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In Mainly Mozart concert, a mix of high and low points

The Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra returned to the unlikely concert venue of the Del Mar Surf Cup Sports Park Saturday evening, a happy occasion.

Saturday evening was also the 20th anniversary of 9/11, a cause for mourning and reflection.

The intersection of the two was confusing. Saturday’s concert was co-sponsored by the National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC), billed as “A Path Forward: 9/11 Commemorative Concert.” Although NCRC President Steven P. Dinkin spoke of music as a communal experience that inspires healing and unity, I struggled to find connections between the musical offerings and our national tragedy.

After a brief moment of silence to reflect on the atrocious attacks, conductor David Chan took the podium and led the orchestra in a lively performance of Mozart’s giddy, joyful Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro.”

This incongruity between the program and the events of 9/11 continued throughout the night, the one notable exception being George Walker’s “Lyric” for strings.

In the Black Lives Matter era, this elegiac piece by a barrier-breaking African American composer has become a worthy substitute for America’s favorite funereal music, Barber’s “Adagio” for strings. Barber’s work seemingly ends without a proper resolution, giving it a feeling of discomfort. “Lyric” shifts between major and minor modes, but it concludes on a hopeful major chord.

In previous performances under the shell at the Sports Park, the amplification was tastefully done. On Saturday, though, it was overly dry, doing a disservice to “Lyric,” which works best in an acoustically resonant venue. Elsewhere on the program, the sound system undercut the musicians’ efforts, most noticeably in Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 4 in G major “Mozartiana.” Here it imparted an unwelcome dull heaviness to the orchestra’s sound.

The last movement of “Mozartiana” featured excellent, nimble work from flutist Alison Fierst, clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan, oboist Eugene Izotov, bassoonist Catherine Chen and concertmaster Martin Chalifour.

Three opera arias were sung by soprano Gabriella Reyes: “Porgi amor” from “Marriage of Figaro” and “Si, mi chiamano Mimi” and “Quando m’en vo’” from “La Bohème.” She had a gorgeous voice that was undermined by a mechanical vibrato and a sameness of affect in the first two arias. “Porgi amor” is a wife’s lament about losing her husband’s love, Mimi’s aria a revealing portrait of an outwardly shy woman with the soul of a dreamer, but I couldn’t detect that in Reyes’ singing or stage presence. She was more successful in “Quando m’en vo’,” capturing Musetta’s naughty flirtations.

Following Reyes, saxophonist Branford Marsalis played — very well, I should add — the vocal line in the last of Peter Lieberson’s “Neruda Songs.” Lieberson composed them for his wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and her death a year after their premiere has linked the cycle to tragic loss. In the final poem, Neruda imagines a couple losing their land after they die, but their love transcends death.

Substituting soprano saxophone for voice didn’t really work. Lieberson’s simple melody needs a singer to modulate the line with vowel sounds to imbue it with passion. I would have much rather heard Reyes sing this — assuming she has the low notes — and have Marsalis play the more direct “Quando m’en vo.”

Marsalis ended the program with an agile performance of Pedro Iturralde’s cheesy “Pequeña Czarda.” He’s a fine saxophonist, but I wish he had chosen better repertory. It does exist.

For an encore, violinist Zach DePue and bassist Scott Pingel joined Marsalis in a performance of “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Pingel laid down a walking bass line, DePue channeled Stéphane Grappelli, and Marsalis for the most part played a secondary line.

What any of this had to do with 9/11, again, I do not know. Most performing arts organizations had productions on Saturday without needing to invoke it. While well-intentioned, this concert was the sonic equivalent of slapping a magnetic yellow ribbon on a car and did about as much good as that.

Hertzog is a freelance writer.