A joyful party for Fleisher

The third and final performance of a program titled “Leon Fleisher’s 75th Birthday Celebration” -- first played in La Jolla over the weekend -- came to Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Monday night. It was presented by La Jolla’s SummerFest and the center.

This joyous performance, attended by a most enthusiastic (but polite) audience, celebrated not merely the American pianist’s prolific musical longevity, the beauty and scrupulousness of his playing, and his pedagogical success -- he has taught at the Peabody Conservatory since 1959 -- but also the unflagging youthfulness of his tigerish personality.

Those who came to Costa Mesa on this occasion heard exceptional Bach and Brahms, played with high skills and deep affection.

By himself, the pianist began the program with the most serious and enlightening transcription Brahms ever wrote -- of the Chaconne in D minor (from the Violin Partita No. 2) by Bach. Fleisher’s unhurried yet inexorable account was mesmerizing in its concentration, its focus, its effortless dynamic breadth, its nuances and climaxes. It was a feat, yet it fell naturally on the ear.

The conclusion of the program brought together with Fleisher the violinist Cho-Liang Lin (SummerFest’s artistic director); Paul Neubauer, perhaps the most admired chamber violist in this hemisphere; and Carter Brey, the cherishable and golden-toned principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic. They may all be stars, but they play together like friends and brothers. Brahms’ Quartet in A, Opus 26, is a copious work -- it really encompasses two finales, both finger-busters -- yet it is a masterpiece. The La Jolla team played it full-out and lovingly.

Still, the high point of the evening was the centerpiece, Brahms’ C-major Trio, Opus 87, in which Fleisher’s partners were violinist Gil Shaham and cellist Brey. Here was a moonstruck, gutsy, hair-raising performance, a triumph of light and dark, of Brahmsian transparency, of aggressive thoughtfulness. Such a night.

This year’s SummerFest continues in La Jolla through Sunday afternoon.