Splendid Pairing of Beethoven, Brahms

Pointed programming--the juxtaposing of disparate but complementary works--has become a specialty of Carl St.Clair in his leadership of the Pacific Symphony. This week, in a festive December agenda that sold out consecutive nights in Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the music director did it again.

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is difficult to find program partners for. St.Clair paired it with Brahms’ touching lament “Nanie”--which, like the finale to the Ninth, is set on a text of Friedrich Schiller--written in memory of the composer’s friend, painter Anselm Feuerbach. It is a perfect choice because it mirrors the longer Beethoven piece in emotion and yet creates an entirely different soundscape.

To open, St.Clair chose a neo-Debussyan musical watercolor by Toru Takemitsu, “Twill by Twilight” (1988), and the orchestra played it with rich tone and an assured sense of detail.

The Pacific Chorale, on hand for the Ninth, warmed up itself and the audience most effectively in the Brahms work, meshing handsomely with the highly controlled orchestral players. For sound blend and powerful, honest emotion, this was exemplary Brahms.

St.Clair’s authority in the Ninth never came into question on Wednesday night. He drew immaculate playing from the orchestra in the opening movements, which moved directly into the heart of the work, the Adagio.

He shaped that movement with lyric freedom. Exposed solo lines, particularly from hornist John Reynolds and from an inspired first violin section--led by guest concertmaster Isabella Lippi--sang out in an exhalation of poetic expression.

As is to be expected, the finale delivered a dramatic climax; the orchestra and chorale rose to their challenges with admirable teamwork. A strong quartet of solo singers filled their parts with enthusiasm.

Soprano Susan von Reichenbach made beauteous sounds at all levels, then climbed the hill to that high B with the ease of a champion. Her colleagues came close to meeting her standard; they were Mary Ann McCormick, David Hamilton and Thomas Scurich.

At the end, the full house, which had been interrupting the performance regularly with poorly timed applause, got its real chance, and took it.