Juilliard Orchestra Stunning in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde

Carnegie Hall is starting off its season with an unusual "festival" of music "celebrating Chinese culture."  Tonight's installment was divided into Chinese and "faux" Chinese - or was it all faux Chinese?  In the first half, they began with a movement from Lou Harrison's Pacifika Rondo, titled The Family of the Court, which presented unison instruments intoning a Chinese-sounding chant with percussion interjections.  It sounded to me like Hollywood's version of China. Then we had music by Chinese composers: 4 piano solos and then a specially-commissioned piece byChen Qigang for piano and orchestra, with the celebrated young Chinese pianist Lang Lang at the keyboard.  Lang Lang played with great artistry and - unusually for him - restraint, but this was an occasion when I thought more histrionics might help, because I found the music to be well-made but unmemorable.  Everything seemed sweetly harmonized, with many folkish tunes popping up their heads amidst the western foundation, but taken altogether I thought the first half an efficient cure for insomnia.  Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the Juilliard Orchestra in the first and last pieces, with little hint of the fireworks to come.

But then after intermission we were in a different world with Mahler's great symphony for voices and orchestra, Das Lied von der Erde.  What was this piece doing in a festival of Chinese culture?  Mahler chose for his texts a series of ancient Chinese poems that had been published in German translation, and now and then inserts a little "faux" Chinese (pentatonic scales, etc.) into his music.  But really this is high Viennese Mahler in all its glory, and it is a true symphony, not just a song cycle, with recurring motifs and long orchestral interludes without the voices.  Indeed, I have found it much more rewarding to listen to this piece without following a translation of the text, considering it purely as music.  The music animates the text so vividly that you get the general idea without having to follow the words.

The vocal soloists tonight were mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and tenor Gregory Kunde.  Von Otter was magnificent, as always.  Kunde was proficient and perhaps somewhat more than that.  The first movement is a thankless task for the tenor, as it is scored in such a way that the poor fellow is valiantly trying to be heard much of the time, even when singing as loudly as possibly he can.  Those of us who know this piece mainly from recordings may not be adequately aware of the challenge, since the voice can be miked and balanced artificially, as it is in most recordings of this piece.  Kunde rose to the challenge and could be heard most of the time, and what could be heard was quite fine.

But what really blew me away at this concert was the sustained excellence of the Juilliard Orchestra, which turned in a truly major league performance.  I thought that the solo playing, a prominent feature of this piece, rivaled the best I have heard from professional orchestras, and I've heard this piece played by some of the best of them, in concert and on records.  Oboe soloist Jennifer Christen received an ovation at the end, and she earned every decibel, with playing of maturity and sophistication and stunning beauty.  But one could say the same of all the principals who had significant solo moments, and it is invidious not to list them: concertmaster Emily Smith, cello soloist Madeleine Kabat, flute soloist Chelsea Knox, piccolo soloist Rose Lombardo (who shared principal flute duties with Kabat), English horn soloist Julia DeRosa, clarinet soloists Carlos Noain Maura and Xiang-yu Zhou (with Marua also on bass clarinet), bassoon soloist Benjamin Moermond, french horn principals James Ferree and Alexander Kienle, trumpet soloist Caleb Hudson, trombone soloist Michael Maier...  In fact, one feels like listing the entire orchestra, because they triumphed as an ensemble as well as soloists.  One expects to see the names of these soloists in the ranks of major orchestras of the coming generation.  The future of classical performance is safe with them. (I rely on the program book for these names and had to do some guessing, since two players were listed as principals for the various wind sections.  A review that appeared in the NY Times on Friday, Oct. 30, mentions that "The Juilliard Orchestra" is the umbrella name for the large aggregation of instrumentalists who play in various ensembles, and it seems that simultaneously with preparations for this concert another aggregation of players was rehearsing with Bernard Haitink for a concert at Juilliard to take place Oct. 31.)

As a New Yorker, I felt great pride that the leading music conservatory in the city can field an orchestra of such spectacular achievement.  Bravo to them and to Michael Tilson Thomas, who has worked his way into being one of the leading Mahler conductors of our time, and one of the handful who has recorded the complete cycle of the symphonies with his own orchestra, the might SFSO, on their own label in audiophile sound.  One couldn't do better for this occasion, and rarely have I heard so perfect a rendition of such a difficult piece.  Carnegie Hall did not put a foot wrong by entrusting such a task to this student orchestra.

Enough raving.... to sleep!!!