MUSIC REVIEW : Mozart Fest’s Best Moment All Beethoven : Classical Music: Violinist William Preucil is the highlight of Kingston Mainly Mozart Festival.

SAN DIEGO —  There must be some irony in the Kingston Mainly Mozart Festival reaching its acme in one of Beethoven’s lesser works. Chalk it up, in part, to a dearth of meaty Mozart offerings during this 10-day Mozart festival.

In Saturday night’s performance at the Spreckels Theatre, the festival’s final evening concert, music director David Atherton crowned his efforts with an exuberant, athletic account of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

Without the mitigating eloquence of the three soloists, violinist William Preucil, cellist Ronald Thomas and pianist Gregory Allen, Atherton’s unchecked zeal could have reduced the concerto to an ear-spliting caricature.

The conductor’s aerobics elicited maximum excitement from the orchestra. Although the orchestra responded with alacrity, such unabashed sonic enthusiasm was at best a mixed blessing within the modest dimensions of the Spreckels Theatre.

The musical rewards of this Beethoven Concerto, however, were revealed in soloists’ subtle interplay and in the wide emotional gamut they probed. Preucil and Thomas melted into elegantly sensual duets, yet the trio could work up a storm of saber-rattling figuration without turning Beethoven into Franz Liszt.

Allen’s playing displayed a more assertive character, a welcome change from his retreating accompanist’s demeanor in previous festival appearances. It wasn’t heaven-storming Beethoven, but it had definition.

Atherton unearthed a real gem in his program opener, Chevalier St. Georges’ Overture to the opera “L’Amant Anonyme.”

The three-movement overture bubbled with unaffected grace in a style that brought to mind the sparkling instrumental works of John Christian Bach, a contemporary of the little-known St. Georges. (According to the history books, St. Georges was a native of the West Indies who emigrated to Paris to become a champion fencer as well as a composer.)

Mozart’s long-winded Serenade in D Major, K. 203, filled up the program’s first half with much invention and little import. With a miniature violin concerto sandwiched into its many movements, it provided the perfect vehicle for concertmaster Preucil’s fleet, stylish artistry.

Preucil, who is first violinist of the Cleveland Quartet, has been the undisputed treasure--and workhorse--of the entire festival.