Berlioz’s Requiem Soars in Pasadena

Animation and contemplation are the poles around which the music of Hector Berlioz revolves, and nowhere is this more demonstrable than in the French composer’s wondrous Requiem, the “Grand Messe des Morts,” a work Berlioz envisioned performed by orchestral and choral forces of 1,000 people.

The Pasadena Symphony revival, Saturday night in the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, utilized merely 260 musicians, according to the management; that was enough. Music director Jorge Mester coaxed the best out of them, from tiny wisps of sound in the quietest moments to profound heights of loudness at several climaxes.

Mester’s pacing of a work some conductors find either frenzied or somnolent kept all matters temporal in balance, as he did with its choral-instrumental textures. An embracing continuity seemed to hold these 10 movements together; each had its separate character, yet related to a total plan. When the hushed and poignant ending arrived, merely 80 minutes after the beginning, the entire range of emotions in the texts had been encompassed in the musical realizations.

Brilliant executions by the mellow brass sections--suitably enlarged for this occasion--and thrilling woodwind playing became the prism through which one could admire the soaring and solid contributions of the orchestra’s strings.

The Pacific Chorale, 150 strong and in complete control of their considerable resources, sang magnificently, particularly in the softest passages but throughout a wide range of colors and dynamics. Words and, consequently, meanings emerged clearly from beginning to end.

John Aler, singing from above the stage through the air-conditioning ducts and straight toward the balcony, made wonderful and warm tenor sounds, only in one moment approaching a possible crack in his vocal armor.

* This performance was recorded and will be broadcast on KUSC-FM (91.5) on May 18 at 7 p.m.