swan flirtatiousness with winning flair.

The Huntington Beach Concert Band provided an enthusiastic contribution to the closing pyrotechnic bombast that accompanied “1812,” as it has for the past seven summers.