Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 6 March 2009 - Resurrection

Featuring:
- Lili Boulanger Psalm 129 for chorus and orchestra Australian Premiere
- Mahler Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection'

Penelope Mills - Soprano
Bernadette Cullen - Mezzo-soprano
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus: Jonathan Grieves-Smith - Chorus Master
Oleg Caetani - Conductor

First MSO concert in Hamer Hall this season, and it was a great one. It started with Lili Boulanger's settings of Psalm 129. The piece was great, and the orchestra played well. My minor complaint was the slight unclear French pronunciation of the choir. The irony of this piece is that, while on its own it can make a great impression on attention-paying audience, it is soon subdued by Mahler's symphony and couldn't have a greater effect.

Mahler's symphonies are always titanic, and I don't think any sensible directors will ever place his symphonies to start a concert. Just like Sviatoslav Richter's comment on Beethoven's Appassionata sonata: "It always belong to the end of a piano recital, since there cannot be anything grander, so that anything that comes after will only be diminished in effect by the boundless force of this music." However, the Resurrection symphony won't only diminish any music that comes after it (fortunately, there weren't any that night), but it also negated the effect of music that came before it, i.e. Boulinger's Psalm 129 settings. Clive O'Connell, The Age reviewer of this concert, did not even mention Boulinger's music in his review although it was the Australian Premiere of that music.

The good thing about the concert is, it was one of the best concert I've attended in MSO. Starting with the sudden outburst in strings, and the grim funeral theme (with emphasis in the first note of the theme) in cello and basses, the first movement transformed into something lighter in the second theme of the movement courtesy of fine playing from the winds section. Then the funeral march came back again, cymbals crashing to mark the climax of the movement in I don't know how many f's. The climax needs to be overwhelming and the loud dynamics from the orchestra helped to achieve that effect. It's probably in the same level of dynamics as the finale of Mahler 1 when I attended it around one year ago. The grimness of this movement cannot be denied when we reached the end of the first movement. The double basses are very fine throughout providing clear base line and credit to harp sections for their clear, precise playing.

The second movement brought back the nostalgic feeling with some troubled episode in between. It was played clean, and crisp: the viola section gave a wonderful reading of their part which I think is one of the most beautiful theme composed by Mahler.

The timpani stroke which opened the third movement cannot be any more clear as a wake up call, and the principal timpanist played it to great effect. Great playing, with the cry of despair moment might have actually scared off some people who have not accustomed with this symphony yet.

The Urlicht came tenderly, the mezzo soprano gave a wonderful reading of it. Credit also to the principal oboist giving a beautiful duet with the mezzo.

The cry of despair came back again to signal the beginning of the finale, and the resurrection theme was announced. The brass section was really wonderful that night: trombones, trumpets, horns sections played their hearts out. Caetani really paid attention to small details: The offstage brass achieved the desired effect, the little trills in the woodwinds are emphasised. The march of the dead was hair rising. The choir then came in, the duet of Soprano and Mezzo soprano was good, but could be more heart-melting, the end was overwhelming as it could be, but unfortunately THE ORGAN WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE END!! To be honest, that is my main disappointment of the performance, apart from minor wrong note playing from the horns.

It also needs to be noticed that the woodwinds section lift their instruments when playing several passages, as with the horn section. There were 30 violins (16 first, 14 second), the largest I've seen so far, if I remember correctly. There was a poor violist who played by herself behind the other pairs because there was no more room in the stage to fit another violist. And what sound did 10 horns make in the end! The 85% full hall gave a rousing applause at the conclusion of the piece. It must have been around 10 minutes of applause for the orchestra in the end.

For me, I practically had goose bumps all over during the first and third movements. In the fifth movement, I can barely contain myself to not join the choir singing the Resurrection text and also not to sing out the main theme from the orchestra of which I know by heart. I left the concert emotionally drained. Such an effect this symphony has for its listeners, I am still moved every time (although I've listened to it for 30-40 times already). This concert serves as a reminder to me: Mahler is always best live. And also, "Wouldn't you just die without Mahler?"

Next concert: Ashkenazy (Yes, Vladimir Ashkenazy) in Strauss' epic Also Sprach Zarathustra + Janine Jansen playing Saint Saens' 3rd violin concerto next week.