Music Reviews : Mester, Pasadena Symphony Excel

Jorge Mester) has a reputation for putting together provocative programs, but Saturday night’s stylistic roller coaster seemed off the deep end of quirky--on paper, that is.

That it all made perfect, cumulative sense in the event is testament not only to Mester’s sure programming sense, but to his extraordinary persuasiveness as a conductor, as he led the Pasadena Symphony in music by Emil von Reznicek, Brahms, William Schuman and Respighi in Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

He was aided considerably on this occasion by the young Athenian violinist Leonidas Kavakos, the soloist in Brahms’ Violin Concerto.

Kavakos possesses an exceptionally sweet tone that doesn’t disintegrate under pressure. He made even Brahms’ muscular declamations sing pointedly, and his lyrical offerings spoke simply, quietly yet authoritatively.

He managed to de-emphasize the bravura with his casual technique and turned this usually brawny work into sensitive, multifaceted, lilting poetry. Mester and orchestra provided a graceful and rhythmically sculpted accompaniment.

After intermission, the Pasadena strings took on Schuman’s Symphony No. 5, a jaggedly counterpointed, polytonal gem from the 1940s, played with athletic force and poise.

Mester then moved on to the familiar pictorialism and sensationalism of Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.” He reined in the swoon, focused the colors, enforced balance and neatness, coaxed a pliant lyricism from his players and timed the explosion at the end perfectly. If this is cheap music, he made one mind it not a bit.

For openers, Mester had dusted off an old chestnut, Reznicek’s Overture to “Donna Diana,” in an agile, frothy performance.