MUSIC REVIEW : Pacific Symphony Performs in Hispanic Community Concert

The Pacific Symphony Orchestra turned back the clock on a hazy Sunday afternoon, moving from the plush maroon comforts of Segerstrom Hall to the cramped old Santa Ana High School Auditorium that the orchestra used to call home not long ago.

The occasion was another informal, generous mixed blessing known as a Hispanic Community Concert, where the doors were opened free to any and all. The lure of a free concert, though, attracted only a sparse audience filling less than half the hall’s bottom floor. Restless audience noises, punctuated by a few rambunctious children, and creaking chairs competed with the music through most of the afternoon.

Nevertheless, the Pacific gave an excellent account of itself, bathed in full, mellow, pleasingly resonant acoustics that particularly flattered the brasses. Much of the motivating credit should go to the orchestra’s young assistant conductor, Lucas Richman.

He approached the over-familiar hit tunes in the second suite from Bizet’s “Carmen” without a hint of condescension, leading a smooth, suave, rhythmically exciting performance that probably made many new friends for Bizet in the hall.

He offered a graceful, lilting “Invitation to the Dance” by Weber, undaunted by the burst of unknowing applause just before the coda. He led a slow yet sufficiently buoyant Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance Opus 46, No. 1, followed by a gate-crashing, marvelously rowdy “Russian Sailors’ Dance” by Gliere.

Most of all, Richman did some enthusiastic pitching, both verbal and musical, for the long-neglected treasure trove of concert music from Latino composers. Admittedly, Carlos Surinach’s make-work Violin Concerto--fluidly handled by associate principal second violinist Alexander Horvath--isn’t exactly a find; it sounds like a 15-minute introduction in search of a piece that never arrives.

But Carlos Chavez’s galvanic, Coplandesque “Sinfonia India” is a gem, and even though it is Chavez’s best-known piece, it rarely gets performed or recorded. More of this kind of enterprise would turn this series into a real path-breaker.