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Chamber Orchestra plays Mahler (1st review)
Tom Purdom
Where musicians can't hide
TOM PURDOM
The Chamber Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde featured two attractive young vocalists and another representative of the youngish conductors Ignat Solzhenitsyn has been introducing to local audiences. But the most interesting aspect of the event, for me, was the contributions of the Chamber Orchestra instrumentalists.
My seating position may have biased me. I sat in the Perelman’s first balcony, along the side, with a clear view of the musicians’ efforts. But I don’t think anyone will deny that Arnold Schoenberg created a major challenge for orchestral musicians when he decided to arrange a chamber version of Mahler’s combination of art song and big orchestra.
The musicians are exposed
Schoenberg and his musical executor, Rainer Riehn, scored the arrangement for a chamber ensemble, not a chamber orchestra. Each part is played by one musician, as in a string quartet or a work like Beethoven’s septet for winds and strings. Instead of a complete first violin or cello section, the score calls for one first violin, one second violin, one flutist, one horn, and so on.
One-to-a-part playing can produce some exceptionally pure sounds, but it also means the individual musicians are completely exposed. If something goes wrong, it’s immediately obvious. The instrumentalists are working under the same spotlight as the soloists.
Schoenberg and Riehn added to the fun by giving some of the musicians multiple assignments. The flutist doubles on the piccolo, the clarinetist plays three different clarinets, the harmonium player doubles on the celeste, and the oboist on the English horn.
The unappreciated accompanist
As my appreciation of art song has developed over the past 20 years, I’ve developed a deep respect for the pianists who accompany the vocalists at most art song recitals. Good accompanists paint scenes, create moods and communicate nuances. Das Lied von Erde presents the musicians with the same requirements, and some of its moods call for a delicate touch. The texts are German translations of Chinese poems that express a distinctively Chinese Epicureanism, with references to moonlight, lakeside gatherings and genteel inebriation.
The arrangement is, in short, a tour de force for any ensemble that takes it on. The “orchestra” arranged in front of conductor Curt Brosse contained ten Chamber Orchestra first chairs and four guests. You’ll find them all listed above, just as members of a string quartet would be cited. As they should be.
To read another review by Robert Zaller, click here.
TOM PURDOM
The Chamber Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde featured two attractive young vocalists and another representative of the youngish conductors Ignat Solzhenitsyn has been introducing to local audiences. But the most interesting aspect of the event, for me, was the contributions of the Chamber Orchestra instrumentalists.
My seating position may have biased me. I sat in the Perelman’s first balcony, along the side, with a clear view of the musicians’ efforts. But I don’t think anyone will deny that Arnold Schoenberg created a major challenge for orchestral musicians when he decided to arrange a chamber version of Mahler’s combination of art song and big orchestra.
The musicians are exposed
Schoenberg and his musical executor, Rainer Riehn, scored the arrangement for a chamber ensemble, not a chamber orchestra. Each part is played by one musician, as in a string quartet or a work like Beethoven’s septet for winds and strings. Instead of a complete first violin or cello section, the score calls for one first violin, one second violin, one flutist, one horn, and so on.
One-to-a-part playing can produce some exceptionally pure sounds, but it also means the individual musicians are completely exposed. If something goes wrong, it’s immediately obvious. The instrumentalists are working under the same spotlight as the soloists.
Schoenberg and Riehn added to the fun by giving some of the musicians multiple assignments. The flutist doubles on the piccolo, the clarinetist plays three different clarinets, the harmonium player doubles on the celeste, and the oboist on the English horn.
The unappreciated accompanist
As my appreciation of art song has developed over the past 20 years, I’ve developed a deep respect for the pianists who accompany the vocalists at most art song recitals. Good accompanists paint scenes, create moods and communicate nuances. Das Lied von Erde presents the musicians with the same requirements, and some of its moods call for a delicate touch. The texts are German translations of Chinese poems that express a distinctively Chinese Epicureanism, with references to moonlight, lakeside gatherings and genteel inebriation.
The arrangement is, in short, a tour de force for any ensemble that takes it on. The “orchestra” arranged in front of conductor Curt Brosse contained ten Chamber Orchestra first chairs and four guests. You’ll find them all listed above, just as members of a string quartet would be cited. As they should be.
To read another review by Robert Zaller, click here.
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