Take a Bow, Pacific Symphony Violinists

First the good news about the Pacific Symphony concert Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center: The violin section has improved markedly, and it is now possible to discuss the playing of the orchestra at a higher level and in greater detail.

The bad news is that certain problems persist, one of which must be the lack of adequate rehearsal time for a star vehicle such as Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, the centerpiece of a three-part program led by music director Carl St.Clair. Stephen Prutsman was the piano soloist. The concert also included music by Mozart and Beethoven.

St.Clair opened the program with Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” using a reduced-size orchestra that still sounded a bit fat in tone but played with welcome precision, cohesion and stylish energy. It was odd, therefore, for the conductor not to repeat the exposition, as he did in Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony later, especially considering how short Mozart’s work is.

St.Clair seemed scrupulous in certain matters, such as making first and second violins distinct and clearly heard in the first movement and keeping an evenness of dynamic in the second. He made perplexing choices in others, such as using retards before changing tempo in the third movement and launching the last with enervated rhythm.

Beethoven used the fortissimo marking regularly, but he wrote pianissimos often too. St.Clair favored the former over the latter, resulting in a wearying lack of dynamic subtlety.

Of course, when you start with eight string basses and proportion the other strings accordingly and leave the poor winds only doubled (though no one is advocating adding more), you’re going to have certain problems adhering to quiet dynamic markings accurately, much less achieving desirable balance of parts.

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Add to that the problem of an overly loud timpanist, and you’ve got the potential for real sonic assault.

Segerstrom Hall is certainly variable in its acoustic depending on where you sit, but from a seat on the aisle midway back in the orchestra section, little detail in the viola and lower string instrument parts could be heard, for all of St.Clair’s attention to them in the last movement. There was just a vague bottom blur.

Elsewhere, however, the music sounded conducted mostly from the top down, with violins (and timpani) often overpowering the rest of the orchestra. The lovely wind choir often evaporated as such, and even the doubled parts sounded unevenly supported when they could be heard.

If all this sounds like looking at the trees and missing the forest, let it be said that St.Clair led a massive, cohesive and consistent interpretation of the score.

Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto, on the other hand, sounded quite the opposite, almost as if it were thrown together, with soloist and conductor varying in approach.

Prutsman was more lyrical than electric, yet reluctant to spin out romantic melody or exploit pianistic colors. Perhaps it was the fault of a rather bland instrument.

St.Clair couldn’t get the emotional liftoff he appeared to want, though possibly he was not clear or consistent enough. The orchestra often sounded raw, crudely balanced and muddy in texture, although some interplay between it and the piano was well-judged. It was a return to the bad old days.

Probably the weakest movement was the middle one, which emerged vague and undefined in rhythm, phrasing and contour. Principal cellist Timothy Landauer’s solo introduced immediate clarity and purpose, but the section, unfortunately, was a short one. It was not a great night for the Tchaikovsky warhorse.