OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Pasadena Symphony, Pasadena Master Chorale at Pasadena Civic

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

All conductors develop programming patterns and in his 25 years as music director of the Pasadena Symphony, Jorge Mester has favored several concepts, one of which is to pair a beloved masterpiece with a work far less known, but nonetheless worth exploring.

Last night at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Mester joined Mozart’s Requiem with six songs by Hector Berlioz entitled Les Nuits d’eté (Summer Nights). However, as is often the case, Mester found an innovative way to invigorate the program, or in this case the first half.

The pairing also made for one of the shortest PSO programs in recent memory. Even with two speeches and the presentation of a $90,000 check from the Women’s Committee to the symphony prior to the concert, and a heartfelt tribute from Mester prior to the Requiem eulogizing long-time board member Edith Roberts, who died last month, the concert ended well before 10 p.m.

Using texts by French poet Théophile Gautier, Berlioz wrote Les Nuits d’ete in 1841 to be performed either by baritone, contralto, or mezzo-soprano with piano accompaniment. Berlioz, who never considered the songs to be a cycle, later adapted them for soprano with full orchestral accompaniment. That version, which dates from 1856, was the one Mester chose … but with a twist. He decided to mix the versions by having three of the evening’s soloists — soprano Shana Blake Hill, mezzo-soprano Tracy van Fleet and tenor Scott Ramsay — each sing two of the songs

The soloists also introduced each song with a very brief sketch about its meaning. That proved to be helpful because, although the printed program contained the texts and English translations, the lights were turned down so low few people could follow along.

Hill spun ravishing pianissimos in Absence and sailed effortlessly through L’Ile Inconnue. Barcarolle to conclude the set (her story of that final song was also the most humorous). Van Fleet was warmly passionate in Le Spectre de la Rose and properly mournful in Sur les Lagunes. Lamento. Ramsay’s two songs about birds were elegant. Mester and the orchestra accompanied sensitively throughout.

Mozart’s Requiem proved to be Exhibit A as to why the orchestra is moving to the much better acoustics of Ambassador Auditorium beginning next season (LINK). Mester adopted brisk tempos that, from a choral point of view, might have worked at Ambassador but in the cavernous Civic proved to be extremely challenging.

In the homophonic sections the 89-voice Pasadena Master Chorale was able to muster impressive masses of sound and reasonably good diction. However, in the contrapuntal sections (and there are many in this work) the choir was not able to elucidate with enough clarity, particularly as the performance moved along.

Mester didn’t help things by having the singers remain standing for the entire 45 minutes, even in the Recordare movement for solo quartet. The decision to mix men and women randomly, rather than placing them in sections, didn’t help. Again, due to lack of lighting, the printed words were of little help; moreover, the texts for the Requiem omitted the Sanctus and Benedictus sections entirely.

The quartet (which included bass Alain Coulombe) sang well as an ensemble, although individually none really shone. As was the case in the Berlioz, the playing of the orchestra (reduced in numbers, as is appropriate for Mozart) was crisp and sensitive, and Mester took great care to balance the instrumentalists with both the soloists and the choir.
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• There was a lot of buzz around the lobby, particularly from those who had not read the news about the Pasadena Symphony’s move next season to Ambassador Auditorium and its decision to offer matinee and evening performances at its new hall. LINK
• The next PSO concert is April 10 when Mester will conduct the orchestra in Dvorak’s Czech Suite, Bartok’s Romanian Dances, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, Italian and Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, with guitarist Celino Romero as soloist. INFO
• The orchestra’s final concert at the Civic after an 80-year run, will be an all-Beethoven affair with Mester leading the Cariolan Overture, Symphony No. 4 and the Violin Concerto, with Pasadena Youth Symphony alumna Jennifer Frautschi on an evening celebrating the Youth Symphony’s first alumni reunion. INFO
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(c) Copyright 2010, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Comments

[ESL classes Los Angeles]

I was lucky enough to attend the symphony, it was absolutely amazing.