Mester Leads Night of Stirring Prokofiev

How is it that some musicians--Jorge Mester, for instance--always seem to be playing their best piece? So it was again Saturday when the conductor led his Pasadena Symphony in Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony at the Civic Auditorium.

This profoundly ambiguous postwar work--commentators have found no entirely convincing interpretation and Prokofiev’s own verbal take on it smacks of self-protection and Stalin-induced p.c.-ness--was Mester’s cup of tea. That is partly because his way is exploratory, his touch is light. He doesn’t impose his will on a piece as much as weigh it in his hand.

In Mester’s care, Prokofiev’s symphony threatened and cavorted, mounted roof-rattling statements and then swerved from resolution, all with logical illogic. He negotiated its winding-road lyricism with finesse and purpose, discovering crannies and rises, and yet avoiding finality. When, after the most menacing dissonance, the E-flat major chord popped up at the end and the audience was unsure to applaud, it seemed entirely appropriate.

The Pasadenans followed Mester’s malleable dictates attentively, achieving transparent balances, executing neatly, thundering impressively.

Concerto time featured violinist Elmar Oliveira and cellist Nathaniel Rosen--Tchaikovsky Competition winners both--in Brahms’ “Double Concerto,” a work that usually fares better on record. Though these players expressed themselves emphatically and with virtuosity, this was one of those times. Blame the composer and the hall--one needed a closer sonic view of the soloists, a zoom in on their nuances and finger work.