Specialists generally cite Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 in D minor because the longest work within the widespread repertoire, and its immensity was evident simply by trying on the stage of Marian Anderson Corridor earlier than a single notice was struck.
Almost each part was studded with substitute musicians—eight horns! Two harps! A battery of percussion!—whereas the conductor’s circle sat empty, awaiting a full feminine refrain and blended kids’s choir. Blended unassumingly among the many instrumentalists was Joyce DiDonato, singing the alto solo for the primary time. Following a towering efficiency of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony the weekend earlier than, the programming appeared intent on asserting a theme of grandeur for this season.
I made a decision to take a maximalist method to the work as nicely, attending all three performances over the course of the run. My schedule and my pockets not often permit me to see one thing greater than as soon as, and as a reviewer writing on deadline, I usually discover myself within the place of synthesizing an opinion within the frenetic moments after I’ve left the live performance corridor. There’s nothing incorrect with that—it displays how most audiences work together with a chunk of music—however the alternative to reside with the Third Symphony for just a few days not solely deepened my appreciation for it, but it surely gave perspective on the refined evolution of an orchestra’s interpretation.
Given its dimension and scope, this symphony isn’t programmed all that always—the Philadelphians final performed it in 2017. And based mostly on social media proof, it seems the orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin had about two days of rehearsal earlier than the primary public efficiency on Thursday, October 3. Maybe that accounted for a sure tentativeness within the sprawling first motion, the place themes develop episodically and minutely in an nearly Brucknerian vogue.
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There was an simple energy within the total impact, but in addition a piecemeal high quality: entrances and intonation that had been lower than exact, rests that appeared to linger a second too lengthy. Nézet-Séguin normally likes it loud, particularly in grand works, and typically he seemed to be substituting quantity for concepts. It didn’t really feel like essentially the most auspicious begin to a piece that requires an actual sense of form, and shepherding.
Think about my shock and delight, then, when the shagginess appeared to coalesce completely simply sixteen hours later, on the Friday matinee live performance. A seamless interpretation emerged, stately one second and exhilarating the following, which captured the music’s expression of the unpredictable character of nature. It felt wild and messy when it comes to temperament, however the newfound subtlety of the repeated motifs, in addition to the profound lyricism of the harmonies, instructed full management by Nézet-Séguin with out the impact of feeling stage-managed. This was precisely the way you launch such a fancy work.
The second and third actions unfolded with very good distinction, lyrical tranquility adopted by wild power. Each sections provided nice alternatives to spotlight tremendous solo taking part in throughout the Orchestra. My companion for Saturday evening’s finale efficiency, a Mahler novice, stated he was practically moved to tears by the unassuming high quality of the violin solos within the second motion, performed with beautiful consideration to element by concertmaster David Kim. I used to be struck particularly by the menacing nature of the posthorn within the third, carried out offstage by newly appointed principal trumpet Esteban Batallán. Previously with this Orchestra, I’ve heard this part sound courtly and chic—right here, Batallán infused it with an actual sense of looming risk. The location of the posthorn behind the conductor’s circle seemed like an rebel creeping ever nearer to interrupt a nice repose.
The announcement of DiDonato because the fourth-movement soloist initially gave me pause. With out shortchanging her artistry in any manner, I questioned if the inherent lightness and transparency of her tone would contradict the dire textual content of Nietzsche’s Midnight Tune, an existential warning to the world. I needn’t have nervous. Deploying her voice as a completely safe and columnar instrument—no vibrato in any respect—DiDonato expressed the anguish of humankind’s folly in an interpretation that solely gained in complexity with every efficiency. She made each phrase depend, and every repeat of Tief (“deep”) took on larger that means. Equally useful right here was principal oboe Philippe Tondre, nearly a duet associate, who extracted an anxious klezmer aptitude with barely smudgy glissandi.
The flexibleness of DiDonato’s instrument was appreciated in dialogue with the choruses within the fifth motion, and each the grownup girls and blended kids’s choirs sounded on high kind.
What a disgrace, then, that Nézet-Séguin hid DiDonato in the midst of the orchestra, on a riser between the harps and clarinets. Nézet-Séguin has a penchant for putting singers in orchestral works wherever however entrance and heart, and whereas I can respect the concept the vocal soloist is a part of an intricate tapestry on this work, it withheld DiDonato’s expressivity from broad swaths of the viewers. She was not seen to me in any respect on Thursday night, sitting within the third row from the stage, and even from prime critic seats on Saturday evening, her face was usually obscured. The voice could also be an instrument, however a singer isn’t a tam-tam drum. How they carry out issues as a lot because the sounds they make.
It was onerous to remain mad, although, when on every evening, the Adagio ultimate motion enveloped the corridor in a fashion that rendered even essentially the most fidget-prone within the viewers utterly rapt. Nézet-Séguin luxuriated within the wealthy ultimate chord, then tried in useless to carry the silence at every conclusion. With each successive efficiency, the applause crept in sooner. Though it may need killed the dramatic impact, it was comprehensible.
The Philadelphians repeat their efficiency for New York audiences at Carnegie Corridor on October 15. I doubt I’ll make it up there for one more viewing, however I encourage all our Gotham Parterrians to seize tickets.
Photographs: Jeff Fusco
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