Mahler shakes the heavens at Seattle Symphony

Mahler shakes the heavens at Seattle Symphony

by Rod Parke - SGN A&E Writer Mahler's 'Symphony No. 8' September 27 Benaroya Hall Gustav Mahler experienced white-hot inspiration when writing his 'Symphony No.8 in E-flat major,' sketching this huge work in just three weeks. It is full of great ideas and energy - too much so to my ears. Those who love Mahler as much as I do will perhaps take exception to my feeling that his genius of conception in this work often gets lost in the execution. As often as I have heard this symphony, both live (Edinburgh, Scotland) and recorded (CDs and DVDs), I still cannot hear everything that's going on because there's just too much of it at one time. Of course there are slower, quieter moments, but from the first note, a huge fortissimo from the orchestra, organ, and chorus, I'm tossed around on an ocean of sound, unable to grasp onto a clear line or texture of lines that seems to be going somewhere. The huge sounds, at first exciting and invigorating, become so much confusion that they frustrate my concentration. Moments of clarity come, only to be washed away again in waves of hugeness. (Mind you, I usually love loud music.) Having established why this "Symphony of a Thousand" is my least favorite of Mahler's symphonies, I will also say that I wouldn't miss any chance to hear it again live, for no recording can yet do it justice. (These performances, by the way, were being recorded for later release on CD.) An enlarged orchestra (with 5 flutes, 4 oboes, celeste, harmonium, and piano, etc.), eight vocal soloists, and two full choruses plus boychoir required that the stage at Benaroya be extended out into the audience about 10 feet, still leaving the stage very crowded. Well under 1,000 performers, but still almost without equal for size. At nearly 90 minutes without intermission, the symphony is divided into two parts. The first part (about 25 minutes) is a setting of the hymn "Veni, creator spiritus." The second part (a little over an hour) consists of the final scene of Part Two of Goethe's 'Faust.' The texts to both call for salvation and divine inspiration. I wish the SSO would adopt projected supratitles, especially when there is so much text. Since I don't possess the talent of being able to read printed notes in the program and listen fully to the music at the same time, the earnest expression of the singers missed me almost entirely. Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony did a thoroughly competent job. My only quibble was that the pianissimos (especially in the final 20 minutes) could have been softer, thus making the climaxes even more exciting. I have never heard a better set of soloists anywhere; they could almost always be heard over the heavy orchestration, and their sounds were mostly superb. Special praise goes to the Northwest Boychoir, whose participation was not only clearly audible but quite thrilling. One critic said the opening performance on Thursday was marred by some coordination problems, but there was not any such trouble on Saturday. In fact, Schwarz seemed to have complete control over everyone, including the four additional trumpets and three additional trombones positioned in the first box seats for the final three minutes. You'd have to be dead not to get goose bumps from those glorious sounds! Reviewer Rod Parke can be reached at rmp62@columbia.edu.