Nothing is so rare in the concert life as a worthy account of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40, in G minor. Although celebrated as one of music's supreme masterpieces, the music usually is badly performed. The vital role of the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra to local music life was demonstrated afresh Tuesday night when it opened its season in the Katz Performing Arts Center at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. The rewarding and entertaining evening culminated in the most nearly adequate performance of Mozart's G minor to be heard in Pittsburgh for at least two decades. The program actually included two important 18th-century symphonies, beginning with Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 49, in F minor. Written for Holy Week in 1768, the music is in old church sonata form, with an initial slow movement followed by a fast one -- the reverse of what subsequently became customary. The Symphony has acquired the name "La Passione," meaning suffering as used in the religious context. Andres Cardenes led a superb performance, full of feeling and dignity in the first movement. The quick second and fourth movements burned with intensity that also affirmed Haydn as a truly great composer. Two lighter pieces completed the concert's first half. Clarinetist Michael Rusinek gave a delight-filled performance of Carl Maria von Weber's nine-minute Concertino, combining charm, elegance and beautifully round tone. Then violinists Ellen Chen Livingston and Christopher Wu tackled the immense technical challenges of Pablo de Sarasate's "Navarra" -- and prevailed by conveying the sentiment and charm as well as bravura. Cardenes conducted excellent accompaniments for both solo pieces, setting the stage perfectly in the Weber by the warmth of the violins before Rusinek began his solo part. The orchestral playing included remarkable sensitivity in the Sarasate by percussionist John Soroka. From the opening notes of Mozart's G minor, which followed the intermission, it was apparent Cardenes would avoid the most common failure in performing this music. Mozart tempo marking is very fast, but Cardenes took a slower-than-usual tempo to convey the music's emotional weight and avoid a lightly skipping feeling. The music was performed in its original version, without clarinets, and gained in balancing from being played by a chamber orchestra. The excellent woodwind section was telling in its important harmonies as well as well-pointed solo and ensemble musical lines. Although Cardenes led a far more rewarding performance than either Lorin Maazel or Andre Previn had at Heinz Hall in the 1990s, there was room for improvement. The finale was, like the first movement, slower than the rapid pace Mozart wanted. But Cardenes' tempo for the finale had an expressive price, losing the music's awful desperation.

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