Pacific Symphony, Pianist Shine Spotlight on Mozart

Musically, the Pacific Symphony’s program at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Saturday night was split right down the middle, with intermission serving as a wall between an all-Mozart first half and a second half dominated by “carnival” pieces. Yet this time, Mozart, so often relegated to afterthought status by routine performances and flashier concert companions, received first-class attention from Carl St.Clair and the first of a summer parade of 2001 Van Cliburn Competition medalists, pianist Stanislav Ioudenitch.

Remember that name, for while most recent Cliburn medalists have come and gone without leaving a trace, this Uzbekistan-born co-winner of the gold medal sounds like a keeper.

He searched deeply into Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K. 467 (a.k.a. the “Elvira Madigan” concerto), shaping every phrase fluidly and poetically with a light, crisp yet never brittle touch. Nothing was blurred or precious, and his playing, even at its gentlest, had an understated rhythmic spine.

Add to that St.Clair’s sensitive conducting, a beautifully played, perfectly paced performance of “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” as a prelude and excellent outdoor amplified sound (yes, it can be done).

The second half featured two more pianists, Wendy Chen and Robert Thies, who polished off the twin-piano parts of Saint-Sans’ “Carnival of the Animals” with deadpan brilliance as actor Hal Landon Jr. provoked some guffaws with his narration of Ogden Nash’s verbal pratfall-filled text. On their own, Chen and Thies added a mildly swinging yet welcome performance of the Samba from Milhaud’s “Scaramouche Suite.”

In addition to a boisterous account of Dvorak’s “Carnival” Overture, St.Clair’s agenda also contained two snazzy built-in encores that you seldom hear live these days, a genteel rendering of Khachaturian’s once-notorious “Sabre Dance” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Dance of the Buffoons.”