Works by Christopher Rouse and James MacMillan reveal strength--and weakness.

classical

In recent seasons, no two composers have captured the heart of Cabrillo Music Festival Music Director Marin Alsop more than the American, Christopher Rouse, and the Scot, James MacMillan. Familiarity with their music reveals why. Both favor the use of borrowed tunes, unleash tectonic explosions of sound from percussion and brass, devise unique timbres from unusual combinations of instruments, contrast dynamics on the widest possible spectrum, create bipolar moods within their works, and embrace various classical forms.

When it comes to conciseness and economy, however, Rouse leaves MacMillan behind. This was demonstrated yet again between Rouse''s Symphony No. 1, heard Saturday night at Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, and MacMillan''s Triduum, an Easter-inspired triptych played Sunday afternoon at Mission San Juan Bautista. While Rouse made his various points in a kind of anti-romantic romantic work of some 25 minutes, MacMillan simply didn''t know when to stop, gushing on and on long after he had exhausted his musical ideas.

In particular, these inflamed endings afflicted the last movements of the second and third installments of the trilogy, the 35-minute Cello Concerto and 50-minute Symphony "Vigil." Not only did MacMillan continue to continue, but he did so until his brass and percussion volleys became a parody of themselves.

The din, both ear-splitting and mind-numbing, all but obliterated any recollection of the composer''s artistic vision, instrumental technique and expressive nuances. Chorales, off-stage brass, keening violins--the distinctive fingerprints of his significant talent--were crushed under the onslaught. To a lesser degree, also suffering sonic body blows were the spectacular cellist Eric Bartlett and Thomas Stacy, the richly intoning cor anglais soloist in the opening piece, The World''s Ransoming. To those who believe the crucifixion of Christ speaks loudly in its intimacy, this depiction must have sounded more like Apocalypse Now.

Rouse''s symphony, an adagio that began and ended in quietude, paraphrased themes and gestures from Bruckner, Mahler, Holst, Sibelius, Wagner and Prokofiev. A darkly symbolic tapestry, it wove in the musical mottoes of Bach and Shostakovich, and perhaps others. Four Wagner tubas and an oboe d''amore were exploited for their distinctive timbres, and a centrally deployed string "pietá," played sotto voce, stopped time in its reverie.

The evening opened with a tribute to Kurt Weill, who, like Copland (heard the week before) is recalled during this his centenary. Cabaret soprano Angelina Reaux--who could stretch down to baritone when needed--electrified the Santa Cruz audience with her personality and expressive range. She sang the many songs of Marie Galante and excerpts from Lost in the Stars--both could aptly be called "musical tragedies"--with the accompaniment of Alsop''s orchestra and Milton Williams'' festival chorus.

Weill composed Marie Galante in 1934 in Paris, a year before finally settling in the U.S. His Berlin style, including an accordion and saxophones in the orchestra, fit neatly with the French scenario which follows the naïve girl from her abduction in Bordeaux to her abandonment in South America to her murder in Panama. Lost in the Stars, based on Paton''s Cry the Beloved Country, dates from 1949, one year before Weill''s early death from heart disease. Both works contain songs of heroic hope against hope.

On Wednesday, Aug. 9, Alsop and her orchestra were joined by violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and violinist/composer Mark O''Connor for an evening of superb entertainment. The first half, called "Talk and play," cast Alsop as variety show host, calming the high-strung Salerno-Sonnenberg and stoking the laconic O''Connor through a banter of music and repartee. Salerno-Sonnenberg disclosed her fabulous talents through bits of Gershwin and a Brahms scherzo. O''Connor showed off dazzling technique in one of his own caprices and, with Alsop herself forming a violin trio, his Appalachian Waltz.

Randolph Peters'' brief, Dizzy Gillespie-inspired Bop of 1999, prefaced a shootout between Salerno-Sonnenberg and O''Connor in the latter''s Double Concerto of 1997. Side by side, in call and response, O''Connor delivered an easy Tennessee legato, while the tough New Yorker, Salerno-Sonnenberg, spoke Nashville with a Brooklyn accent.