Brilliant indeed, thanks to these two

The title of the concert was “Beethoven’s Brilliance,” but what shone in Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Wednesday evening was not the 19th century master’s music but rather the work of two American women.

The first was Jennifer Higdon, a composer from Brooklyn whose 1999 piece “blue cathedral,” in its West Coast premiere, kicked off the Pacific Symphony’s first concert of the new year. The short work begins, appropriately, with bells. Airy strings follow, crescendoing in a way that gives one the feeling of ascending a giant church spire.

In its more mundane measures, “blue cathedral” sounds like a travel video scored by the late “fusion” composer Toru Takemitsu, but the modest piece is not without charm. The ending is particularly fine: A solo flute and fluttering chimes give way to descending strings and soft piano plinks. During this conclusion, some members of the string section put down their instruments, pick up carefully tuned glasses of water and gently rub the rims, producing a subtle atmospheric effect.

Carl St.Clair and the Pacific Symphony deserve credit for their continued support of contemporary American music, but one wishes their playing were as strong as their devotion to new works. The trombones were noticeably imprecise in the Higdon work -- as was the string playing, which sounded muddy in some of the louder passages.

During the Sibelius Violin Concerto, the orchestra seemed content to be a backup band, and this lack of engagement made the symphonic portion of the score rather bland. Luckily, the other featured woman of the evening -- soloist Leila Josefowicz -- provided some spark.

The 24-year-old Southern California native’s blond hair and black dress charmed the audience before she even played a note. Then a dazzling first cadenza in the Allegro moderato proved her musicianship to be as appealing as her looks.

She produced a light sound, one that made Sibelius’ work seem lyrical and sweet. This lack of gravity made the brooding piece feel less haunting, but Josefowicz’s gorgeous phrasing and assured technique were still the highlight of the evening.

The orchestra did come back to life for the concert’s closing number, Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. During the Allegro con brio, the players performed as if in a frenzy. Their energy translated into moments of sonic power, but St.Clair was unable to assemble these parts into something more. The result was a significant disappointment, since Beethoven’s brilliance was not simply big orchestral hits but rather the design and scope of the symphony as a whole.