Gustav Mahler : Symphony No. 2

 

Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano

Christine Brewer, soprano

Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

Duane Wolfe, chorus master

Pierre Boulez, conductor

 

Chicago Symphony Center

November, 17, 2001

 

I had the privilege to hear Boulez conduct the Chicago Symphony in Mahler's 2nd last Saturday night -- my first live experience with this work, as it happens – and have wondered since how I could possibly write anything to this list that does any justice to the experience.  Two days later, I have come to the obvious conclusion that I just can't do justice to the performance, but it would be most unfair not, at the least, to acknowledge the concert and give a hint at how effective it was.

It was by no means a note-perfect show -- something that we Chicagoans have to some extent come to expect.  In the Finale, in particular, Boulez, no iceman he, clearly wanted to take the chorale as slowly as I have ever heard it, and the orchestra just threatened to break like some overexcited thoroughbred.  At one orchestral interlude after a choral outbreak, I frankly thought the work was going to fall apart, but somehow Boulez and orchestra got back on track, and the final minutes might have been even more moving as a result.

Boulez also took the first movement fairly slowly.  I would say that Boulez showcased this symphony as a two-edged sword:  as a culmination of 19th century Romanticism and also as the clear precursor of subsequent Mahler symphonies (and by extension, a precursor to all 20th century music).  As a result, I heard a *slow* first movement, with considerable rubato, but also heard astonishing orchestral detail – cellos and flute perhaps particularly notable.  For some reason, Boulez kept reminding me of Mahler's 6th here, and the major/minor business at the very end just cemented that connection. And as sometimes happens also in the 6th, I never noticed a tuba quite so much!  The second movement at first seemed a step into the past after hearing the first.  Boulez to my ears had plenty of schmaltzy waltz charm, but once again there came that amazing clarity in the lines throughout the orchestra.  Added to it was a bit of ironic humor that looked forward to later symphonies, especially in the switch from bowing to pizzicato in the strings.  The central movement, as if Boulez changed gears midstream, was as *fast* as I've ever heard it.  The orchestra handled all difficulties here with great aplomb, and the outburst near the end of the movement proved just how powerful they could be. Mahler's horror scherzos seemed just a step away. Michelle DeYoung started the fourth movement in a soft awe -- the orchestral brass responded in kind, so much so that one of the highlights of the whole evening were *soft* brass (a far different ensemble from Solti's day, to be sure).  A quick transition to the Finale was made impossible by the imposition of Chicago's winter coughs, which here started a descant that continued even throughout the quietest and most solemn moments of the final movement, I regret to say.  

For the Finale I do really lack words.  Once again soft brass moments were nearly magic, but Boulez also commanded moments of great orchestral power.  The offstage brass had fine timbre but occasionally suffered very sketchy ensemble.  Still, by the time the chorus entered, soft and ethereal, I think every audience member – or at least those not in the coughing chorus -- was absolutely rapt.  As I indicated above, the final chorus was taken very, very slowly, as if the emblem of the grandest of Romantic gestures. This is not what I expected from Boulez, I suppose, but I think it worked magnificently. When the chorus and orchestra finally stormed the heights, I was prepared to believe it really was heaven itself; and when the organ added its lowest pedals, it seemed only appropriate that one's seat shook with the vibration.

I would immediately have gone to the box office for a seat at the next performance, but Saturday night, alas, was the last of a series of three.  Next time I will without fail plan to attend earlier!  In short, a second symphony worth waiting for.

 

Bill Drewett

 

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