What would an Independence Day weekend be without a massive fireworks display accompanied by “The Stars and Stripes Forever” at full tilt? When it comes to the surefire aspect of celebrating this holiday, the San Diego Symphony Pops hits the ball out of the park. It just isn’t sure what else it needs to present to make the entire evening an explosive delight.

A parade of guest performers and two choirs kept rushing onstage and then quickly exiting, providing variety but not much focus to the program. It was like a potluck dinner where everyone brought desserts and side dishes, but no one thought to provide the main dish.

Thanks to the polished trumpet section—especially Prinicpal Calvin Price and Second John MacFarren Wilds—Leroy Anderson’s “Bugler’s Holiday” proved the shining moment for the otherwise underused orchestra. The solo trumpeters teased the audience when they whipped out their bright plastic vuvuzelas at the downbeat, but once the joke registered, they exchanged these toys for their customary instruments giving Anderson’s sparkling 1950s showpiece the snappy, articulate performance it deserved.

Much of the patriotic muscle was supplied by the San Diego Master Chorale, notably a full-throated a cappella rendition of Robert Page’s splashy arrangement of “America the Beautiful” and the traditional Morton Gould take on “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” in which the chorus was joined by the orchestra and the young singers from St. Paul’s Cathedral Choristers. Gold’s arrangement provides a blushing plenitude of brass fanfares, but considering the occasion, they did not seem out of place. At the anthem’s final cadence, a huge flag descended behind the assembled singers. “Freedom Is,” a choral work by Principal Pops Conductor Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Alan (“The Way We Were”) Bergman delivered its sincere sentiments attired in threadbare choral cliches.

Fusing the unlikely styles of country banjo-picking and slick, urban keyboard jazz, the Alison Brown Quartet (actually five players) added breadth to the Independence Day celebration. Banjo virtuoso Brown started her set with an Americana medley (are banjo players required to play “Oh Susannah”?), but briskly moved into her ensemble’s unique repertory, including the smart, uptempo “Leaving Cottontail.”

Guest vocalist Melissa Chaty offered an assured, semi-operatic interpretation of “I Could Have Danced All Night,” from My Fair Lady, although a selection from a musical composed by an Austrian based on a British play didn’t quite support the Americana theme.

Naval officer Jarrod Fowler’s impassioned singing of “God Bless the USA” brought down the house just before the intermission. But Fowler made an even stronger impression in his verbal sparring with Hamlisch, who delights in demeaning the guest musicians with inane put-downs. When the voluble maestro asked Fowler to describe his duties as Intelligence Specialist 1^st Class, he responded, “Well, I could tell you—but then I would have to kill you.”

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