Pasadena Symphony’s First-Rate Shostakovich

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4 has a compelling story going for it--written in 1935-36, withdrawn in rehearsal by the frightened composer shortly after he was attacked in print by Pravda, finally brought to light in 1961 during the Khrushchev thaw. Yet the piece really didn’t catch on in the repertoire until the 1990s--and for that, I think the Mahler revival was responsible.

The music world had to absorb the Mahlerian idea of huge, discursive, mood-swinging symphonies before it could accept Shostakovich’s Fourth, which quotes Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 9, at least. Yet Mahler ultimately is just the inspiration behind this unique laboratory of wild, sardonic or morbid ideas flung about in a vast, hourlong structure. It is the last thrust of his avant-garde youth, and it can still drive you crazy when played all-out. And that is what Jorge Mester and the Pasadena Symphony seemed to have in mind Saturday night at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

They had played the Fourth before several years ago--and that performance still crackles in the memory--but this rendition went even further, tightening its grip, heightening the barbed humor and intensity. Some conductors lose their focus midway or toward the end--it’s a tough piece to organize--but Mester kept the tension running throughout, shaping every phrase carefully, keeping the massive, cobbled-together structure from buckling while still pushing every climax to its extreme limit.

The orchestra performed brilliantly, with polish and high emotion, every section in strong form, every soloist right on target (some of them practically spat forth their mocking, caustic solos). Had this performance been recorded, it would challenge the best on the market (Rozhdestvensky, Ormandy).

This season-opening concert led off with the U.S. debut of 13-year-old Japanese violin prodigy Mayuko Kamio, who handles herself like a wise old veteran. In the opening bars of Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto No. 5, she displayed dead-on intonation, a tendency to rush impetuously at times, and a good ear for suspense amid Mester’s turbulent accompaniment.