I’m sorry, I’ve been so busy lately, and if I don’t get started on these posts first thing in the morning, it’s very hard for me to write anything of consequence that reads well. Generally speaking, the earlier I write, the better. Best is when it’s so early, I can’t even think. Just sit down with a cup of coffee and let those fingers go.
But life is such that I can’t always do that. Which is why, for Gustav Mahler’s birthday, here I am at 11:00 a.m., sharing a video of Yoda, Gandalf, and Voldemort conducting the “Resurrection” Symphony. Hey, don’t let it be said that I don’t do my part to popularize the classics.
And it’s not like it’s that farfetched. Dismiss the concept, if you’d like, as puerile nonsense, but it would take wizards of this magnitude to translate the work’s emotional grandeur into images worthy of its transcendent power, even if the music itself is more seismic, uplifting, and transformative than anything that could possibly be expressed on a motion picture screen.
Let me know which of the three you think has the best technique, if you’re so inclined, and happy birthday, Gustav Mahler.
Tag: Resurrection Symphony
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“Fantastic” Conductors Tackle Mahler’s “Resurrection”
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Mahler’s Overwhelming, Disorienting Masterpiece
I don’t care how jaded you are, there really is nothing like Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony. You can be sitting there, judging this, nitpicking that, and then all at once, the world vanishes, and it’s like you’re suspended in the middle of one of those enormous 19th century canvases. The awe inspired by chorus, organ, and orchestra in the work’s final moments is transformational and overwhelming.
I caught it yesterday afternoon with The Philadelphia Orchestra, since my weekend is jam-packed. Was it not my benchmark “Resurrection” Symphony? Who knows? Who cares? I’m just thankful to have heard it and that I was able to pull myself together enough to be able to drive home.
With soprano Ying Fang, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir. Two more performances at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts this weekend, tonight at 8:00 and Sunday at 2:00. Build in time to emotionally center yourself afterwards.
Tickets and information at philorch.org -
Mahler Resurrection Bernstein Finale Ecstasy
The finale of Gustav Mahler’s spinetingling “Resurrection” Symphony, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Of course, the piece is so much more powerful – ecstatic and exhausting – when you take the full, 90-minute pilgrimage, but even excerpted, as here, it still puts my hair on end. Eat your heart out, Bradley Cooper. And happy birthday, Gustav Mahler!
The whole thing, probably riddled with YouTube ads:
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Marcel Tyberg Holocaust Composer Rediscovered
Marcel Tyberg was a forgotten casualty of the Holocaust. Targeted because of his Jewish ancestry (a mere 1/16th of his make-up), Tyberg was deported to Auschwitz, where his death was recorded on New Year’s Eve, 1944.
His music alone should not have attracted unfavorable attention from the authorities. Quite apart from the modernism being explored by many of the composers interned in the “artists’ camp” of Terezin – a musical language the Nazis branded “degenerate” – Tyberg’s symphonies are very much in the Austro-German romantic tradition.
Nevertheless, his output was revived only in the last decade or so, thanks in large part to conductor JoAnn Falletta. This week on “The Lost Chord,” learn about the extraordinary journey of Tyberg’s scores from wartime Italy to 21st century Buffalo.
Tyberg lives again, through his Symphony No. 3, on “Resurrection Symphony,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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Easter Sunday Classical Music on WPRB
Tomorrow being the day of chocolate bunnies and Peeps, my colleague Bob Pollack has generously agreed to fill in for me on WPRB. Bob, host of “Morning Classical” (now heard on Monday mornings from 6 to 9), will introduce Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, Bach’s Cantata No. 4 “Christ lag in Totesbanden,” Rachmaninoff’s “Vespers,” and some broader tributes to spring. Remember, it is Vinyl Week on WPRB, so it really depends on what’s on the shelves (Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata, anyone?).
Wake up and smell the daffodils, tomorrow morning, Easter Sunday, from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Thanks, Bob, for your music of hope and renewal!
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