Violinist Frautschi Teams With Mentor for Elusive Prokofiev

For violinist Jennifer Frautschi, now in her 20s, Saturday night was definitely a multiple homecoming. Not only was she returning to her native Pasadena, she also was making a solo turn in front of the Pasadena Symphony, in whose ranks she played as a teenager (as did her older sister Laura) for three years. On the podium, as always, was Jorge Mester, Frautschi’s mentor at the Pasadena Symphony and at the Aspen Music Festival.

Understandably, then, nostalgia was in the driver’s seat at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium as Frautschi and Mester worked their ways through Prokofiev’s elusive Violin Concerto No. 2. Although the Concerto No. 2 has edged out the strikingly original, demonic Concerto No. 1 in public favor--due to its less-abrasive melodic content, as well as early advocacy by the mighty Heifetz--it’s a tougher work to bring off, with subtle charms that don’t make as immediate an impact as the in-your-face barbs of its predecessor.

Frautschi certainly could make it sing, with her slender, attractive tone often asking pertinent questions, and Mester illuminating all kinds of delicate details. Yet the performance could have used considerably more heat, particularly in the finale, in which the castanet-punctuated tune needed more rhythmic thrust than it got.

Rossini’s Overture to “La Cenerentola” received an elegantly cohesive performance before the concerto, with plenty of witty give-and-take between the strings and winds and--alas--not much drive.

But Mester managed to rev up the Pasadena Symphony somewhat with a splendidly paced Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”) after intermission, with his virtuoso orchestra easily sailing through the tempo transitions of the first movement, displaying just a hint of strain in the Scherzo and Beethovenian fury in the finale.