Synergy demanded of symphony

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, perhaps the best known and loved piece of classical music ever written, is an ambitious undertaking for any orchestra for two main reasons. First, there’s the sheer scope of the work: It’s more than an hour long even at a moderate tempo and requires a full choir, large orchestra and four vocal soloists. Second, and perhaps even more daunting, is the fact that there have been countless great recordings of the piece by all of the world’s great orchestras and all classical music enthusiasts are familiar with it, which means that even solid efforts can have a hard time meeting expectations.

Undoubtedly knowing what he was getting himself into, Carl St. Clair challenged his Pacific Symphony and the Pacific Chorale to the task for the orchestra’s second-to-last concert of the season.

The first movement, marked “allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso,” consists of subtle running motifs quietly passed around to the different instrument groups in the orchestra, occasionally building up to loud, bombastic, majestic sections.

Long and fraught with complex interplay between the instruments, it’s easy to lose the forward momentum, overall direction and uniting theme of the wandering movement.

The Pacific Symphony’s rendition was a little flabby, lacking the precision and power when it was most needed to maintain interest.

Some messy, shaky brass — an issue that plagued a few of the movements — made the more climactic sections unconvincing. A lot is asked of the brass, which has to negotiate exposed melodic and harmonic scales where the slightest insecurity can ruin the texture.

In the second movement, a frantic, exciting “molto vivace,” St. Clair picked up the tempo. Where the first movement tended to drag, the faster pace in the second helped make it more cohesive.

What the second lacked though, was the razor-sharp coordination between the instruments, which take turns with the riveting theme in a sort of canon. To make the section really shine, an orchestra needs to have phenomenal balance between sections. In Thursday night’s performance the background accompaniment often overpowered the thematic material.

The 140-or-so singers of the Pacific Chorale showed their power and energy in the triumphant fourth movement as St. Clair maneuvered the monumental symphony to a frenzied finish with “Ode to Joy.” Soprano Cynthia Haymon-Coleman also gave a virtuoso performance, clearly articulating her solos.

The performance was greeted with a standing ovation.

If You Go

WHAT: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, played by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra with the Pacific Chorale

WHEN: 8 tonight

WHERE: Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

COST: $26 to $99