Review: A Mahler of ‘Unfailing Mastery’ in Pasadena

Brett Mitchell leads the Pasadena Symphony in his inaugural performances as Music Director at the Ambassador Auditorium on October 26, 2024. (Photo by Karen Tapia)

PASADENA — Classical Voice has published a review of Brett Mitchell’s inaugural program as Music Director of the Pasadena Symphony:

At 2pm Saturday, October 26, the Pasadena Symphony opened its 97th season at the Ambassador Auditorium… The opening concert, conducted by Brett Mitchell, the orchestra’s new music director, was a strong one: Mahler’s ‘titanic’ Symphony No. 1 and two works paying tribute to Hollywood’s Golden Age.

The first work, New Beginnings, by Pasadena-area composer/Hollywood orchestrator Peter Boyer, features a brass fanfare and folksy tunefulness (but no direct quoting of folksong) not unlike many works of Aaron Copland (his second symphony, for example).  The musicians, many of whom also work in Hollywood recording studios, played with brilliance and great enthusiasm.

[Erich] Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto followed.  The music contains echoes of many of Korngold’s Golden Age Hollywood film scores (Sea Hawk, Captain Blood, Robin Hood) but without directly quoting them.  Under maestro Mitchell’s baton, the seafaring first-movement, the chivalric romance in the second, and the swashbuckling finale all came across brilliantly in lush, orchestral Technicolor…

With unfailing mastery, Mitchell conducted Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 (“Titan”) and took us into a bright, lyrical Wunderhorn world.  The music flowed through him with all its emotion, excitement, precision and attention to passing details and the larger form.  The orchestral playing was superb, notably in the expressive string portamento that is an essential part of Mahler’s music.

To read the complete review, please click here.