POPS REVIEW : Gershwin Night Purred With Precision

SAN DIEGO — Compared to the typical pops fast-food programming, Wednesday’s Gershwin night at the San Diego Pops was a feast fit for royalty. A pair of genuine orchestral works, the ubiquitous “Rhapsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris,” gave the orchestra something to sink its teeth into, and Gershwin medleys, with their wealth of invention, put other tuneful potpourris to shame.

If guest conductor Ned Battista of the Houston Pops failed to uncover any sparkling new insights in the Gershwin canon, he was nevertheless faithful to the Gershwin Muse. Battista was at his best with the songs and medleys he orchestrated, in which he elicited from the symphony a suave studio orchestra sound and coaxed an energized swing beat from his players. From the opening “Swanee” to romantic ballads such as “Someone to Watch Over Me,” the Pops players purred with precision.

Pianist Kenneth Bookstein--the Pops’ Johnny One Note--returned to Hospitality Point as soloist in “Rhapsody in Blue.” (This reviewer cannot recall a single time Bookstein has appeared with the San Diego orchestra when he did not play Gershwin.) At least the La Jolla High graduate, who is now pursuing a graduate degree at New York University, knew what he wanted to do with the piece. He gave the solo sections a stylish, bluesy rubato that proved he was not playing on automatic pilot, in spite of his familiarity with the piece.

His attacks were crisp and percussive, and he fingered the bravura passage work with both the deft determination and the structural clarity of a pianist knowledgeable in the more complex challenges of, say, Beethoven or Ravel.

Admittedly, the closely miked small grand piano the Pops uses may have given Bookstein’s staccato touch an additional sonic bite. The overall amplification of the “Rhapsody” sounded many decibels higher than the preceding medley from Gershwin’s opera “Porgy and Bess” and the Jerome Kern selections. Some sound engineers apparently hold the mistaken notion that pumping up a system to the brink of distortion is the acme of listening pleasure.

Battista’s account of “An American in Paris” came across slightly clinical, as measured as his efficient but unvarying conducting style. Although the earnest Houstonian provided informative oral program notes, he was a bit stiff and humorless at the microphone.

Some of the symphony’s newly hired first-chair players have now joined the orchestra, but it’s too early to assess their contributions. The orchestra displayed a reasonable sense of discipline, but its spirit was not exactly aflame.

This mainly Gershwin program will be repeated tonight and Saturday.