St.Clair Makes an Unusual Combination of Pieces Work

Carl St.Clair’s latest program with the Pacific Symphony, first heard Wednesday night in Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, comprised three oddly contrasting works.

Mozart’s Rococo bonbon, the delectable Rondo in D for piano and orchestra, became the overture, followed strangely by Leonard Bernstein’s irritatingly self-absorbed and quirky Second Symphony, subtitled “The Age of Anxiety.” Then, to restore balance and sobriety, the event’s climax was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

St.Clair made this combination work, and the orchestra played up to what must be its highest standard. Clarity and single-mindedness characterized all the performances, in particular the most exposed, Beethoven’s familiar signature piece. This re-creation unfolded logically, all its elements tightly in place, its continuity undisturbed. Each movement fulfilled its storytelling function compellingly. All the force and power of the climaxes were exerted, but without exaggeration; the conductor avoided overstatement, and the entirety proved balanced and articulate. A gem.

Some listeners--this one, for instance--once admired Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety,” a dramatic symphonic essay with a terrific piano obbligato part approaching concerto status, and even went so far as to call it a masterpiece. Time has changed our minds. It is a work which aspires to Mahlerian profundity while producing Copland-esque noodling. One can enjoy it without mistaking its flat-footedness.

This performance, then, in which the American pianist Benjamin Pasternack did all the right musical things convincingly, became a mixed revival. St.Clair conducted with a controlled ferocity. Pianist, conductor and orchestra treated Mozart with equal affection.