In
Mahler's Symphony No. 9, most listeners feel most acutely the pangs
of farewell as the radiant themes cling to life, fading into silence
at the end. And it's true, a sense of something coming to a close pervades
Mahler's final completed piece. As Michael Tilson Thomas led the San
Francisco Symphony through a startlingly vivid performance in this week's
subscription concerts, there was the clear sense that more was at work
here than a mere farewell. It was a whole life.
Thomas
mined the restlessness of the big first movement, with its inchoate
strands of themes gradually finding links, moving from one miraculous
transition to the next almost breathlessly. It was a portrait of youth
in sound. Even in the brief silences, there was such a propulsive feeling
that it was like Mahler couldn't wait to get to the next idea. And yet,
embedded in all that vigour, Thomas made sure to bring out the first
appearances of the thematic material, especially the five-note expansion
of that familiar mordent that would eventually pervade the finale, when
that can't-wait feeling of the opening movement becomes the can't-let-go
of the last several minutes.
It
sure didn't hurt that the symphony musicians were playing at a high
level of intensity. The strings showed a richness, even a lushness,
that sometimes eludes them under other conductors. The augmented woodwinds
played with impressive unanimity as a group and with plenty of individual
flair when the melodic ball was passed their way. The brass, especially
the horns and acting principal horn Robert Ward, were simply flawless.
Timpanist David Herbert again demonstrated why he's one of the best
around, every stroke giving the whole orchestra a palpable lift.
This
was a responsive group, unafraid of making nasty sounds when the score
calls for it. For example, Thomas took the opening bars of the scherzo,
as sardonic as any Mahler wrote, just a little slower than usual and
made it sound even more ponderous as the musicians gave it just enough
blattiness. Later, in the finale, when the strings re-emerge at ppp
after a climactic silence, the effect was almost otherworldly. This
was playing at a remarkably high level.
Similarly
sensitive playing marked the orchestra's work with soprano Barbara Bonney
in four songs by Richard Strauss. No, not the Four Last Songs
(which, come to think of it, would have made an interesting, if somewhat
redundant, thematic pairing with the Mahler Ninth), but a much lighter,
often gently witty, group. It began with Die heiligen drei Könige
aus Morgenland (the three kings of the orient), with its lowing
trombones suggesting the oxen in the manger and the trilling woodwinds
representing the Christ child crying, and Ich wollt' ein Struasslein
binden, a wry send-up of the she-loves-me-she-loves-me-not genre
of song. The set continued with Wiegenlied (cradle song), a sweet
paean to maternal love, and the evergeen Morgen (tomorrow), on
love of a somewhat more erotic nature.
Bonney
used her honeyed soprano voice with utter simplicity for these songs,
rather than trying to lather on any extra layers of meaning. With similarly
straightforward underpinnings from the orchestra, the result was lovely
for using purely musical means to paint unmistakable and memorable sound
pictures.
Although
the Mahler Ninth is scheduled to be recorded as part of the current
Mahler CD cycle, it won't be these performances but others scheduled
in the fall of 2004. Those who want a preview can tune into streaming
audio of radio broadcast of this week's performances, to be broadcast
the week of May 5. Try the readily available websites of several U.S.
radio stations, including KUHF in Houston (www.kuhf.org) on Thursdays
and KBPS in Portland, Ore. (www.allclassical.org) on Fridays.
Thomas
and the orchestra are taking the Mahler Ninth on their European tour
in May. Although they're not scheduled to play it at any of their three
concerts in England, it is on the program for the National Concert Hall
in Dublin May 7, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam May 15, at the Philharmonie
in Cologne May 17, at the Konzerthaus in Vienna May 20 and at Théâtre
Champs Elysée in Paris May 25.
Bonney
sings on several of these and other programs, not Strauss but Thomas'
own set of recently composed songs, Poems of Emily Dickinson,
including a performance at the Barbican Centre in London May 9.
Harvey
Steiman
SAN
FRANCISCO SYMPHONY 2003 EUROPEAN TOUR
Michael Tilson
Thomas, Music Director
Wednesday, May
7 at 8:00 p.m.
National Concert
Hall / Dublin, Ireland
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
San Francisco Symphony
MAHLER / Symphony
No. 9 in D major
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, May
8 at 8:00 p.m.
National Concert
Hall / Dublin, Ireland
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
San Francisco Symphony
JOHN ADAMS / My
Father Knew Charles Ives (SFS Commission)
STRAVINSKY / Violin
Concerto in D major
TCHAIKOVSKY / Manfred
Symphony, Opus 58
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, May 9
at 7:30 p.m.
Barbican Centre
/ London, England
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
San Francisco Symphony
JOHN ADAMS My
Father Knew Charles Ives (SFS Commission)
STRAVINSKY / Violin
Concerto in D major
COPLAND / Symphony
No. 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, May
10 at 7:30 p.m.
Barbican Centre
/ London, England
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Barbara Bonney, soprano
San Francisco Symphony
TILSON THOMAS / Poems
of Emily Dickinson
TCHAIKOVSKY / Manfred
Symphony, Opus 58
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 11
at 8:00 p.m.
The Dome / Brighton,
England
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
San Francisco Symphony
JOHN ADAMS / My
Father Knew Charles Ives (SFS Commission)
STRAVINSKY / Violin
Concerto in D major
TCHAIKOVSKY / Manfred
Symphony, Opus 58
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 13
at 8:00 p.m.
Palais des Beaux
Arts / Brussels, Belgium
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
San Francisco Symphony
JOHN ADAMS / My
Father Knew Charles Ives (SFS Commission)
STRAVINSKY / Violin
Concerto in D major
TCHAIKOVSKY / Manfred
Symphony, Opus 58
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, May
15 at 8:15 p.m.
Concertgebouw
/ Amsterdam, Netherlands
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
San Francisco Symphony
MAHLER / Symphony
No. 9 in D major
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, May 16
at 8:00 p.m.
Tonhalle / Düsseldorf,
Germany
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
San Francisco Symphony
JOHN ADAMS / My
Father Knew Charles Ives (SFS Commission)
STRAVINSKY / Violin
Concerto in D major
TCHAIKOVSKY / Manfred
Symphony, Opus 58
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, May
17 at 8:00 p.m.
Philharmonie /
Cologne, Germany
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Barbara Bonney, soprano
San Francisco Symphony
TILSON THOMAS / Poems
of Emily Dickinson
MAHLER / Symphony
No. 9 in D major
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 18
at 8:00 p.m.
Philharmonie /
Cologne, Germany
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
San Francisco Symphony
JOHN ADAMS / My
Father Knew Charles Ives (SFS Commission)
STRAVINSKY / Violin
Concerto in D major
COPLAND / Symphony
No.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 20
at 7:30 p.m.
Konzerthaus /
Vienna, Austria
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Barbara Bonney, soprano
San Francisco Symphony
TILSON THOMAS / Poems
of Emily Dickinson
MAHLER / Symphony
No. 9 in D major
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, May
21 at 7:30 p.m.
Konzerthaus /
Vienna, Austria
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
San Francisco Symphony
JOHN ADAMS / My
Father Knew Charles Ives (SFS Commission)
STRAVINSKY / Violin
Concerto in D major
COPLAND / Symphony
No. 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, May 23
at 8:00 p.m.
Dvofiák
Hall / Prague, Czech Republic
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Barbara Bonney, soprano
San Francisco Symphony
TILSON THOMAS / Poems
of Emily Dickinson
TCHAIKOVSKY / Manfred
Symphony, Opus 58
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, May
24 at 8:00 p.m.
Dvofiák
Hall / Prague, Czech Republic
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
San Francisco Symphony
JOHN ADAMS / My
Father Knew Charles Ives (SFS Commission)
STRAVINSKY / Violin
Concerto in D major
COPLAND / Symphony
No. 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 25
at 8:00 p.m.
Théâtre
Champs Élysées / Paris, France
Michael Tilson Thomas,
conductor
Barbara Bonney, soprano
San Francisco Symphony
TILSON THOMAS / Poems
of Emily Dickinson
MAHLER / Symphony
No. 9 in D major
------------------------------------------------------------------------