HAYDN Symphony No. 82
MAHLER Symphony No. 4
Chen Reiss (soprano)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Daniele Gatti (conductor)
When I took my first conducting lesson, after some warm-up exercises, the teacher pointed to a score of Mahler 4 and said, "why don't we take a look at that." That experience, and the fact that being a lab scientist, soon ended my aspirations to become a conductor. I wasn't trying very hard really, but that extra-musical sense of compact urgency has since been associated with Mahler 4 for me. Compared to the Bruckner last night, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Daniele Gatti seemed to be on better form today. It was a refreshing rendition of Mahler 4, delicate with Classical grace, a lot of pristine ensembleness, not overtly dramatic, with some elegant ländler lilts and the appropriate amount of naivety that is required for the child's vision of Heaven which is fundamentally rather dark if you consider it deeply. It was all very enjoyable until the soprano started to sing. She entered the stage at the end of the third movement at the back of the orchestra and remained behind the brass for her performance, providing some sort of visual manifestation for the voice overlooking the universe from beyond. The problem with this presentation is that they would need a rather penetrating voice to get the subtle vocal line above and across the brass. The vocal support was, frankly, inadequate, the intonation was off and there was no sense of sophistication in the shaping and phrasing. It sounded like a struggle. The orchestra played well to integrate, but could not save it. So that was a shame. I have little intellectual comments for the preceding Haydn 82. The forms were well defined. The academic minds would probably enjoy the lineage relationship between the two works. Otherwise, it's not a very invigorating performance to set the mood up for Mahler 4. I mean, how many people genuinely enjoy a dose of four-squared Haydn symphony on a Saturday night? Consider me uncultured.
No comments:
Post a Comment