Jorge Mester Leads the Pasadena Symphony

Orchestral razzle-dazzle was the order of the evening Saturday at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. For the second Pasadena Symphony concert of the season, music director Jorge Mester picked a slate of big works--and did them in a big way.

The climax was Stravinsky’s “Firebird,” not the familiar suite, but the complete ballet score. Mester approached it as a tone poem, with due respect for its kinetic aspects and an emphasis on dramatic extremes. It sagged some midway through, but nonetheless proved potent musical storytelling.

It also revealed the orchestra in fine fettle. The players responded to Mester’s urgings nimbly, maintaining solid balances across a vast dynamic spectrum, and provided everything Stravinsky asked for in color and verve. Principal hornist James Thatcher’s heroics headed a long list of distinguished solo contributions.

Restraint is not a characteristic usually associated with the music of Leonard Bernstein, but Mester applied it tellingly to the “Jeremiah” Symphony. Doing so, he allowed the music anguish without hysteria, brooding pathos without self-pity, and reflective comfort without maudlin sighs.

The soloist in the Lamentation finale was mezzo Kimball Wheeler (Mrs. Mester). She sang a sort of consonantless Hebrew with great poise, cool dignity and rich, even sound. Mester and Co. proved accommodating accompanists, again turning out a flamboyant score with controlled intensity.

Smetana’s seldom-heard Overture to “Libusse” opened the proceedings. Largely a vehicle for Wagnerian ceremony, it received a suitably pompous performance.