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The Plain Dealer,
Cleveland.com, 7 March 2008 |
by Donald Rosenberg |
Mahler: Das Lied von
der Erde, Cleveland, 6 March 2008
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Vocalists overcome sonic distractions to power Mahler's 'Song'
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Gustav Mahler scored "Das Lied von der Erde" for
tenor, baritone (or contralto) and orchestra. He might be surprised to hear
his transcendent farewell to life accompanied by hearing aid.
The vexing electronic buzz that came and went throughout the Cleveland
Orchestra's program Thursday at Severance Hall prompted music director Franz
Welser-Most to address the audience twice during the Mahler.
The "whistling tone," as he called it, proved a major distraction,
especially during the soft moments in "The Song of the Earth" and Olivier
Messiaen's "Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum" when the music intends to
transport us to another world.
Under more favorable circumstances, both pieces likely would have made
greater impacts. Mahler's incandescent settings of Chinese poetry
(translated into German) welcomed two rising singers, German tenor Jonas
Kaufmann and British baritone Christopher Maltman, who fared admirably with
the work's expressive demands.
Kaufmann thrust his stentorian voice into the hall in the lusty opening
drinking song. Tenors can be overwhelmed by Mahler's instrumental
outpouring, and Welser-Most's penchant for unleashing the orchestra's power
led to instances of vocal disappearance. But Kaufmann's penetrating timbre
and fierce attention to text often allowed the bold aspects to register. He
could be one of the next generation's stellar heldentenors.
Mahler assigns most of the cycle's poignant utterances to the lower voice,
especially in the expansive final movement. Maltman's gifts in art-song
repertoire were evident in his fastidious limning of words and colors. The
baritone's subtle sense of inflection illuminated the emotional extremes
that culminate in the hushed statement of "ewig" ("forever").
Like others in the hall, Welser-Most was rightly miffed by the high-pitched
disturbance. Even so, the audience could savor the horns' swaggering
elegance, the solo winds' poetic allure and the orchestra's Mahlerian
richness. In delicate passages, the ensemble was a model of luminous
delineation.
Yet the performance was only momentarily riveting. Welser-Most tended to
glide across many of Mahler's obsessive markings. Once transitions cohere
and more elasticity is applied, the composer's remarkable achievement may
resonate.
In its uniquely hued way, Messiaen's "And I Await the Resurrection of the
Dead" is an ecstatic evocation of life and beyond. The piece receives sonic
and spiritual distinction through the scoring for winds, brasses and
percussion (mostly gongs and bells).
The account Thursday suggested the brilliant qualities of the various
Cleveland sections, but Welser-Most basically beat time, turning what can be
awesome into the dullest exercise. Messiaen's radiance was nowhere to be
heard. |
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