3 commentsPlano — When the topic of spectacle comes up among classical musicians, the first thought is often opera. Tales abound of productions of Verdi's Aida with live elephants, tigers and such extravagance; the Met recently had their stage reinforced so that a new production of the Ring Cycle could have an elaborate motorized set. In comparison, orchestral music can come off as tame, though there are some exceptions—it started with Berlioz and his (at the time) massive orchestras with full percussion, extra brass, and (for one of the few times since Beethoven) chorus. Later composers took the extravagant ideas and ran with them to a culmination at the end of the 19th century with works by Bruckner, Ravel and Mahler. Compared to these works, Berlioz comes off as quaint, with modest forces and ideas.
During his life, Mahler was more known as a conductor than a composer; at one point in his career, he was the music director of the Vienna Court Opera before spending a brief time as the director of The Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. His niche as a composer wasn't fully realized until after World War II, when his music was championed by such conductors as Leonard Bernstein and Leopold Stokowski, and composer Aaron Copland. With the reintroduction of his music to the mainstream repertoire, a greater appreciation of the large scale Mahler used was readily apparent.
This leads us back to the idea of spectacle in orchestral music, a concept that Mahler practiced in spades. Of his nine symphonies, three require massive choruses, four have extensive sections for vocal soloists, and five use additional instrumental forces placed outside the orchestra. Of these works, the Eighth Symphony is easily the most elaborate, doubling the size and makeup of the orchestra (especially in the woodwind and brass sections), adding an offstage bombardion of trumpets and trombones, as well as three choruses and seven vocal soloists. After the 1910 premiere, several had ascribed the moniker "Symphony of a Thousand" to the work, due to the sheer amount of people who had participated in the performance. While not sanctioned by the composer (and actually performed in subsequent venues under that number), the name stuck and the work has come to personify the concept of spectacle.
As part of his "Mahler Project," Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel has programmed the complete Mahler symphonic cycle between his two orchestras: the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing the First, Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Symphonies; and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, performing the Second, Third, Fifth and Seventh. The two would also combine for the performance of the Eighth—which would also be simulcast as part of the ongoing Los Angeles Philharmonic Live series, which is showing in several Metroplex movie theaters (I saw it at the Cinemark Legacy in Plano). The two orchestras combined for the performance and were joined by the combined choirs of El Sistema and the National Youth Choir of Venezuela—making the total number of performers close to 1,400.
The work, unlike most symphonies, is broken down into two parts without multiple movements. The first section is a large scale motet-style piece set to the text of Veni Creator Spiritus. The section is marked with alternating sections between the chourses and soloists—sopranos Manuela Uhl and Juliana di Giacomo equated themselves especially well, but the heavy load was exquisitely carried by baritone Brian Mulligan, tenor Burkhard Fritz and bass Alexander Vinogradov.
The second half of the work follows the final section of Goethe's Faust. At this point in the story, Faust has died and his soul is stuck between the mortal plane and heaven; the chorus takes the role of angels lifting Faust's soul on it's journey to heaven while the soloists plead for the intercession of Mater Gloriosa to allow his soul to enter (strangely enough, Faust is not one of the characters represented; some have hypothosized that this was an autobiographical comment by Mahler himself). The soloists, the aforementioned Uhl and Di Giacomo, and are now joined by altos Anna Larsson and Charlotte Hellekant, taking the role of penitent women who plead on Faust's behalf. The four women soloists are joined by soprano Kiera Duffy, who sings the role of Mater Gloriosa. After hearing the cries of the intercessants, Gloriosa sings her only two lines of the work, allowing the women to lead Faust's soul into heaven. The work ends with the three male soloists entreating all to "Gaze aloft" as the vocies alternately rise above and intertwine with the choruses.
The work was expertly performed by the orchestra and choruses, but there was some letdown in the aural presentation, primarily due to the medium of presentation. While it is easy to see the large nature of the performing forces and the work, the sound output didn't match. This isn't necessarily the fault of the theater or of Fathom Events (the company that broadcasts the performance) but, in reality, a limitation of the presentation medium. Despite this minor drawback, the presentation is highly entetaining and worth the price of admission.
The concert will be rebroadcast on Wednesday, Feb. 29 at the following theaters (the encore for this one is not shown in the same theaters where it was first shown):
- Regal Galaxy Theatre, Dallas
- Regal Fossil Creek, Fort Worth
