MUSIC REVIEW : Strong Mozart Performance for Openers : Orchestra: Pianist Cecile Licad brought an unusual percussive approach to concerto at San Diego Chamber Orchestra’s season debut.

LA JOLLA —  Maestro Donald Barra and his San Diego Chamber Orchestra inaugurated their 1989-90 season Monday night at Sherwood Auditorium with a largely Russian program that would have been an apt ornament to the recently completed Soviet arts festival. Glinka’s quaint, nationalistic tone poem “Kamarinskaya,” Kabalevsky’s playful suite “The Comedians” and Tchaikovsky’s frequently overlooked “Mozartiana Suite” provided unhackneyed, albeit affably lightweight, programming.

The concert’s anchor, however, was Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 449, with guest soloist Cecile Licad. Local audiences may recall her impressive performance last season with the visiting Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Her energetic, assertive Mozart interpretation was a tribute to both her strong technique and even stronger personal music vision. Unlike Gustavo Romero’s elegant and at times mystical approach--he played two Mozart concertos in the same hall just three days earlier--Licad’s Mozart bristled with percussive attacks and a surprisingly brilliant timbre. Unfortunately, her zeal frequently pushed her well-polished runs ahead of the beat.

Even Garrick Ohlsson, the strapping American pianist who opened the San Diego Symphony season with another Mozart piano concerto, rendered Mozart with graceful intimacy. But, if Licad’s view of Classical style is not the current party line, the striking pianist from the Philippines made an arguable case without apology.

The orchestra’s accompaniment was clean and supportive, although not as authoritative as the soloist’s execution. Barra had recruited some new string players, with favorable results in the orchestra’s tone and discipline. Glinka’s “Kamarinskaya” gamboled at a jaunty tempo, and the gregarious Kabalevsky suite featured well-turned solos from concertmaster Igor Gruppman, percussionist Patrick Pfiffner and clarinetist Frank Garcia.