THE MAHLER
5TH AGAIN, WITH A MEDITATIVE PRELUDE
By Paul Hertelendy
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
and dance
Week of Oct. 1-8, 2009
Vol. 12, No. 18
When orchestras
play the
immense Fifth Symphony of Gustav Mahler, it’s usually a concert unto
itself.
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But the San
Francisco
Symphony added a bonus. A loud bonus. A contemporary (but hardly
dissonant)
bonus.
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Capping the
Mahler
Festival Sept. 30, the SFS added a 12-minute meditative piece by the
Italian
mystery man and arts patron Giacinto Scelsi, “Hymnos” (1963).
There’s a lot
of
speculation and plain old detective games on researching Scelsi
(1905-88), who
was elusive about many details of his life, including his bouts with
mental
illness. But it’s much more to the point to take up “Hymnos,” quite an
original
work built on the long-held note of D and its overtones, gradually
broadening
out like waves from a stone in the water.
It’s more a
Zen-type meditation than a hymn, but it goes beyond that with its ebbs
and surges, its muffled
drum rolls, its gradual entry of the brass. Scelsi produces an air of
terror or
foreboding that never quite bursts forth, and is thereby yet more
effective.
Deep listening? Yes, but in quite a different manner from Pauline
Oliveros,
whose stasis is more like rocking gently in a hammock. Scelsi’s
meditation is
alive and pushing forward, with a message ultimately as veiled as the
composer
himself---but never veiled in a hammock! Credit Michael Tilson Thomas
for a
return encounter with Scelsi, who heretofore is little known in this
country.
The Fifth is a
giant. If Beethoven offers a world of music, this Mahler is a whole
solar system, with a length greater than any Beethoven symphony (at 73
minutes), requiring super-orchestra forces. MTT’s approach to the
Mahler Fifth is fascinating, poles apart from that of, say, George
Solti and a
majority of Old-World conductors we’ve heard. In Solti’s hands, the
opening-movement’s funeral march was high tragedy, with the solo
trumpet bristling
and screaming outrage in bereavement. MTT went to the other extreme,
bringing
out the most lyrical, congenial elements emphasizing consolation. As we
don’t
really know which was Mahler’s own preference, both approaches are
eminently
valid and effective, and it’ll be your personal taste dictating which
CD of the
5th you’ll buy.
The middle
movements run
through the myriad emotions that were Mahler through and through---not
just the
storm, but also a ghostly waltz on the strings, and a choice horn
reverie. There
follows the Adagietto for strings alone, one of the most sublime
creations of
the entire late romantic period. Both the Adagietto and the finale are
in major
keys, producing an upbeat finish to a work wallowing in C sharp minor
at the
start.
MTT handled
the large
forces adroitly, conducting from memory again and clearly enjoying the
experience (perhaps from habit---the 5th has returned
numerous times
to Davies Hall). There were various fine-etched solos, none more
exposed nor
more skillfully executed than Mark Inouye’s trumpet recurring in the
first
movement.
These
San Francisco Symphony concerts continue through Oct. 3 at 8 p.m. For
info: (415) 864-6000, or go online.
Broadcasts on KDFC-FM (102.1) at 8 p.m. on the second Tuesday following.
©Paul Hertelendy 2009
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Paul Hertelendy has been
covering
the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with
relish
-- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)
will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local
artists as well.
#
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