Shaky Mahler and Meh Strauss

 Two recent concerts gave me mixed feelings about our premier local professional orchestra, the Gulbenkian. I continue to be impressed with the excellent ensemble and sonority, especially in the brass section. But one thing I am noticing is that unlike, say, the Vienna Philharmonic, this orchestra is not immune to conductor quality, and can be made to play in a meh or even shaky way when the conductor is deficient. So on the good nights, they are fantastic, and can equal my experience listening to world class orchestras. On bad nights, not so much. 

This week's performance of the Mahler Symphony #1 in D major (1888) and the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor (1866) was a good example. There are some idiosyncrasies of the Gulbenkian Auditorium and the Orchestra that many conductors manage to overcome. For example, the woodwinds and brass commonly overpower the strings, or a soloist. In the lovely Bruch concerto, the excellent soloist Karen Goymo, who plays regularly with orchestras in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, was often overbalanced by the orchestra, particularly the winds. Since this concerto relies on hearing superb tone and resonance from the soloist, this made for a slightly unsatisfying overall performance, despite the sensitive musical performance by Ms. Goymo. That said, it was nice to hear this piece live, as it has nostalgic value for me--I played piano accompaniment for a young violinist on this piece in my high school days. 

In the following Mahler Symphony No. 1, balance issues continued, which I attribute to the guest conductor, Nicaraguan Giancarlo Guerrero. Again, winds frequently overbalanced strings, most annoyingly in some spots when the strings should shine, as in the opening melody of the first movement. This is a lilting, singing cello sectional solo set to a Mahler song "Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld" (This Morning I went over the Field). Here the woodwind accompaniment was too loud, and so diminished the melody. Ditto in the third movement, which opens with a unique canon on the tune "Frère Jacques". The passage has a particular edgy timbre, achieved by Mahler setting the canon to very low instruments which are all playing higher than their usual range: double bass, then bassoon, then tuba. In each case at this performance, the entry of the next part was too loud, and obliterated the end of the tune from the preceding part. Similar imbalances occurred frequently during the performance. Even more concerning, the atmospheric opening of the symphony, with bird calls emerging from the mist, was marred by shaky woodwind entrances, either not together or mis-counted. Was this under-rehearsal, or a less-than-clear conductor? I did find the conductor's motions ungainly, often with full extension of his arms, looking like a pterodactyl flapping its wings. Energy is good, but not at the expense of clarity, especially when a young-ish orchestra needs some guidance and cannot play the Mahler First in its sleep, as can the players in Berlin, Chicago, and elsewhere. On the upside, the overall pacing and tempi were good, and the symphony built to its customary, foolproof rousing finish. I think what I heard was that the Gulbenkian auditorium has some acoustical quirks that local conductors deal with fine, but not so much guest conductors.

A concert a few weeks ago featured two of my least favorite Strauss tone poems: Don Quixote and Symphonia Domestica. Strauss' tone poems have two basic flavors. Some tell a literal story, with specific narrative episodes. For example the Alpine Symphony narrates an actual hike in the Alps (meadows, avalanche, sunrise, etc). Others are more impressionistic, giving you an idea of what the subject is like. For example, Don Juan gives an impression of the lothario's romantic character, without narrating specific episodes. I usually prefer the latter flavor. In this concert however, Don Quixote (1898), a narrative tone poem depicting specific events from the novel (attacking the priests, tilting at windmills, etc.) proved much the better piece. The cello solo (portraying the Don) was played well by the orchestra's first chair cello Varoujan Bartikian. He had a nice sense of whimsy and pathos, as required, but was a little soft. I initially attributed this to the reticence that sometimes happens when a soloist steps out of the orchestra, since orchestra players are more used to playing in ensemble, not as soloists, but now I am inclined to think that this was more of the same balance issue mentioned above, here also emerging with a guest conductor, Marc Albrecht.

The following Symphonia Domestica (1903) is probably the least played Strauss tone poem (along with Macbeth). The reasons for this were made clear in this performance. The Domestic Symphony was Strauss' response to his earlier Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), a tone poem criticized then and now for self-aggrandizement. In the Domestic Symphony Strauss turned the tables and sought to portray the everyday joy of living with his wife and child. Such a warm and banal subject seems unlikely for a big dramatist like Strauss who is usually best when writing about torture, agony, and murder (eg Elektra, Salome). This piece, while well played with excellent solo contributions from the orchestra, was mostly a dull, meandering slog. Each of the three family members has a characteristic theme (leitmotif), but these are not very memorable, so are hard to identify, unlike those of Wagner. The only part of the 45-minute piece that had much interest was a fugue near the end that portrayed a family argument. Oh well...maybe composers like Mozart and Dvorak are better suited to bliss.

As an aside, a review of the Strauss' catalogue reveals some questionable choices he made when he remained in Germany during WWII as a famed, Hitler-recognized composer and musical administrator. The below photo shows Strauss (right) at a reception with Hermann Göring.

His music from this era includes the "Japanese Festival Music" commissioned by the Japanese empire--that one is not played much these days! As an administrator he was responsible for banning the Jewish conductor Bruno Walter, then the anti-Nazi conductors Fritz Busch and Arturo Toscanini from conducting in Germany. Most likely he was just self-serving careerist, not a true Nazi ideologue, but this association tarnished his reputation during his remaining career. It's best to stick to earlier Strauss, with the big exception of the Four Last Songs.