Mester puts on a show of sight and sound

The Pasadena Symphony began its 80th season Saturday night -- and usually such round-numbered milestones are observed with monumental symphonic gestures, often with chorus in hand. But maestro Jorge Mester, who is known to have a mischievous sense of humor, had other refreshingly irreverent ideas for the opening concert of his 23rd season in Pasadena.

With only 12 players on the stage of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Mester launched the season with a taunting blast of Silvestre Revueltas’ “Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca.” Homages to the martyred Spanish poet are everywhere in contemporary music these days, but Revueltas’ opus beat just about everyone to the punch in the 1930s -- and none are more fun than this one, with its saucy dissonant winds and mariachi brass alternating with spooky solo trumpet elegies. Mester didn’t shy away from the piece’s weirdness either, encouraging a lot of bouncy, raucous-yet-right playing.

Next came the three central orchestral sections of Hector Berlioz’s oddball hybrid symphony “Romeo and Juliet,” done in reverse order (“Queen Mab Scherzo,” “Love Scene,” “Romeo Alone -- Festivities at the Capulets”). Mester took the quicksilver “Queen Mab” about as fast as he dared -- stretching the ensemble playing of the PSO violins to the limit -- kept the love music moving without sentimental distractions and entered the Capulet ballroom with panache.

The spectacle that followed Berlioz was a hoot and a half. After the audience was seated following intermission, the hall went black. A kitschy tape of the opening of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” filled the building, as if Elvis had arrived. Dry-ice smoke filled the pit, which levitated to reveal timpanists Jonathan Haas and John Evans and their 14 drums bathed in garish red lighting. And finally the bemused maestro himself rose from the depths of the building on an elevating podium.

All of this showbiz mockery was meant to introduce Philip Glass’ cannon shot at concert hall decorum, the Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra -- which the PSO premiered for the West Coast a few seasons ago. While peppering the piece with his usual arsenal of duples and arpeggios, Glass also made sly reference to the “Mission: Impossible” theme (calling Lalo Schifrin!) and fit in a ritual procession and two massive cadenzas for the soloists. The concerto has a joyful, off-kilter, rumbling flavor that encourages everyone to make as much volume as possible.

So if you were looking for solemn masterpieces from the PSO to mark its 80th year, come on back later in the season for Beethoven’s Ninth and the Verdi Requiem.