Mahler 8 - Philadelphia Orchestra - May 3

I’d been looking forward to last Saturday night for more than a year. Ever since the Philadelphia Orchestra announced the season. Eschenbach concluding his 5-year Mahler cycle with Mahler Symphony 8. It was going to be bittersweet, as it was also going to be the last time I’d see him conduct the orchestra as its music director. But oh, what a glorious way to go out! So-called the “Symphony of a Thousand” because it takes almost that many performers, it’s a monumental work. Composed in two parts – the first in Latin “Veni, creator spiritus” and the second in German, the final part of Goethe’s Faust – the work calls for an oversized orchestra, 3 adult choruses, a children’s choir, pipe organ and 8 solo vocalists. Because of the expense that goes with an undertaking of this size, this work isn’t performed very often.

90 minutes of Mahler, what could be better? I hadn’t focused on who the scheduled soloists were, so I was surprised and delighted to see that James Morris was the bass. The choruses overflowed out of the choir box and into what would have been audience seating. The stage was extended to make room for everyone in the orchestra, including the 4 harpers, and the children’s choir and 7 soloists to fit.

Mahler doesn’t ease you into this monumental work. He throws you in the deep end from the opening chord – with supersized orchestra, chorus and organ all involved. They decided to project translations, the way the opera companies do, rather than print them. While I don’t care for the visual distraction in some ways, it’s better than the rustling of paper that happens when you do printed translations. They were also recording the performance for future release on the Ondine label. The down side of announcing that to the audience is it seems to bring out the coughing more than ever. Also the concert went out live via the internet around the world.

I can’t begin to describe in words what it was like. It seemed almost as if one more performer would have been too many somehow, that the sound would overwhelm to the point of loss. There are times when more is too much. As it was, the perfect balance, the limit of sensibility, it was moving in ways that cannot be described or communicated – you had to be there, you had to experience it live. I’ve heard the work performed elsewhere – the Cathedral, the Kennedy Center, but those spaces leave much to be desired acoustically, so much gets lost along the way. This was different – I could hear so much. The sound wasn’t simply before me, it encompassed me, making me part of it though I made no sound of my own, I became one with it.

I didn’t really care for the tenor, a last minute substitute for the ill Vinson Cole. He was a little too worried about his diction and missed some of the subtleties and nuances that should have been there. The baritone was not strong enough to avoid being covered by the orchestra in a few spots. Mr. Morris, on the other hand, had no such difficulties. The women were all wonderful – each distinctive in her tonality that I didn’t need to look to know which was singing. The 8th soloist, the 5th woman, sang from upon high – in the 3rd tier behind the orchestra – an angelic voice from heaven. The antiphonal brass was in the 2nd tier in the house right corner, just over our shoulders and up two levels.

Maestro Eschenbach did his usual – he presented an interpretation of Mahler that was astounding. Every conductor puts his/her own twist on work. If it’s one they have a special affinity for they put a lot into it. Eschenbach clearly has a deep personal connection to Mahler. Never would one get a simple reading of Mahler from him. He put some unexpected adjustments to tempo and emphasized in unexpected places – but in ways that worked beautifully and made the symphony work in spectacular fashion.

I didn’t let myself think about the fact that this was his grand farewell. Oh he may be conducting a couple more weeks before the season is done, but nothing like this. Now, two days later, I can let the sadness of his departure, the musical loss, enter my mind and heart. The state of the art of the symphony in this country is continuing to dwindle as major orchestra after major orchestra struggles to find competent leaders and here Philadelphia had one and they’ve lost him.