An All-Mozart Program for Pasadena Symphony

For the third time in the Pasadena Symphony’s 2001-2002 season, Jorge Mester presided over an all-Mozart concert at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Saturday night. Theoretically, one can go on spinning off such self-contained programs almost indefinitely without repeating anything or alienating much of the audience. And Mozart gives you the flexibility to veer away a bit from the usual overture-concerto-symphony ritual without quite abandoning it.

This time, Mester’s “overture” was a Mozartian anomaly, the Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, K. 546, a stern, forbidding throwback to the contrapuntal style of J.S. Bach. Mester caught the ominous mood of the Adagio and projected the themes of the Fugue with thrust, but the performance became labored as it unfolded.

The “concerto” was the Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra in E-flat, K. 364, with sisters Ani and Ida Kavafian communing on violin and viola, respectively. A stylistically well-matched, if rather rough-and-ready pair in the first movement, the Kavafians relaxed and produced their most songful work in the slow movement, with an especially lush, almost mournful dialogue in the cadenza.

Making the Serenade No. 9 in D, K. 320 (“Posthorn”) the designated “symphony” in this lineup was an interesting idea but not a wholly successful one, for despite its symmetrical structure, the sprawling, seven-movement piece has patches of flagging inspiration. But it triggered the most vigorous, committed, bracing playing of the night from Mester and a chamber-sized contingency from the orchestra, with a particularly lilting, life-affirming treatment of the fourth movement Rondeau.