Seductive Sounds Fill Night Air

IRVINE —  It threatened to be an evening of dutiful run-throughs of timeworn favorites, but music director Carl St.Clair drew enough fresh-faced readings from the Pacific Symphony on Saturday night to leave an impression of heady sensuality and flirtatious fun.

Throughout the concert, infectious rhythms of Spanish dances filled the air at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. Some of these were the interpretations of native composers. Others, like Chabrier’s “Espan~a”--heard here in a crisp, colorful performance--were the creations of foreign admirers.

Guitarist William Kanengiser breathed steamy life into Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” with seductive attention to pacing and shading in the work’s flamenco-inspired figurations. The USC faculty member brought sophisticated technique to serve an astute sense of style and keen ability to communicate.

His sultry allure found a partner in Barbara Northcutt’s English horn solo, for the Adagio. After the concerto, Kanengiser impressed with his virtuoso arrangement of “The Miller’s Dance” from “The Three-Cornered Hat,” by Manuel de Falla.

As soloist in Sarasate’s “Carmen” Fantasy, 21-year-old violinist Shan Jiang showed technical cleanliness--except for some seemingly nerve-induced slips--and musical sterility, as he sleepwalked through the showpiece with conservative predictability.

Comparatively the least often performed composition on the roster--but at least as deserving--Dances from “Estancia,” by Ginastera, gave the orchestra a chance to indulge in a festival of mesmerizing rhythms for which it took its cue from St.Clair’s down-and-dirty stance on the podium.

No amount of expressive urging could save Ravel’s “Bolero” from decades of overexposure, though. Where once the piece may have seemed a relentless buildup of sexy instrumentation, it was hard--at least for one listener among the nearly 8,700 in attendance--not to approach its endless crescendo as an endurance test that could be salvaged only by a world-class orchestra.