No one is likely to accuse San Diego Chamber Orchestra Artistic Director Jung-Ho Pak of being trapped in conventional programming. This month's SDCO program, entitled Baroque Pearls and heard Friday night (Nov. 9) at St. Paul's Epsicopal Cathedral, was a sampler of nearly every Baroque chestnut you could list off the top of your head: J. S. Bach's "Air on a G String," Jeremiah Clarke's "Trumpet Voluntary," the "Pachelbel Canon in D" (indispensable!), and Mouret's "Rondeau," aka the theme from television's "Masterpiece Theater." With the sleek assistance of Ruben Valenzuela's Bach Collegium Choir, Pak opened the evening with Bach's chorus from Cantata #147 "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" and ended this 18th-century marathon with G. F. Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from "Messiah."

Now as cloying as this program may have appeared on paper, I must confess that it was surprisingly satisfying to hear, in great part because of the polished and consistently stylish playing of the chamber orchestra's instrumentalists and the equally refined and historically-informed singing of the Bach Collegium. Also, there were two more substantial works that gave some gravitas to this sampler. Harpsichordist Mary Barranger offered a suite of five pieces from Jean-Phillipe Rameau's "Pieces de Clavecin," cleanly articulated and graced with tasteful ornamentation. And under the strong leadership of Concertmaster Alex Palamidis, 10 strings and Ms Barranger played Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 with great flare and energy, choosing vivacious and at times ensemble-threatening tempos.

Perhaps taking a cue from his colleague Valenzuela, maestro Pak decided to ask his orchestra to adopt a more 18th-century approach to this repertory. So all of the players who could performed standing (cellos and harpsichordist remained seated); string players used a short bow and quicker bowing strokes, and they attempted to eschew the use of vibrato, except as an occasional ornament. Overall, the effort paid welcome dividends, giving the ensemble a throaty, warmer timbre and a more pointed, delineated musical line. I could not help but notice, however, that as the evening progressed, the customary string vibrato crept back into the technique of the players furthest from the first-chair players. Although principal trumpeter John MacFerran Wilds demonstrated a valveless, so-called "natural" trumpet of 18th-century design to the audience at Pak's behest, when the trumpeter ascended to the cathedral pulpit to play his solo in the Clarke "Trumpet Voluntary," he used a 20th-century valved trumpet with a modern mouthpiece. Wilds' interpretation of the familiar wedding processional was neatly phrased, smooth, and lyrical, but certainly not a period trumpet rendition such as was heard when the Bach Collegium and its orchestra presented its "Messiah" performance in this cathedral last spring.

Pak's own presence on the podium (he conducted all but three of the works on the program) presented another anachronism, because the baton-wielding solo instrumental conductor was an innovation of the early 19th century. In the time of Bach and Handel, ensembles were "conducted" by either the harpsichordist or the first violinist. Given Pak's more Romantic approach to the orchestra--he prefers long, legato phrasing and pronounced downbeats--it was no surprise that he was most joyously at home in Remo Giazotto's "Adagio for Violin, Strings and Organ," a mid-20th-century pastiche originally sold as "Albinoni's Adagio" in the 1950s. Although this musicological hoax was eventually unamsked, it is still a favorite of chamber orchestras and Pak's orchestra gave this Romantic bon-bon masquerading as a lost Baroque masterpiece a sumptous rendering, highlighted by Palamidis's ravishing account of the violin's cadenza-like solos.

The SDCO will give two more performances of this Baroque program: Monday (Nov. 12) at La Jolla's Sherwood Auditorium and Tuesday (Nov. 13) in Rancho Santa Fe at the Del Mar Country Club.