ON A HIGH WITH MAHLER'S 'RESURRECTION' 
                                              By Paul Hertelendy 
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of March 13-20, 2010
                                                                  Vol. 12, No. 76
          The traversal of the Mahler “Resurrection” Symphony (No. 2) is  not a performance, it is an experience. You come out feeling you’ve been through heaven and hell, and gone through eons of doubt, despair, hope and ecstasy as only a great romantic composer like Mahler could lay out on his epic canvas. The San Francisco Symphony ascended to the Promethean heights in reprising this 88-minute colossus for large orchestra, chorus and soloists.
          Adding to the vast scope at the March 12 opening, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas mobilized small knots of brass players in the wings on three different occasions, adding a spatial element to the on-stage theatrics. Clearly the orchestra strove to realize the multi-dimensionality of Gustav Mahler’s vision, creating one work after another on a giant scale, beyond predecessors, up till his early death in 1911.
          His message is a pan-religious striving toward God, on two levels: First a plea for salvation from perdition, and then a confirmation of near-universal resurrection in a blinding, deafening glow of nirvana. The message is so broad,  even reincarnation as found in Eastern religions is suggested: “Sterben werd’ ich, um zu leben” (I will die that I may live!). 
          Doubly astonishing is that these reflections on the ultimate uplift afterlife came not from some white-haired master penning requiems as usual, but rather a young composer between the ages of 28 to 35, having already gained an overview of mortality.
          This colossus in music featured 118 instrumentalists on stage, plus another 100-plus choristers. Where a big work might call for four French horns, this one had eleven (!). The first movement is as long as an entire Haydn symphony, and the exultations of the finale, at 37 minutes, even longer. And along the way come a couple of the greatest, rafter-rattling  climaxes in all classical music, created in some radioactive heat of inspiration. 
          A sold-out Davies Hall was witness to an extravagant, meticulously prepared performance, recalling the SFS recording of the opus in 2004, with the great mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson as soloist. MTT pushes the envelope in every direction for maximum passion and impact, and the players responded smartly, committedly. 
          The chorus was exquisite in sound but mushy in consonants, clearly playing the role of angelic choir in much of it. 
           For all his insights, Mahler was idiosyncratic. He had a knack for reaching a momentous dramatic moment in his score, on the crest of some immense wave, and abruptly following it with a simple like tune on an intimate scale. He inherited this idiosyncrasy from childhood experiences, when he recalled vehement arguments of his parents, then exiting to take refuge in a place  where he would hear tunes of some Bohemian street musician. Typical of these releases from pressure is the charming second movement Laendler, a waltz precursor lightly bowed by the strings, right after the opening’s major-league Sturm und Drang. 
            Another surprise is his recycling much of the vocal music in his early “The Youth Magic Horn” vocal collection for themes and songs in his later symphonies. Of course given the huge scope of the symphonic score, even these recyclings did little to reduce the scope of his massive challenge in time, labor and talent.
            Lorraine Hunt Lieberson is a hard act to follow, as mezzo soloist Katarina Karnéus found. Karnéus has a sweet lyric voice easily overwhelmed by a Mahlerian orchestra in her “Urlicht” (Primal Light) solo. Laura Claycomb fared much better in her soaring soprano.
            There are a few parallels between the “Resurrection” and Beethoven’s Ninth, curiously enough. In both cases, the choruses do not enter until about a hour after the start, and in both, they are preceded by a solo on a low voice. And both of course finish on an uplifting message of high energy and inspiration.
          Prior to the concert, MTT was awarded one of the three 2010 Grammies given the SF Symphony and Chorus (for the Mahler Eighth recording) in an on-stage  ceremony which included words of felicitation from Mayor Gavin Newsom, who had just thrown his hat in the ring for higher political office.
            The week's concerts are the SFS' last hurrah locally for a spell before embarking on an Eastern tour, to the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.

         These San Francisco Symphony concerts continue through March 14 at 2 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 2010
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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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