One blockbuster and two oddments: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing
There is no doubt that the SSO wanted to please Mahler fans with last night’s opening Emirates concert of the season.
Simone Young conducts Mahler’s 1st. Photo: SSO
We got Mahler’s Symphony No 1 (‘Titan’) supported by a Mahler oddment called Blumine. And to fill the stocking was an orchestral accompaniment arrangement by Brett Dean of a Debussy song.
The Mahler oddment looked as though it had given the curtain-raiser position in which we’ve come to expect a 50 Fanfares Commission premier. I’m sure there was a good reason for this, but I missed the newbie.
Gustav’s original plan for his first symphony was to write it in five movements, but he dumped the second movement after a couple of rotten tomato reviews and made it a stand-alone piece instead. One might conclude that it was never a contender anyway, being a condensed trumpet concerto meandering along in a mood of emotional contemplation. It gave the solo trumpeter an opportunity to blow some long, soulful passages while the orchestra, lightened up (only four bull fiddles), sighed away in sympathy.
The Brett Dean contribution came in the form of one of Debussy’s songs in a cycle of six, called Aviettes oubliees (forgotten songs). This one was simply titled Green. Brett replaced the piano accompaniment with an orchestral arrangement to back the voice and it worked beautifully. I have great affection the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss and this might very well have passed for a fifth. I was sorry to hear it finish. This is one of the romantic poems by Frenchman Paul Verlaine on which the song is based:
Here are flowers, branches, fruit, and fronds
And here too is my heart that beats just for you.
Do not tear it with your two white hands
And may the humble gift please your lovely eyes.
I come all covered still with the dew
Frozen to my brow by the morning breeze.
Let my fatigue, finding rest at your feet,
Dream of dear moments that will soothe it.
On your young breast let me cradle my head
Still ringing with your recent kisses;
After love’s sweet tumult grant it peace,
And let me sleep a while, since you rest.
The solo soprano voice came from Mildura-born (now living in Berlin) Siobhan Stagg. In her prime at 35, she is in international demand, having appeared with a number of leading opera companies. She is also a board member of the Melba Opera Trust.
There is no doubt that Stagg has the sweetest voice imaginable, but it had trouble in competing with all but the strings. Even with the puce petals doing their best acoustically, it still takes a powerful voice to assert itself in the Opera House concert hall.
Going by the number of times Mahler conducted it, his first symphony was a personal favourite, even though those that followed won greater public acclaim. And like many composers of landmark works, Gustav couldn’t help tweaking it – which is still resonating today – as some performances shoehorn in the original second movement – to make a total of five – or play it as a companion piece. The SSO decided on the latter, maybe to appease Mahler devotees. Bits of Blumine still pop up in the four-movement symphony, probably indicating that Gustav had a soft spot for it.
Mahler finished the first draft of his symphony in 1888, even though he initially called it a symphonic poem. That may have arisen from the inclusion of material he had used in other works. The result is a juxtaposition of light lyricism with earth-shattering drama – never more evident than in the boulder-hurling conclusion. And then there are the oddities such as a muted trumpet ensemble playing a passage outside the concert hall or the opening of the third movement which is scored for a bull-fiddle solo based on ‘Frere Jacques’ – but cast in a minor key.
When the unexpected and the unconventional are in demand, Mahler delivers in spades and provides endless opportunities for discussion – probably more than most other composers. If you want to liven up a conversation with former PM Paul Keating, you simply say the word ‘Mahler’.
Simone Young broke the Mahler ice last year by conducting his second symphony– and in doing so copped some heavy flak from a couple of my readers. I’ll be interested to see if they pipe up again about her reading of Mahler’s first. At the risk of being called a sycophant, I liked the way she conducted it.
Young’s reading of last night’s Mahler’s first was hard to fault if judging by the standing ovation it received is any indication. She had her capable hands full with a huge orchestra boasting eight bull fiddles along with many other seldom used instruments and double timpani.
Somebody in a seat behind me yelled ‘majestic’ and that about sums it up.
Fraser Beath McEwing is a pianist, and commentator on classical music performance and is a founding member of The theme & Variations Foundation which assists talented young Australian pianists. His professional background is in journalism, editing and publishing. He is also the author of five novels and a Governor of the Sir Moses Montefiore Home. A body of his work can be found on www.frasersblography.com
