Dance and Music Reviews : Mester, Symphony Open 61st Season

Beginning his fifth season at the helm of the Pasadena Symphony, Jorge Mester on Saturday night led his orchestra in a program that again showed off the ensemble’s many resources. In the hearing, this agenda proved mildly provocative, if not at all challenging.

It began with the original version of Mussorgsky’s colorful “Night on Bald Mountain,” moved into a higher gear with Saint-Saens Second Piano Concerto, and reached a climax with John Adams’ large symphonic canvas, “Harmonielehre” (1984-85). The performances, led with Mester’s usual musical sweep and intense detailing, grew loud but seldom strident. And they held the interest at every point.

Adams’ “Harmonielehre,” like his earlier “Harmonium,” utilizes traditional 19th-Century harmonies in original juxtapositions, building in each of his three movements to extravagant climaxes of attractive ferocity. Some listeners may point out that, in its relentless but apparently pointless noodling, Part 1 sounds like a film score gone wrong--it seems like a lost accompaniment to unspecified visual events.

But the sometimes meditative Part 2 lives its own, thoughtful, ultimately violent life. And Part 3 incorporates and expands on the previous, now-integrated materials. The experience is exciting.

As an advocate for Adams’ visceral musicality, Mester proved compelling. To Mussorgsky’s fascinating original orchestration of “Night on Bald Mountain,” he and the accomplished Pasadena ensemble seemed to give fair value.

They also provided attentive help to Jeffrey Biegel’s fleet, authoritative and appropriately lyrical playing of the Saint-Saens work, an engaging performance that drew cheers from the large Civic Auditorium audience gathered for the opening of this 61st Pasadena Symphony season.