![\"mahler](\"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/mahler-cover-300x300.jpg\")
<\/h5>\n<\/h5>\nThe Utah Symphony\u00a0has a Mahler performance tradition, one that began when Maurice Abravanel became its third and\u00a0most\u00a0influential\u00a0music\u00a0director in 1947. This tradition helped to place the orchestra on the national and international map of major symphony orchestras, especially\u00a0in the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was a late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Austrian\u00a0conductor and composer, who in his compositions — principally nine numbered symphonies and the orchestral song cycle\u00a0Das Lied von der Erde<\/em>\u00a0— helped to revolutionize the scope,\u00a0scale,\u00a0and philosophical and musical vision of this genre (orchestral) and form (symphonic).<\/p>\n Almost all\u00a0of Mahler’s symphonic works deserve a place in the standard repertoire, but because of their length (usually\u00a0about an hour, and at times closer to ninety minutes) and number of musicians required, and thus expense, are rarely performed season after season. Although\u00a0Mahler’s symphonic music\u00a0spans from folk-like to banal (often intentionally) and majestic, and magnificently spiritual and pantheistic, it cannot possibly appeal to all musical tastes, and at present, at least in our market, still is not exactly a guarantee of a sold out concert hall (Abravanel Hall can seat over 2,800).<\/p>\n The Utah Symphony’s Mahler tradition was perpetuated in halting fashion by the two music directors who\u00a0followed Abravanel, Varujian Kojian (1979-1983) and Joseph Silverstein (1983-1998). They both led the symphony in performances of some of his symphonies, but never conducted and programmed — or attempted to program — all of his symphonic works over the course of their respective tenures.<\/p>\n Music director Keith Lockhart’s tenure (1998-2009) did continue the tradition, and made great strides in reintroducing the nine numbered symphonies into our orchestra’s repertoire. All nine were performed, plus the orchestral song cycles\u00a0Das\u00a0Lied von der Erde\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen<\/em>. However, interpretively, Lockhart’s results were inconsistent, and at times unconvincing overall — for example in the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Symphonies. The performances of the Seventh and Third Symphonies were the most compelling, along with the\u00a0Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen<\/em>. I did not hear Lockhart’s live performances of Symphony No.1 early in his tenure, which\u00a0have been cited as being\u00a0excellent. The interpretations of the Second, Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth Symphonies were good, but never close to being exceptional.<\/p>\n Our current music director (since September 2009), Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer, is the first post-Abravanel conductor to attempt to confront the Utah Symphony’s Mahler performance tradition in a truly consistent and convincing fashion. He has programmed all nine numbered Mahler symphonies over the course of the two current seasons, beginning in 2014-2015 (with numbers One through Four), and continuing this coming season, 2015-2016 (with numbers\u00a0Five through Nine).<\/p>\n Fischer previously had conducted Symphony No.4 in 2012 and No.5 with the Utah Symphony\u00a0in the spring of 2014. Both of those symphonies were performed twice, and the performances already revealed much stronger interpretive visions with even more superb orchestral execution to match them. The performances and interpretation of Mahler’s Second Symphony in November 2014\u00a0were supple and incandescent, while the performances and interpretation of the Third Symphony in February of this year were evocatively\u00a0sweeping in their soundscapes.<\/p>\n The two-year Mahler symphony cycle is part of the celebration of the Utah Symphony’s seventy-fifth anniversary year, which takes place this new season. As part of that celebration, the Utah Symphony made a commercial recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.1 in D major at the start of last season, over the course of the two live performances in Abravanel Hall, on\u00a0September\u00a012\u00a0and\u00a013.Thierry\u00a0Fischer\u00a0conducted.<\/p>\n These recordings sessions were supplemented by two of what are called “patch” sessions, each of fifteen minutes duration. These extra sessions, with no audience present,\u00a0are designed and used if necessary to replace moments in live performances that may not be considered viable for long-term, repeated listening on a commercial recording. Such crucial matters\u00a0like ensemble, entries, intonation, color — the full range of symphonic and instrumental expression — need to be assessed\u00a0with a finely\u00a0calibrated sense of artistry from all involved in the recording process.<\/p>\n The Utah Symphony performed\u00a0Mahler’s Symphony No.1 on eleven concert seasons prior to the two performances current music director Thierry Fischer led\u00a0in September 2014. The most recent prior performance was in May 2010, when guest conductor Carlo Rizzi led a convincing performance.<\/p>\n Performances of\u00a0the First Symphony\u00a0usually last about 50-57 minutes. This fresh, vernal, but stormy work was mostly composed from\u00a0late 1887\u00a0to March 1888, with the final and most-performed version completed in 1896. The two September 2014 performances were captured by two members of the Soundmirror recording team, which is based in Boston. The commercial recording from those performances will be released on the boutique Reference Recordings record label on\u00a0September 11, 2015, in its Fresh!! series.<\/p>\n I attended both live performances, have already\u00a0listened to an advance copy of\u00a0the commercial recording dozens of times, and have spoken to a few musicians about the\u00a0extra recording\u00a0sessions. Theses sessions apparently proceeded rapidly (after a contract-mandated hour of rest after the last actual complete live performance\u00a0on Saturday\u00a0evening). The producer of the recording, Dirk Sobotka, announced to the audience before each performance to be as silent as possible, and this\u00a0silence\u00a0is noticeable on the recording. I am not sure of the number of edits versus extended passages performed without edits on the recording, but I would think that the number is small, based on the superb quality of the two live performances.<\/p>\n So, on to the recording. What of its\u00a0sound, the quality of the performance(s) captured, and the place of this recording in the Mahler-saturated world of classical music recordings, which goes back\u00a0at least two decades. And what about Abravanel and the Utah Symphony’s recording of Symphony\u00a0No.1, made in 1974?<\/p>\n Abravanel and the Utah Symphony were the first to make commercial recordings of all of Mahler’s numbered symphonies with one orchestra and one conductor. The recordings were released on the Vanguard record label from 1963 to 1974. \u00a0They were also the first to make commercial stereo recordings of\u00a0the monumental Symphony No.8 and the Symphony No.7. Essentially, this recorded cycle\u00a0solidified the Utah Symphony’s national and international reputation, and in some ways still does so today. While still available, these recordings are mostly out of print on CD, but can be found on Youtube (audio only).<\/p>\n The consensus, after decades of retrospective criticism, is that this recorded cycle’s (recorded in the Salt Lake Tabernacle) sound quality is quite visceral, and the interpretations almost\u00a0intuitive and old-world. Indeed, Abravanel was born in\u00a01903 in Greece\u00a0and\u00a0lived in Germany from\u00a01922 to 1933, conducting there from 1924-1933. In Paris from 1933-1936, Abravanel worked with the great German conductor Bruno Walter, who knew Mahler personally and premiered\u00a0Mahler’s Ninth Symphony in 1912.<\/p>\n Abravanel and the\u00a0Utah Symphony’s\u00a0recording and performance of Symphony No. 4 is often singled out as still one of the most competitive versions on record. The other performances\u00a0were generally excellent for their time, and while considered more than viable interpretively even now, are no longer perceived as competitive with the best on record. However, some critics consider Abravanel’s mastery of Mahler’s style to be second to none.<\/p>\n So how do Thierry Fischer and our current Utah Symphony compare to the Abravanel recordings, at least in the First Symphony? Well, the new recording was made in Abravanel Hall, rather than the Tabernacle. This should produce a warmer, smoother sound, which it does. The sound in the Tabernacle is more lively and rugged\u00a0than in Abravanel Hall, and this is reflected in the earlier Abravanel recording.<\/p>\n Abravanel’s interpretation is more genial, rather than overtly and\u00a0heavily\u00a0dramatic. It is essentially a lyrical and lighter view of the score, but still often suffused with tension. Fischer and our current orchestra’s interpretation\u00a0is darker, more\u00a0consciously dramatic,\u00a0but still sinuously phrased. The orchestral sound is also weightier, with an alchemy of harmonic tension. It is an equally valid view of the score — the symphony’s many essences cannot be captured in any one series of performances or recordings. One needs to adopt some point of view or perspective as a guide.<\/p>\n The sound of the new recording\u00a0is clear, clean, smooth, warm, and convincing — sound engineer John Newton has a fine feel for Abravanel Hall’s\u00a0sound. There is a believable acoustic space, although the perspective is one that places the listener somewhere between the first several rows of Abravanel Hall and that of the conductor’s stand. Those who prefer a more distant or center-of-the-hall-perspective should adjust their listening accordingly. Balances between instrumental sections are true as long as one remains aware of the recording perspective.<\/p>\n What also strikes me about the performance is the unerringly holistic approach essayed\u00a0by Thierry Fischer and the musicians. It is an uncommonly forthright yet supple account. Fischer weds a Germanic sense of mystery, intensity, and concentration, with a Gallic sense of grace, especially in the harmonic lines. It is tempting to term it as somehow quintessentially Swiss (Fischer’s nationality), but this can only be seen as a possible point of departure. Perhaps the interpretation in this sense\u00a0foreshadows with\u00a0a bit too much frisson\u00a0the soundscapes Mahler was yet to create — a dual vision that became even more intense and unyielding in the later symphonies.<\/p>\n In the first movement, which lasts\u00a0fifteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds in this recording,\u00a0there is a ruminating undertow of rippling drama throughout\u00a0and the\u00a0softer interludes are deftly shaded. The first movement is marked\u00a0Langsam, schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut\u00a0<\/em>—\u00a0Immer sehr gem\u00e4chlich,<\/em>\u00a0or slowly, dragging,\u00a0like a sound of nature, very restrained throughout. I hear a rich but precise sense of line, grace, and warmth in this interpretation. This is not at odds with the markings, but complements them. At the13:30\u00a0mark\u00a0climax I like the rough and ready quality – beauty is just not for beauty’s sake.<\/p>\n The two interior movements sound spontaneously flowing. They have durations of seven minutes and forty-one seconds and ten minutes forty-six seconds respectively. In the second movement, marked\u00a0Kr\u00e4ftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>there is an unaffected but keen adherence to Mahler’s marking. This marking\u00a0means moving strongly, but not too quickly. The first drafts of this movement by Mahler labeled it a scherzo, but he changed it to just the indicated marking, which has a Trio section in the style of a\u00a0L\u00e4ndler or Austrian country dance, with a change to something more reminiscent of a waltz before the L\u00e4ndler returns to end the movement. Our double\u00a0bass section is nicely\u00a0prominent and palpable in its rhythmic drive in the performance, but not excessively so. The climax of the first portion at\u00a03:05\u00a0is driven robustly, with some suitable abandon. The trio section\u00a0dances\u00a0as it\u00a0conveys a sense of skating on top and into the rhythmic pulse.<\/p>\n In the third movement, which lasts ten minutes and forty-six seconds, and is\u00a0markedFeierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen\u00a0<\/em>or solemnly and measured,\u00a0without dragging,\u00a0there is tremendous warmth in the the phrasing, but no ostentatiously sentimental delivery — there is still much sentiment though. The\u00a0introductory double bass solo is evanescently creepy. The funeral march tread\u00a0truly feels like it is passing through a deep forest of tangled darkness with hidden furrows for animals.<\/p>\n At the\u00a03:00-3:20\u00a0mark there is some lucid, lush, crisp playing by the percussion section —\u00a0this first round of Klezmer music is smoothly nostalgic. Solo flute, oboe, and bassoon\u00a0at 4:38 spring a little twist of coloring, while the\u00a05:20\u00a0point evokes something like the halo of a daydream. There is such a palpable onrush of sentiment, yet still with some control of the youthful, unbridled nostalgia — here a collective sense of interpretation is the key. The second round of Klezmer music\u00a0is tart, bracing, and impulsive. The interpretation and playing in the two interior movements\u00a0are resplendent but never overdone.<\/p>\n The last movement’s\u00a0two major climaxes are eloquently\u00a0terraced\u00a0and colored, and quiet moments and transitions are\u00a0decisively but naturally delineated. This movement lasts eighteen minutes and forty fives seconds, but the track listing leaves some ten seconds of quiet at the end, with no applause from the live performance\u00a0retained. The movement is marked to be played\u00a0St\u00fcrmisch bewegt \u2013 Energisch<\/em>, or stormily agitated — energetic.<\/p>\n After a densely colored intensity to the opening storm music, the start of the first climax at\u00a06:59\u00a0is richly articulated, and at\u00a08:10-8:11\u00a0a\u00a0startling clarity, especially in the timpani, rears itself. The\u00a011:00-11:20\u00a0forest twitterings are vivid and lush, with all the clarity one could wish for. The lighting strike at 16:57 in\u00a0the second and final climax\u00a0is\u00a0almost surreally realistic\u00a0— the cumulative lines soar magnificently. At\u00a017:57-17:59\u00a0the shards of timpani surge\u00a0as the symphonic sky colors crimson and beckons one to strive onward.<\/p>\n As a coda, a note on the cover art for the recording booklet. I find it to be an intuitively compelling landscape. It appears to be a fiercely but darkly colored sunset . But could it be a sunrise too? The texture is slightly pixelated\u00a0for a more modern hue, and it at least faintly evokes a sage-brush or oak-soaked ridge hinting at the higher mountains of Utah to come. Intentional? — I would like to think so.<\/p>\n So on this recording, Fischer and the musicians remained true to their current vision of Mahler’s Symphony No.1, a darkly robust and refined one, and with this they compete with the best of the recent commercially released recorded performances — there are dozens in the decades-old discography.<\/p>\n Do they rival and exceed\u00a0Czech conductor Rafael Kubelik’s live and unedited 1979 performance with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra\u00a0on the German Audite label? Or\u00a0Kubelik’s studio recording on Deutsche Grammophon from about a decade earlier? Not really — the Audite recording captures Mahler’s First Symphony in such an all-encompassing, kaleidoscopic fashion.<\/p>\n In\u00a0many ways such comparisons, while valid and even revealing, are almost beside the point. When superbly performed and interpreted with a compelling point of view, Mahler’s youthful yet portentous-laden Symphony No.1 — “Titan” is finally apt here —\u00a0can be listened to on this new recording\u00a0with a sure sense of repeated insights — music that\u00a0fires a\u00a0beacon\u00a0to a vision of the universe that snarls and beguiles with darkness and light.<\/p>\n Gregory Walz is a native of Bitburg, Germany and received a B.A. in History from the University of Utah. He has worked at the Utah Division of State History since 2004, in the joint Research Center with the Utah Division of State Archives in the historic Rio Grande depot.\u00a0 He enjoys music in almost all of its forms and genres. One of his indelible memories: the Australian band The Church performing at Club Sound on March 20, 2004 for their 2003 album Forget Yourself.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Utah Symphony Recording, Mahler’s Symphony No.1 |\u00a0Reference Recordings | Release Date: September 11, 2015 The Utah Symphony\u00a0has a Mahler performance tradition, one that began when Maurice Abravanel became its third and\u00a0most\u00a0influential\u00a0music\u00a0director in 1947. This tradition helped to place the orchestra on the national and international map of major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1519,"featured_media":29737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,58],"tags":[2499,2500,831],"class_list":["post-29733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-bytes","category-music","tag-mahler-1","tag-thierry-fischer","tag-utah-symphony"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/mahler-cover.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 15:34:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29733"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38581,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29733\/revisions\/38581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}