MAHLER |
Powerhouse |
<
Lied................
Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde
< Voices............
Ben
Heppner & Ann Sophie von Otter
< Orchestra.......
MET Orchestra / James Levine
< Hall..................
Carnegie Hall |
|
Das Lied von der Erde
is deservedly regarded as one of Mahler's "two greatest works".
He began the work in 1908, completing it in the same year along with the
Ninth Symphony - his other "greatest work" during his tenure conducting
the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City. The text was inspired
by a German translation (from earlier French anthologies) by Hans Bethge
of a book of Chinese poetry entitled The Chinese Flute. The work's
Chinese origins are quite evident in the music, particularly in the very
Oriental monosyllabic-like tones and rhythm of the third song Von der
Jugend. This quality flows into the fourth song Von der Schonheit
which in addition vividly conveys the bucolic landscape images of Chinese
brush paintings.
The poems, in translation, suggested to Mahler an ambience of lyrical melancholy,
possibly arising from the Chinese poet's puzzlement at the riddle of life.
In setting the text to music, he also altered it here and there, the better
perhaps to capture in both the melodic line and the orchestration the depth
of his own puzzled loneliness. There is no question he succeeded. Unfortunately,
he did not live long enough to hear the work in performance: Das Lied
von der Erde was first performed in concert with the great Bruno Walter
conducting the Konzerverien Orchestra at Munich's Tonhalle on November 20,
1911 only six months after Mahler's death on May 18 at age 50. |
| And
there is no question that Ben Heppner and Anne Sophie von Otter, two of
today's finest singers, did honor to Mahler's genius for crafting vocal
music. The audience was swept away by the pathos in both Mr. Heppner's powerful
yet silken tenor voice and Ms. von Otter's rich mezzo-soprano. And what
about the orchestra? Perhaps it is because they are primarily an opera orchestra.
Or perhaps because there is a special attachment to the work nurtured by
Mahler's tenure at the Met. But more likely it is because they are in fact
a great orchestra that plays as beautifully onstage as in the pit that the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under James Levine masterfully succeeded in
communicating the magnificent profundity of this vocal and symphonic masterpiece. |
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| Note:
The program's first half was an equally sumptious performance of Mozart's
Symphony No. 41 in C major, the Jupiter. |
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