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by: JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene
Writer
3/17/2008 12:00 AM
A bit of history was made Saturday
night at the Tulsa Performing Arts
Center. For the first time since it
was written more than a century ago,
Mahler's Symphony No. 5 was
performed live in Tulsa.
This news is sure to get a rousing
"So what?" from a large portion of
the population. More's the pity for
that, because the music Gustav
Mahler wrote more than 100 years ago
sounds -- and more importantly,
feels -- remarkably up to date.
It's also historic -- or at least,
significant -- that the Tulsa
Symphony Orchestra performed this
piece. As Benjamin Zander, the
conductor for Saturday's
performance, put it during an
interview last week on KWGS-FM's
"Studio Tulsa" program, here is an
orchestra that did not exist three
years ago, and now it is performing
Mahler's Fifth Symphony.
That, Zander said, is amazing.
Amazing because everything Mahler
wrote requires a huge number of
players, and requires them to push
themselves to the limits -- extremes
of volume, both loud and soft;
extremes of speed; extremes of
dynamics; extremes of technique;
extremes of emotion.
"The symphony," Mahler once said,
"must be a whole world." So,
whenever an orchestra decides to
perform a Mahler symphony --
especially one of his last five epic
works -- that orchestra is in a
sense answering the question:
"Are you ready to take on the
world?"
Saturday's answer from the Tulsa
Symphony was a resounding "yes."
There were some rough spots in the
performance -- episodes when the
clash of instrumental voices lost
definition and reduced the sound to
a muddy rumble or roar. But, on a
whole, this was a triumphant
performance, one that brought the
close-to-capacity audience to its
feet for a seven-minute ovation.
Much credit goes to Zander, who
guided the orchestra and the
audience through this 70-minute
work. His comments before the
performance explained the physical
as well as the emotional structure
of the work, making for an even
richer experience.
The orchestra responded with
passionate playing, so that the
anxiety and grief of the funereal
first movement, and the wild
violence of the second were palpable
-- so that the triumphant blast of D
Major near the end was like the sun
breaking suddenly through clouds
before being swallowed up again by
darkness.
The grotesque manipulations of the
waltz that make up the third
movement were like seeing the veneer
of civilization being pulled away to
reveal the cant and hypocrisy
beneath.
Then came the fourth movement, the
well-known Adagietto, which Mahler
wrote as a love song for his
bride-to-be. And heard in its proper
context, this gentle wash of strings
and harp sounded the way love should
be -- like a haven from all the
ugliness of the outside world.
Special praise is due principal
trumpet Tim McFadden, for exemplary
work in the first movement;
principal French horn Bruce Schultz,
who did an excellent job with the
many lengthy solos in the third
movement; harpist Tabitha Reist
Steiner; and timpanist Steve Craft.
Mahler tends to eclipse just about
everything else, which might be why
the performance of Mozart's Overture
to "The Marriage of Figaro" lacked a
certain punchiness. It was well
played, but it didn't have the snap
and fizz one expects from this
music.
Violinist Filip Fenrych was the
soloist for another Mozart work, the
Violin Concerto No. 5, the
"Turkish." Fenrych had the music in
front of him, but his performance in
no way sounded like sight-reading.
He sounded quite secure in his
playing, making his solo violin
sound as if every phrase rose
organically out of the orchestra
rather than being set against or
placed on top of it.
Fenrych brought a suave tone for the
opening theme; a darker hued sound
for the second movement so that the
lovely, melancholy melody truly sang
and made the finale bright and
energetic.
Fenrych also handled the cadenzas
with flair, keeping these often
showy passages melodic and
expressive, when they can sometimes
sound like a bag of fiddler's tricks
spilled on the floor.
James D. Watts Jr. 581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com
Copyright © 2008, World Publishing
Co. All rights reserved
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