Last night the fireworks of
Mahler’s Titan Symphony exploded in the Eastman Theater, raining showers of
brilliant sparks over the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and guest conductor
Jun Märkl.
(OK, not literally.
But it was surely an opening-night performance filled with enough drama
to give me goosebumps and have me imagining fireworks.)
The RPO opened it’s 91st
season last night with a thrilling performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D
Major (“The Titan”), led by guest conductor Märkl. The hour-long, four
movement symphony created by Mahler in 1889 is everything one could ask for in
a symphony, from brilliant orchestration utilizing all of the instruments that
filled the stage, to poignant melodies, to massive percussion from the largest
drum to the smallest triangle.
Märkl knew what he wanted
out of the work and the RPO responded. Märkl is a conductor who uses all
four corners of that square called a “podium,” as he parried and lunged with
every instrument on stage, shaping huge arcs of long lines and slicing each
entrance and exit to make clean the many complex layers.
Having recently interviewed
Märkl for City’s guide to the RPO 2013-14 guest conductors, the performance was
not what I expected. From the interview, I had Märkl painted more as perhaps
more of a philosopher than a conductor, perhaps even somewhat introspective in
comparison to the other personalities in his class. But, Märkl’s humility masks
his strength. In the final movement, in particular, where the sounds could be
described as a battle between Poseidon and the seas, Märkl brought out the roar
and the power of the music, while keeping it under his reins, even as he took
the whole thing higher and higher into the Mahleresque protracted final chords.
There was not a moment that Märkl lost control of the orchestra or let the
tempo or dynamics sacrifice technical quality.
With that in mind, rewind
into the first half of the program for the Mendelssohn Concerto in E-Minor for
Violin and Orchestra, Op.64 with guest soloist Jennifer Koh on violin. Several
basic elements simply didn’t come together for this piece. Every violin is
going to have a different sound quality, but Koh’s seemed particularly light
for a 2,200-seat theater. Many passages were simply lost before reaching me, up
in the far reaches of the balcony. This observation was magnified by Koh’s
approach of playing to the conductor, as she simply took the lead for the work
away from him. Given what Märkl demonstrated in the second half of the program
with the Mahler, I would be interested to hear this work again with Märkl
holding Koh to tempi that are about the delivery of the music to the audience,
not simply speed for the sake of speed.
And a
word, also, to the piece “New Era Dance” by Aaron Jay Kernis (b.1960). Only six minutes in length, it’s a dense piece.
Lots of musicians. Percussion and brass galore, and
even some punctuated voice tones tossed in. A bit like “The Rumble” from
Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” Listed as composed in 1992, it’s particularly
interesting to think of in the context of the times in which it was written.
Two gold
stars to the bass and to the trumpets. In both the Mahler and the Kernis, these sections optimized a
chance to shine.
The RPO will repeat the
program Saturday, September 28, 8 p.m. at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater. Tickets cost $15-$82. Check the orchestra’s website for details.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2013.
