Program
Symphony No. 6 in A minor (1903-05, rev. 1906) by Mahler
(1860-1911).
The last time I heard this symphony was two years ago,
performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic, conducted by Jaap van Zweden. I was very curious how tonight’s concert
would turn out: van Zweden was the scheduled conductor, and New York
Philharmonic would be playing.
It was thus a disappointment when I received an email
from New York Phil saying van Zweden hurt his shoulder (and I wish him a quick
recovery) and the substitute conductor would be the Australian Simone
Young. I had never come across that name
before, and I attend Sydney Symphony and other Australian musical events a few
times a year. Sure enough, the San
Francisco Orchestra sent me an email (once you register with an organization,
they get you; I still get correspondences from Zurich Tonhalle, in German no less)
where Young would be conducting one of the series.
Might as well start with her. A search of the web returned results saying
that she is in her 50s, Australia-trained, was chief conductor of Opera Australia
for a couple of years, and is considered a Wagner and Strauss specialist.
For tonight’s concert, she conducted with a lot of energy,
and – fairly or not – reminds me of Xian Zhang in the exaggerated movements
used to lead the ensemble. (I know Zhang
is considerably younger.) And it worked,
the orchestra played certainly more precisely than I expected it to. More surprisingly, the volume was great (this
may also be due to where we sat.)
This Mahler symphony used to be called “Tragic,” a title
Mahler provided in the original score but withdrew later. Interestingly the HK performance I saw had
this term in the Program. The other issue
that often gets discussed is the order of the two inner movements. Prior to van Zweden, the two NY Phil performances
I heard had it Andante – Scherzo. Tonight’s program was printed with van Zweden
as the conductor, and the order was Scherzo – Andante. Young followed the program. The third aspect – of which I am not 100%
sure – was that tonight there were three hammer blows. Sitting in the orchestra, I could barely make
out the movement of the “hammer striker” as he moved from other percussion
areas to the hammer. It was loud – I saw
another percussionist covering his ears, and I didn’t notice these sound barriers.
These issues, and Mahler’s composition routine, fill most
of what one reads in tonight’s Playbill, which is about the same as how I
remembered it last time. There was not
much insight beyond some words that include “… but in the sixth one encounters
a cosmos that holds out no hope for mankind.”
I remember how in past performances I describe the end as multiple
attempts to recover from these giant hammer blows, but the end is failure and
hopelessness. I didn’t quite get that tonight.
Young had this “deer in headlights” look at the beginning
of the concert (I watched her using binoculars); she rightfully carried herself
triumphally at the end as it was by many measures a great concert. I just wish there was a bit more
story-telling. Nonetheless, my being alert
and attentive during the program is an indication of how much I enjoyed it.
Simone Young acknowledging the tremendous applause from the audience.
The New York Times Review is titled “Absent 20 Years, a
Conductor Rescues the Philharmonic.” The
reviewer is generally positive on the performance, and on Young, he wasn’t as
enthusiastic as the title would suggest. And he devote little space on how the performance went. He was also looking forward to see how van Zweden would do. Young would also return next season.
We took the train up, and the 7:30 pm start gave us ample
time to catch the 9:38 pm train back to South Amboy.
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