Carl St.Clair at Warp 9

Carl St.Clair and the Pacific Symphony unleashed a Technicolor torrent on stage in Costa Mesa this week with a program tailor-made to suit the orchestra’s aggressive style.

Offering the crazed and prescient “Symphonie fantastique” of Berlioz, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and a witty new work by USC music professor Frank Ticheli, St.Clair assembled a tightly fitting package of sonic spectacles--the kind of music that knocks your socks off and sends you scurrying to the nearest CD emporium.

The local band may not have quite the seasoned suavity of Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony, who have specialized in recording this kind of music for years, but they turned in an impressive show before a large and enthusiastic audience Thursday night, the second of two performances at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

The contrasting colors and textures of each section were admirably balanced and distinct. The intonation and ensemble were perfect. And with St.Clair driving the troops at full tilt, the energy level was set on maximum.

The concert opened with a pleasant surprise, a one-movement hurricane of sound by Ticheli called “Blue Shades.” True to its name, the piece incorporates many jazz elements but lies comfortably in the mainstream of accessible, modern, classical music. Written in 1996 for band, the work was rescored by the composer this year for orchestra at St.Clair’s suggestion, according to the program notes.

Launched with tight blasts from clarinets and stopped horns, the music evolves through a panorama of orchestral colors--dark, blatting trombones and cavorting woodwinds. It revels in a pulsing rhythm reminiscent of John Adams that summons images of a busy and flamboyant street.

Piano soloist Cecile Ousset was a nice choice to join the orchestra for the Ravel. Her technique is impeccable and her musical sensibilities nicely honed, but most striking about this soloist is her charmingly direct, even blunt, way with the notes. She hits the keys hard, plays the music plainly and doesn’t bother excessively with nuance, a quality that matches the Pacific Symphony style to a T.

Thus she was most effective in the hard-charging first and third movements and less so in the second movement where her account of the slow, graceful dance tune was not entirely persuasive.

Also notable in the Ravel was principal horn John Reynolds, who nailed an impossibly difficult solo that features prominently in the nightmares of horn players.

At nearly one hour, the Berlioz was the heavyweight on the program. This is a work that still seems obsessive and strange--if brilliant--170 years after it was written. Imagine a programmatic tone poem based on opium dreams, complete with two tubas, four bassoons, an offstage oboe solo and weird sound effects composed while Mendelssohn was still working on his Hebrides Overture. How Berlioz avoided a stay in the loony bin is hard to fathom.

Today, of course, this fabulous music is a staple of the repertoire, and the Pacific Symphony tackled it with appropriate fervor. From the sweet--yet slightly batty--tune in the violins that opens the second movement to the thunderous pedal tones from the low brass in the famous death march, the musicians captured the manic quality of the score exactly. A rousing finish to a rewarding program.