MUSIC REVIEWS : Pacific Symphony’s Young Cellist Plays With Fire : Timothy Landauer’s fervent performance of Brahms shows he has taste and technique to burn.

SANTA ANA —  Just about the time some of us had reluctantly concluded that 19-Century Romanticism somehow was becoming a closed book to many younger musicians, along comes Timothy Landauer, principal cellist of the Pacific Symphony.

Landauer, who will turn 30 next month, played the music of Brahms with as much fervor, point and arching expressivity as we could wish for in a four-part program of chamber music Thursday at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art.

Appearing with principal clarinetist James Kanter and pianist Delores Stevens in Brahms’ Trio in A minor, the young cellist seemed incapable of playing a single measure without showing intelligence, taste or technique to burn, easily moving from tenderness to fire.

Pairing him with Kanter, masterly in poise and breath control, embodied the composer’s visions of autumnal wisdom matched with youthful ardor, despite occasional lapses in ensemble.

Unfortunately, Stevens proved generally a self-effacing partner, though perhaps the tubby Yamaha worked against her.

She was the only musician to play in two works on the program, joining concertmaster Endre Granat and principal horn James Thatcher in Brahms’ Trio in E-flat.

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Here, too, her seeming reticence diminished the impact. Thatcher played with virtuoso ease and control, and Granat showed warmth and sophistication. Still, the interpretation lacked ideal depth and drama.

Flutist Cynthia Ellis, violist Robert Becker and harpist Mindy Ball brought moments of silken ensemble and gathering excitement to Debussy’s 1916 Sonata for these instruments.

These works were played in the conference room.

After the Horn Trio, which opened the program, half the audience went to the smaller Oceania Gallery, which apparently could not accommodate everyone at one time.

There, standing amid a display of masks, carvings and artifacts from New Guinea, Australia and Micronesia that was culturally unrelated to the music, they heard percussionists Robert Slack, Cliff Hulling and Erik Forrester play Toru Takemitsu’s “Rain Tree” with delicacy and commitment. But the 13-minute, episodic work made only a slight, fleeting impression.

Meanwhile, those people who had remained in the conference room heard the Debussy Sonata. When both works were finished, the two groups traded places. So each had the benefit of a second--and perhaps better--performance of these works. Everyone returned to the conference room for Brahms’ Clarinet Trio.

The concert, which was sold out at a seating capacity of 230, was the first of two programs co-sponsored by the orchestra and the museum. It represented the Pacific’s first venture in presenting chamber music in four years.

The second program will be May 27.