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| Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Music > Mahler's Third: What the Angels (Symphony No. 3 in D minor) by Singapore Symphony Orchestra An Unfolding JourneyWriter : Aaron Lee Aaron Lee shares his insights on Mahler's Third: What the Angels Tell Me (Symphony No. 3 in D minor) performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), directed by Maestro Lan Shui on 26 January 2008 at the Esplanade Concert Hall.  (1) MahlerIn 2004 I had been present when the SSO acquitted itself extremely well with its performance of Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand", with six curtain calls and triumphant press reviews. So when I heard about the Singapore premiere of Mahler's Third Symphony, I was keen to see whether the SSO, already enjoying a recent run of acclamation from audiences as far away as the US, would likewise rise to the occasion. Maestro Lan Shui, the Singapore Bible College Chorale and the Hallelujah Chorus would reprise their respective roles on this occasion, together with the SSO at probably the height of its technical and expressive ability. The music of the late-Romantic Mahler is reputedly rich in intellectual, emotional, and spiritual expression. His monumental Third Symphony is nearly two hours long, usually played by an enlarged Romantic orchestra, with two choruses and a mezzo-soprano soloist. From the diary that the composer kept we have some insight into his thought process as he composed this symphony between 1895 and 1896. He intended it to be a symphonic conception of the universe - in his own words a "symphony [in which] the whole of nature finds a voice". And so it proved. The first movement was more than half hour long, yet it was played with such passion, drama and warmth that I found myself delighted and moved from the very first note. Held together by some key musical motifs, it was nevertheless kaleidoscopic, alternating the dark, primordial sounds (described by Mahler as 'Pan awakes') with pastoral sounds (murmuring wind and string trills, woodwind birdcalls), and raucous martial music (brass fanfares and enthusiastic percussion). It captured and enthralled the sellout audience, sweeping all of us along until eventually it was the militaristic music that triumphed - 'Summer marches in'. The second movement, the 'flowers of the meadow' minuet was much more intimate in its scope. The folksy violin solo was played by orchestra leader Alex Souptel with disarming virtuosity and delicacy. I would have enjoyed this movement just as much, on its own. Without a pause the orchestra launched into the third movement "What the animals in the woods tell me". Nostalgic and heartwarming, it was my favourite section of the whole symphony. Evoking the animal world in summer time, it began with a symphonic metamorphosis of Mahler's own earlier song setting of a text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn or "The Boy's Magic Horn" - a collection of German folk poetry with qualities of both Mother Goose rhymes and early ballads. The sounds of nature were eventually interrupted by the far off sound of a posthorn - wistful, melancholic, and very beautiful: early signs of the intrusion of humanity into Nature. The audience was captivated by the unseen soloist who, having left his seat a few moments before, played his horn in the adjoining room to the concert hall (probably assisted this unusual task by the close circuit television camera which had been placed on the stage). We were spellbound even as the last notes died away.  (2) the first page of his 6th SymphonyThe fourth movement 'What night tells me (mankind)” was like listening to a completely different piece. As a young man Mahler had immersed himself in Nietzsche's writings and, in this movement he set the most famous lines from Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra. This evening we were privileged to hear the American mezzo-soprano, Nancy Maultsby, who is acclaimed as one of the foremost interpreters of Mahler. In this short but intense movement she rendered "O Mensch! Gib Acht!" with tenderness and a lyrical tone, lending great persuasive power to the text which expressed man's struggle to make sense of the world and its variegated joys and griefs. The audience reserved some of its most appreciative applause at the end for Ms. Maultsby. The entire performance was named for the fifth movement 'What the angels tell me', despite it being the shortest of the six. Here we were transported up to the next level in Mahler's cosmic hierarchy. Maestro Lan Shui had called upon an elaborate combined chorus of ladies from the Singapore Symphony Chorus, the Singapore Bible College Chorale and the Hallelujah Chorus, as well as children from the Singapore Symphony Children's Choir. The combined two hundred voices acquitted themselves very well, from the initial imitation of bells "Bimm Bamm" to the expectant and luminous musical rendering of one of the poems in Des Knaben Wunderhorn, about divine forgiveness of the disciple Peter for his denial of the Christ. The sixth and final movement ("What love tells me") was a fitting culmination of a breathtaking performance. By turns majestic, meditative, hymnic and searching, it proceeded to conclude the cosmic exploration that Mahler intended. For me, this was where the SSO showcased the strength and skill of its string section, even as the full orchestra inevitably built up to the rousing finale. Maestro Lan Shui had controlled the baton throughout with incandescent verve, and he was justifiably ecstatic at the half dozen curtain calls that ensued. The audience reserved its most enthusiastic applause for the brass section, in approval for their heroic and untiring performance throughout and especially the exquisite horn solo in the third movement. I was left bewitched by a multiplicity of emotions and thoughts. Both composer and performers had successfully invoked life - Nature - in all its fullness and drama. It was only subsequently that I discovered Mahler, a late convert to Christianity, had a literary motto in mind when he wrote this last movement: Vater, sieh an die Wunden mein! Kein Wesen lass verloren sein! ('Father, see these wounds of mine! Let no creature of yours be lost!'), adding, "I could almost call this [finale] "What God tells me". And truly, in the sense that God can only be understood as love. And so my work begins as a musical poem embracing all stages of development in a step-wise ascent. It begins with inanimate nature and ascends to the love of God." The pantheism of the beginning had unfolded over the symphonic journey to eventually give expression to the majestic, divine love of God. I was touched in its closing moments, by serenity and grandeur, a powerful and wordless assertion of faith. Long after the rapturous applause had died away and I had left the concert hall, my mind was still far away, at once troubled and comforted by the horn calling from distant fields with Lewisian Joy. Images taken from (1) http://tonalsoft.com/enc/v/viennafiles/mahler1910.jpg (2) http://www.mfiles.co.uk/composers/Gustav-Mahler.htm Aaron hosts CreateLeVoyage.com's Writing Group. You may contact Aaron at aaronlee@createlevoyage.com
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