Pasadena Symphony Celebrates Vienna

Despite the way it sometimes seems in a college bowl town, not everyone ushers in the new year with football.

Wednesday evening at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and Thursday afternoon at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Pasadena Symphony tried some viable counter-programming in the form of a “Salute to Vienna,” a handsome clone of the Viennese New Year’s concerts well known here through annual telecasts.

The program ran a hum-along gamut from Johann Strauss Jr. to Johann Strauss Sr., with compositional cameos from Franz Lehar and Richard Heuberger. Although there was little repertory revelation, there was nothing generic about Pasadena music director Jorge Mester’s interpretations.

He favored generally slower tempos in the waltzes, lyrically caressed for utmost poignancy, and energy in the contrasting polkas.

His orchestra worked elegant wonders in the big tunes, though the reduced string sections were often overwhelmed by the winds, including a “Pizzicato Polka” in which no pizzicato could be heard. At the Thursday matinee, Mester had to struggle for rhythmic cohesion in some transitions, but in the main this was spirited, polished playing.

The soloists were two accomplished American Mozarteans, soprano Elizabeth Hynes and tenor Kurt Streit. They proved stylish and direct in operetta excerpts, including duets from Lehar’s “Merry Widow” and Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus.” Vocally they were well-matched--Streit bright and tight, Hynes the more plush--and they received accommodating support from Mester.

The Viennese telecasts, including the one that aired Thursday evening on KCET, have taught us to expect ballet with our New Year’s Strauss. The Viennese, however, do not ask their dancers to waltz between the orchestra and the edge of the stage, as eight members of the Los Angeles Classical Ballet had to do Thursday at the Music Center. They mustered as much grace as possible in choreography that wisely relied on mimed social byplay as much as actual dancing.

The printed program, which lavished pages on biographies of producers and assorted politicians, didn’t identify orchestra members or provide texts, nor did it credit the choreography or the opulent period costumes, leaving company artistic director David Wilcox the sole named dance representative.