MUSIC : Violinist Has Worked, Played Hard for Success : Cho-Liang Lin, who appears today and Thursday with Pacific Symphony, says his career didn’t blossom overnight.

A decade ago, Cho-Liang Lin received the rare blessing of Isaac Stern, who predicted that the young Taiwanese violinist would become one of the great instrumentalists to emerge from the Orient.

At 31, Lin, who plays today and Thursday with the Pacific Symphony, appears to be fulfilling that prediction. But success, he says, did not come overnight.

“Building a career took a while,” Lin said in a recent phone interview from Kansas City, Mo., where he was appearing. “It was a combination of hard work, careful planning and some lucky breaks. I never regarded myself as a child prodigy.”

Lin, born in the town of Hsinchu in Taiwan in 1960, began studying the violin when he was five and won the Taiwan National Youth Competition when he was 12. That was also the year his father died, however, so his mother sent him to live with an uncle in Australia so that he could study at the Sydney Conservatorium.

There, he met Itzhak Perlman, who directed him to the eminent teacher Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York. Lin made his New York debut in a Mostly Mozart Festival in 1979.

He said he does not recall any particular decision to make a career as a violinist.

“There was no pressure from my family to be a professional,” he said. “In fact, music was a form of discipline so that I would have some artistic upbringing and a good cultural background.

“I certainly didn’t ever expect to be a performer. Even when I showed up in New York to hear my first concert in Carnegie Hall, I had very little realistic hope that I could stand on that stage and play one day.”

He did play there, however, when he was 23.

In those days, some people still argued that Asian musicians lacked the temperament to interpret Western music. But Lin said he never encountered any such prejudice.

“By the time I came around, there were enough predecessors of great achievement to pave the way,” he said. “Now there are so many good Asian performers on tour, it’s difficult to ignore them. I think there are many more to come. The major thrust is now beginning.”

Lin chose to play the Brahms’ Concerto with the Pacific and described his approach to the work as “very straightforward.”

“I don’t believe in making fancy affectations or gestures in that work,” he said. “Simply put, it’s marvelously constructed so there is very little more need to add more spice than necessary.”

He doesn’t feel limited by this approach.

“There is quite a lot of room for individual interpretation,” he said. “But unlike music such as the Tchaikovsky or Paganini concertos, there is no need for me to invent my own version for the sake of it.

“Before I ever played a note of the piece, I had a very clear idea what I wanted to get out of it. I was so familiar with other performances. I grew up with Isaac Stern playing the Brahms Concerto. His recordings remain my favorite.”

Lin had the opportunity to play chamber music with his favorite violinist in 1989 when he, Stern and cellist Yo-Yo Ma appeared at Carnegie Hall with other musicians to play the two Brahms’ Sextets.

That experience “influenced how I view playing the Brahms Concerto,” he said. “Ultimately, it all comes around in a circle, deepening understanding all the time.”

Lin has been soloist in the Concerto for about 10 years and said his interpretation also has “taken a fairly natural evolution” as he has worked with different conductors. But he admitted that working with some conductors can be difficult.

“Many things can be argued about,” he said. “So each concert consists of various compromises. It’s like playing a trio or quartet. No one should be the dictator.

“I don’t believe in being confrontational when difficulties arise, and I don’t like to focus on those things. In all honesty, they don’t happen very often.”

Lin said that this will be his first opportunity to work with Carl St. Clair, music director of the Pacific, although “I’ve known him from Tanglewood and the Boston Symphony.”

When he wants time off from music, Lin said that he likes to play tennis, despite the apparent risk to his hands.

“It’s not that risky,” he said. “It’s hard to hurt your fingers playing tennis. It’s the arm and shoulder that are more at risk. But I’m not reckless. If I have a hint of potential injury, I stop playing. So far, I haven’t experienced any problems.

“Besides, many musicians play tennis. (Jascha) Heifetz was a tennis player. If the greatest violinist could play, then I can.”

* Cho-Liang Lin will be soloist in Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the Pacific Symphony led by music director Carl St. Clair today and Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. St. Clair also will conduct Mozart’s Symphony No. 34 and the Suite from Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier.” Tickets: $10 to $33. Information: (714) 474-2109.