MUSIC REVIEWS : Nature Steals Mozart’s Thunder at Irvine Meadows

IRVINE —  Here we go again--another concert in 1991, another evening with Wolfgang Amadeus . . .

Indeed, the main thing that distinguished the Pacific Symphony’s contribution to the Mozart glut Saturday night had little to do with the music. Rather, it was the ambience: a mellow sunset that bathed the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in a lovely, unreal, deepening orange-pink glow.

Admittedly, that was a tough opening to follow. Still, Mozart deserves better than acceptably competent run-throughs of a few of his greatest hits before a post-picnicking throng of 7,197.

The maestro of ceremonies this time was William McGlaughlin, the converted trombonist who is now music director of the Kansas City Symphony. Flamboyant choreography is not his forte; he prefers a straightforward, to-the-point beat, with flowing gestures in the legatos.

McGlaughlin’s Mozart matches his physical motions right down the line; clean, crisp, sharp-cornered, moderately quick in tempo, relaxed and genial when needed.

Inching a bit ahead of the pack, he seems to believe in the idea of faster, but not much faster, minuets, as his bracing third movement of the Symphony No. 39 indicated. He also knows how to support a soloist, keeping balances in quiet perspective behind Louise DiTullio’s flute in the Concerto No. 1 while flinging a few inner-voices in the winds just above the horizon.

In other words, McGlaughlin gave us the basic outlines of semi-enlightened modern Mozart performances. What we didn’t hear was anything deeper than that, a searching, individual personality that can fill in the outline with shadows and imaginatively chiseled details.

The overture to the brief, flippant opera “Der Schauspieldirektor” emerged briskly and more than a little brusquely. DiTullio brought considerable warmth, gentle staccatos and a virtually flawless technique to the concerto but the performance still seemed earthbound, resisting liftoff. The Symphony No. 39 was poised, moderately energetic but a bit square in rhythm, while receiving the warmed-up PSO’s most cohesive effort of the night.

In fairness, one must say it is hard to rise above some of the hazards and distractions that occur outdoors. The malfunctioning sound system made the violins sound dry and scratchy when it wasn’t adding frequent intrusions of feedback. The applause-happy crowd erupted after each movement and even in the middle of the third movement of the concerto.

Still, it can be done.