Mark Wigglesworth was conducting the MO that weekend, with Schubert 8 and Mahler 9 on the program. I had heard good things about Wigglesworth from friends in the Indianapolis Symphony, and I also have a cd of Mahler 10, with MW conducting, and I really enjoy it a lot. So, needless to say, I was looking forward to it.
I stayed with a friend who lives about a 5 minute walk to the hall (he said to me, "I can roll out of bed at 9:45 for a 10am rehearsal!") and that was rather convenient. I was astonished though, at how....unattractive the hall is. It's like some bad 70s design of a school or something.
But no matter. It's what is on the inside that counts, right? In this case, sugar cubes.
Yes, these were all over the ceiling and behind the orchestra. They can move around to adjust acoustics and whatnot. Rather interesting, to say the least.
Yet for all my amazement at halls that aren't that beautiful, and weird acoustical sugar cubes on ceilings, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the Minnesota Orchestra. Mark Wigglesworth led them through a fantastic reading of Schubert 8. I didn't know an orchestra could play as softly as they did. The beginning of the Schubert actually took my breath away, literally---when they came in as softly as they did, I stopped breathing for a short while, and racked my brain trying to remember when I last heard an orchestra play that quietly. I couldn't remember!
The orchestra is strong, particularly in their strings, which have a warm and lush sound. It was delightful for me to hear a cello and bass section sound so good together as well---I don't hear that too often in Indy.
I found the first movement of the Schubert to be quite intense. The combination of amazing dynamic control, a solid string section, and Wiggleworth's ability to infuse some major drama in to this work---even more than it naturally has--made it a captivating reading, and probably one of the best I've ever heard of this great work.
The Mahler though, was a completely different story. No sense of the dramatic, no sense of the pain and anguish that poor Mahler was going through at the time. This performance did not question life, or death, or even ponder such things, at least for the first 3 movements. The orchestra technically sounded great---no real big messups or anything like that, but also no real heart.
The fourth movement, however, was a different story. I'm not sure what the difference was, or how Wigglesworth changed from a very straight forward reading to a deeply emotional one, but I don't care what caused that---I'm just glad it happened. Phrases dripped with the aching of the heart that Mahler so well puts to music, and the strings probed deeply to find as much meaning and purpose as they could in their playing. It was exquisite, and yes, you guessed it---I was moved to the point of a few tears. When the movement was done, it seemed as though the whole audience was frozen for at least a minute, and then the applause erupted with people on their feet immediately.
After the concert I met up with my friend (a member of the orchestra) and he took me on a fun backstage tour of the hall, and showed me his terrific bass, and we did the usual shop talk and bass gossip. (more pics from all that in a later post) We then headed home for pizza and even more bass talk. I'm normally against bass talk, but I was completely engrossed in it Saturday, and happily so.
My Mahler tour for 07-08 is over now. (summer concerts don't count). I find that so odd. I saw 3 Mahler 6s, one Mahler 5, one Mahler 2, one adagio from the 10th symphony, one 9th symphony, one Britten arrangement of "What the flowers tell me" from the 3rd movement, one Kindertotenlieder, and also got to play Mahler 1 this season. That's pretty amazing, if you think about it. I'll have to summarize that in another post, because right now thinking about all those concerts is nearly overwhelming.
And to think that I'll be doing it again next year....WOW. I've never looked forward to a new season as much as I do the 08-09 season!
2 comments:
Completely agree with your comments. I was at the Friday night performance and had the same thoughts. Since the Mahler 9 is my favorite orchestral work, I had been seriously looking forward to this and was disappointed with the passionless performance. The 4th movement was an improvement, as you note. Now, I'm trying to decide if I should try to catch the NY Phil in June just to get another fix.
The Mpls Star Tribune review pretty much agrees with us on this, as well. Hope I don't have to wait another 15 years to hear this piece done locally again...
Eric,
You and I have good ears! :-)
If you choose not to go to NY (Maazel conducting, perhaps that might influence you), you can still hear it next season with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in November, and in May of 2009, there will be an entire Mahler cycle in NYC, I believe by the Staaaaaaatskapelle Berlin.
Have fun if you go!
Post a Comment