EIF 2024 Mahler's Fifth Symphony Usher Hall 17th August Review
Malher's Fifth Symphony - 17.08.24 © Maxime Ragni
Mahler’s Fifth Symphony performed by Hallé Orchestra at the Usher Hall tonight was ,I suspect, an emotional time for many of the musicians on stage and people in the audience. Not only was there the sheer scale of Mahler’s musical masterpiece to take into consideration, but also this concert marked Sir Mark Elder’s farewell to the Hallé Orchestra after 24 years, first taking the post of Musical Director of Hallé in 2000.
For someone like Sir Mark Elder there can be no better way to say goodbye (although he will have a new role as Conductor Emeritus at the Hallé from the 2024-25 season) than to be conducting music that he so obviously is passionate about in front of a sold out concert at a major international arts festival.
Composed over 1901 and 1902, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, with a performance time of around 70 minutes, is a huge musical landscape for any orchestra to work on, but tonight, with Sir Mark Elder’s almost intuitive conducting, the Hallé brought to life every emotion, every colour, every dramatic moment of this work. From the military overtones of the trumpet solo at the opening of the first movement (Trauermarsch) to the final fifth movement and the themes explored in the Rondo – Finale there was always something of wonder to discover here in the music.
It was however the fourth movement that drew the most applause from this audience, and not surprisingly as it is the most frequently performed of his works. There is something very special about this movement; it is a calming, almost meditative experience when listened to, a work of true beauty that has the power to take people into a very special place. It would be nice to think, that as often stated, that this movement is Mahler’s love song to his wife Alma.
Everything about this fifth symphony is remarkable, but nothing about it more so than the fact that at the beginning of 1901 Mahler had suffered a major brain haemorrhage, coming within an hour of bleeding to death. There are moments in this music where you can feel that terror that he must have felt at this time and also his sheer joy of surviving and simply being alive.
Opening this concert tonight was a new work of music to me by a composer that I must admit is also new to me - Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) and her setting of Psalm 130. Born into a family of gifted musicians, Lili Boulanger clearly had, judging by this work alone, enormous musical gifts, talent, and potential and we can only guess as the wonderful music that she might have given to the world had her life not been so short a one.
Psalm 130, better known to many church musicians for centuries as incipit De Profundis, “Out of the Depths,” is essentially a plea from the depths of suffering of man to God and mercy, because in this work, God is mercy.
This work was a large scale performance tonight with the Hallé Orchestra joined on stage by the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, plus Anna Stéphany (Mezzo Soprano) and Magnus Walker (Tenor).
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
For someone like Sir Mark Elder there can be no better way to say goodbye (although he will have a new role as Conductor Emeritus at the Hallé from the 2024-25 season) than to be conducting music that he so obviously is passionate about in front of a sold out concert at a major international arts festival.
Composed over 1901 and 1902, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, with a performance time of around 70 minutes, is a huge musical landscape for any orchestra to work on, but tonight, with Sir Mark Elder’s almost intuitive conducting, the Hallé brought to life every emotion, every colour, every dramatic moment of this work. From the military overtones of the trumpet solo at the opening of the first movement (Trauermarsch) to the final fifth movement and the themes explored in the Rondo – Finale there was always something of wonder to discover here in the music.
It was however the fourth movement that drew the most applause from this audience, and not surprisingly as it is the most frequently performed of his works. There is something very special about this movement; it is a calming, almost meditative experience when listened to, a work of true beauty that has the power to take people into a very special place. It would be nice to think, that as often stated, that this movement is Mahler’s love song to his wife Alma.
Everything about this fifth symphony is remarkable, but nothing about it more so than the fact that at the beginning of 1901 Mahler had suffered a major brain haemorrhage, coming within an hour of bleeding to death. There are moments in this music where you can feel that terror that he must have felt at this time and also his sheer joy of surviving and simply being alive.
Opening this concert tonight was a new work of music to me by a composer that I must admit is also new to me - Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) and her setting of Psalm 130. Born into a family of gifted musicians, Lili Boulanger clearly had, judging by this work alone, enormous musical gifts, talent, and potential and we can only guess as the wonderful music that she might have given to the world had her life not been so short a one.
Psalm 130, better known to many church musicians for centuries as incipit De Profundis, “Out of the Depths,” is essentially a plea from the depths of suffering of man to God and mercy, because in this work, God is mercy.
This work was a large scale performance tonight with the Hallé Orchestra joined on stage by the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, plus Anna Stéphany (Mezzo Soprano) and Magnus Walker (Tenor).
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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