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Philadelphia Orchestra: Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand"

Philadelphia Orchestra: Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand"
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Philadelphia Orchestra
Mahler Symphony No. 8 ("Symphony of a Thousand")
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Verizon Hall
Philadelphia, PA
March 13, 2016

Gustav Mahler wasn't shy. The massive number of singers and musicians required for this Symphony (over four hundred for this performance) and its approximately hour and a half duration led a friend of mine lightly to dub it "The Screamer!" Its outlandish magnitude suggests a grand entertainment which obscures the fact that it is one of the most important symphonies in the repertoire, the first to include choral singing throughout. On account of its massive scale, it is infrequently performed, although in recent decades, with renewed enthusiasm about Mahler, many of the world-class orchestras have recorded it. Composed by Mahler in 1906, Leopold Stokowski conducted the 1916 American premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The current performance celebrated its centennial.

Is There Safety in Numbers?

Mahler, beyond his fame as a composer, was one of the great symphonic and operatic conductors of his time. In both his conducting and composing, he understood and displayed the sonorities of both the orchestra and voice perhaps better than anyone before or since, except perhaps Wagner, and he saw the Eighth Symphony as his chance to utilize the sheer volume of sound to its maximum effect. Although many later disagreed, he also considered it his greatest work. It came to him readily: he composed it in eight weeks in the secluded hut next to his summer home on Worthersee, feeling as if it was dictated to him by an external force or muse. For him, it was the culmination of all his previous work.

Performing this symphony is a feat of human engineering. Recruiting, rehearsing, and positioning all the instruments and singers is a gargantuan task. Fortunately, Verizon Hall with its curvilinear shape similar to a cello, and its multiple levels of seating behind and around the stage, proved to be a perfect setting for this event. The several choruses surrounded the expanded orchestra in a wide arc, extra brass sections were up a few levels to the left and right, and at the climax, the soprano sang from a heavenly place in the rear top tier. The effect was 360 degree surround sound that flooded the senses.

Correcting a Misunderstanding

Early on, the critic Oscar Bie wrote that the Eighth Symphony was "stronger in effect than in significance, and purer in its voices than in emotion." Since then, others similarly have felt, for various reasons, that it is not one of Mahler's best works. I think this negative view is largely due to a misunderstanding about the nature of the work. Mahler's earlier symphonies were more intimate personal statements, conveying nuances of imagery, feeling, recollection, and states of mind. There, within the boundaries of traditional symphonic form, he took the listener on a journey through personal experiences and struggles. That is what modern, psychologically sensitive audiences love about his music.

The Eighth is markedly different in character. It is a grand statement of an overriding philosophy, a theology of creation and redemption, of faith in a higher being and reconciliation through love. It is in two parts, the first a motet attesting to the power of the Creator, a liturgical statement like part of a mass. The second is based on Goethe's story of Faust's redemption, containing episodes or sub-movements that assert the power of love in redeeming the most tragically fallen among us. It emphasizes the feminine aspect of love, hence was dedicated to his wife, Alma, embodied in the work as Gretchen, Faust's lover. The upper register voices of the women and the boy's choir elevate the music to the divine perfection of the goddesses and the stars.

Synthesis of Early and Modern Forms

The Eighth Symphony represents a return to the baroque and before. Mahler was studying Bach at the time, and he synthesized the modern symphony with large choral works based on an overriding narrative, a combination of a motet, mass and oratorio. In keeping with these requirements, Mahler correctly emphasized rhetorical features and the overall trajectory of the music rather than trying to fill the space with nuances of personal expression. The beauty emerges from the wholeness and power of the work rather than its subtlty. And Mahler had the correct inspiration to write a large scale choral work from an ideographic rather than a personal standpoint, where nuances and sudden changes in temperament would get lost in the sound of the massive ensemble. The Eighth cannot be compared with Mahler's earlier symphonies, because it is of a different form, structure, and intent from them.

Nezet-Seguin Scores Again

Yannick Nezet-Seguin correctly understood this difference. He conducted the work as literally as possible from the score and concerned himself with the big picture rather than the psychodramatic nuances. He did a yeoman's job of bringing together huge stables of musicians and singers into a focused, internally consistent, and, one could say, stirringly beautiful interpretation. Others might prefer saltier or more dreamlike versions such as those of Bernstein, Tennstedt, and Rattle, but for this listener, maestro Nezet-Seguin was right on the mark.

Artists for this performance: Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Angela Meade, soprano; Erin Wall, soprano; Lisette Oropesa, soprano; Elizabeth Bishop, mezzo-soprano; Mihoko Fujimura, mezzo-soprano; Anthony Dean Griffey, tenor; Markus Werba, baritone; John Relyea, bass; The Westminster Symphonic Choir, mixed chorus; The Choral Arts Society of Washington, mixed chorus; The American Boychoir, boys choir.

Note: The photograph above is from a rehearsal rather than the actual performance, but the configuration of the orchestra and choruses is the same.

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