MUSIC REVIEWS : Pianist Thibaudet, Symphony Perform

It is exhilarating to hear an artist play with vitality and virtuosity. But it is particularly satisfying if that artist also brings insight, elegance, wit and charm to the music. At Santa Ana High School on Saturday, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, aided by John Larry Granger and the South Coast Symphony, gave an unusually compelling reading of Saint-Saens’ Second Piano Concerto.

The young French-born pianist is a virtually flawless technician. Moreover, he plays with the kind of determination and confidence that suggests that the music is actually easy.

Whether the flash and dash of this concerto allows for significant spiritual probing is debatable. It does demand a pianist who can play with an almost weightless delicacy one moment, arching lyricism the next and powerful authority the next. Thibaudet is such a pianist, and is one who can delineate contrasts without destroying momentum. In a role that is more than that of accompanist, Granger’s orchestra brought similar understanding and precision to the work.

After intermission, the orchestra displayed its virtuosity in Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony. Save for a few minor mistakes--mostly in the third movement--the reading proved technically accurate, clear in detail and carefully balanced. More importantly, Granger put his own stamp on the work: Melodies flowed with arching breadth and seamlessness, with no loss of rhythmic energy.

Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” offers as much of a challenge to an orchestra as does the symphony. Plaudits to all, particularly the woodwind section--although a few high oboe notes were out of tune. Granger sometimes allowed important melodic lines to become obscured and secondary lines to be buried. And the trumpet in the “Rigaudon” could hardly be heard. Nevertheless, this account of “Le Tombeau” showed considerable intelligence, sensitivity and style.