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SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL CONCERT REVIEW
Mendelssohn and Mahler:
Gerard Schwarz, conductor, Isabelle Faust, violin, Seattle Symphony, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, 1.10.2009 (BJ)
Mahler is at once genius and mountebank, and his Fifth Symphony partakes of both those characters. This is music that veers wildly between soul-searing eloquence and blithe banality, often in the same breath.
The banality is no accident. In the composer’s conception of symphony as a medium that should, like the world, contain everything, it is indissolubly linked with the eloquence. Torn as he was by spiritual and consciously racial conflicts of schizophrenic magnitude, his unflagging endeavor was to include every possible emotional and spiritual aspect of humanity in his compositions. Their multifarious structure is reflected too in a sound-picture that stresses sharp contrasts of orchestral color rather than imposing any kind of soothing blend.
In pursuit of Mahler’s apocalyptic aims, the Fifth Symphony moves from the solemn strains of a funeral march, by way of stormy agitation and intense self-communing, to a brass-dominated conclusion of triumphal ecstasy. In the middle comes a scherzo that is no mere side-issue. This is the fulcrum on which the whole work turns, opening the path from grief and vehement protest to tumultuous life-affirmation.
On several occasions over the past few seasons and again in this performance, Gerard Schwarz has revealed himself as one of the finest exponents of Mahler in the world today. Especially in the funereal first movement, and in the slower, processional passages of the second, there was something about Mahler’s writing and the way Schwarz shaped its realization that sounded like a hundred people all being lonely together. It was a magical effect, and it brought a lump to at least this listener’s throat.
The only aspect of the interpretation that might be called controversial was the conductor’s somewhat leisured pacing of the symphony’s central scherzo. Here I am inclined to think that his bringing principal horn John Cerminaro up to the front of the platform was perhaps a miscalculation. The score denotes his part as obligato, not solo, and the set-up was a bit distracting. Still, Cerminaro played his music as beautifully as you will ever hear it played. He is a poet rather than a showman, and thus fitted well into a view of the movement less extrovert than usual, and thus perhaps less drastic in its reshaping of the work’s expressive trajectory.
Schwarz benefitted from having at his disposal (to a large degree through his own orchestra-building efforts) an ensemble peculiarly well equipped to meet Mahler’s exorbitant demands. The brass group is as fine as any in the world, and did itself proud. David Gordon launched the symphony on its way with a focused and rhythmically propulsive trumpet solo. Ko-ichiro Yamamoto’s trombone section and Christopher Olka’s tuba rang out firmly, and the horns were their usual polished and powerful selves. There was fine work too from woodwinds, percussion, timpanist Michael Crusoe, and strings. In one of the scherzo’s quieter passages, principal violist Susan Gulkis Assadi’s poignant solo pizzicato range out superbly, and the violins soared aloft in ecstatic dialogue with harpist Valerie Muzzolini in the famous Adagietto fourth movement.
Before intermission, yet another talented young violinist made her local bow. Isabelle Faust played Mendelssohn’s peachy E-minor Violin Concerto with opulent tone and warm expression, and showed herself willing to play really softly. This was a subtle reading, but one with ample brilliance at the appropriate moments.
Bernard Jacobson
Mahler is at once genius and mountebank, and his Fifth Symphony partakes of both those characters. This is music that veers wildly between soul-searing eloquence and blithe banality, often in the same breath.
The banality is no accident. In the composer’s conception of symphony as a medium that should, like the world, contain everything, it is indissolubly linked with the eloquence. Torn as he was by spiritual and consciously racial conflicts of schizophrenic magnitude, his unflagging endeavor was to include every possible emotional and spiritual aspect of humanity in his compositions. Their multifarious structure is reflected too in a sound-picture that stresses sharp contrasts of orchestral color rather than imposing any kind of soothing blend.
In pursuit of Mahler’s apocalyptic aims, the Fifth Symphony moves from the solemn strains of a funeral march, by way of stormy agitation and intense self-communing, to a brass-dominated conclusion of triumphal ecstasy. In the middle comes a scherzo that is no mere side-issue. This is the fulcrum on which the whole work turns, opening the path from grief and vehement protest to tumultuous life-affirmation.
On several occasions over the past few seasons and again in this performance, Gerard Schwarz has revealed himself as one of the finest exponents of Mahler in the world today. Especially in the funereal first movement, and in the slower, processional passages of the second, there was something about Mahler’s writing and the way Schwarz shaped its realization that sounded like a hundred people all being lonely together. It was a magical effect, and it brought a lump to at least this listener’s throat.
The only aspect of the interpretation that might be called controversial was the conductor’s somewhat leisured pacing of the symphony’s central scherzo. Here I am inclined to think that his bringing principal horn John Cerminaro up to the front of the platform was perhaps a miscalculation. The score denotes his part as obligato, not solo, and the set-up was a bit distracting. Still, Cerminaro played his music as beautifully as you will ever hear it played. He is a poet rather than a showman, and thus fitted well into a view of the movement less extrovert than usual, and thus perhaps less drastic in its reshaping of the work’s expressive trajectory.
Schwarz benefitted from having at his disposal (to a large degree through his own orchestra-building efforts) an ensemble peculiarly well equipped to meet Mahler’s exorbitant demands. The brass group is as fine as any in the world, and did itself proud. David Gordon launched the symphony on its way with a focused and rhythmically propulsive trumpet solo. Ko-ichiro Yamamoto’s trombone section and Christopher Olka’s tuba rang out firmly, and the horns were their usual polished and powerful selves. There was fine work too from woodwinds, percussion, timpanist Michael Crusoe, and strings. In one of the scherzo’s quieter passages, principal violist Susan Gulkis Assadi’s poignant solo pizzicato range out superbly, and the violins soared aloft in ecstatic dialogue with harpist Valerie Muzzolini in the famous Adagietto fourth movement.
Before intermission, yet another talented young violinist made her local bow. Isabelle Faust played Mendelssohn’s peachy E-minor Violin Concerto with opulent tone and warm expression, and showed herself willing to play really softly. This was a subtle reading, but one with ample brilliance at the appropriate moments.
Bernard Jacobson
Parts of this review appeared also in the Seattle Times.