The power and unanimity of the Australian World Orchestra (AWO) is both a sonic earthquake and a spectacular sight to behold. Their performance of the Mahler Ninth Symphony (1909/1912) displayed extraordinary concentration and outstanding playing - all in pursuit of an awesome emotional terrain.
The savagery of the first movement develops organically from the slow introduction that launches the symphony, with a deeply simple syncopated rhythmic motif, while the harp announces further thematic significance. This simplicity of means ultimately results in cosmic significance as Mahler works on his material with obsessive regeneration. The architecture of this complex movement was bedded down by conductor Alexander Bridger – so we could see and feel its progression and elaboration. Mahler builds momentum, collapses it, unwinds, and then regroups – as though burnished and bruised by life’s brutalities. The brass instruments were memorable, with the most spectacular horn playing – powerful and pure. The trombones and tuba were truly “mit Hochster gewalt”. The power and solemnity of the funeral march blazed across the orchestra. This enormous movement sways between struggle and acceptance, love, and loathing. It is a unique journey.
One might be tempted to ask for a more gradated sonority as each thematic episode reappeared – the return of those mighty explosions – but the orchestra had given everything in the first parlay and could only emulate this as each major development occurred. But we were in no doubt that this was a struggle between life and death, where exhaustion is deeply felt. We are suspended in Mahler's cosmos, floating across a vast orchestra, until once more he summons with his grinding sonorities. The struggle is vast.
The deep gemütlichkeit of the second movement’s framework is often sabotaged by Mahler’s devilry. The peasants may be dancing but it is with a kind of deathly inebriation. The sarcasms of these various dance episodes were startling and darkly playful. The rhythmic heft of the playing highlighted the many dynamic levels that Mahler demands – coruscating in their execution by this band of players. In the extremities that Mahler dwells in, the short and the tall of perplexity and peace – the pianissimo ending by piccolo and contrabassoon was beautifully judged and deeply piquant.
In the third and shortest movement, the sheer weight of the terror that the orchestra unleashed induced soft expletives in this listener. The dark jest of the movement requires a sense of shaking menace. This performance of the rondo basked in the composer’s contrapuntal skill and manic violence – both at the same time – and kept the whiplash energy flowing like an enormous current. If the devil had an orchestra it would sound like this.
The slow build of the final adagio was one for the ages. The waves of angst that the strings unwound in this movement displayed cumulative power, exquisitely gradated. The players dug deep for the sound waves that surge and re surge. The sighing turn, almost baroque, that the music trills upon was expertly shaded, and those sounds of suspended stillness were as sharp as starlight flecked across the auditorium. In this movement. the orchestral dynamics seem to broker both a swirling summons and the slow diminution of power and beauty, as life and music expire, breathing slower and slower. The silvery threads of music haunted, with a touching intimation of the Abschied from Das Lied von der Erde (1908/12). “Ewig” indeed, as the hall lights slowly dimmed at one wth the fragile arc of strings sounds, massed and solo. This is a sound world that is febrile yet distilled, haunting (despite the persistent sharp coughs of several deeply gifted audience members).
It is hard to know when this final hymn ends, so soft did it flow into eternity, until only the shaded podium remained in sight with the flickering pulse of fragile yet potent music. All else was darkness as the disintegration of life finally unwound to deliver the cosmic heft of silence. The last two pages of the score can last several minutes. Meanwhile, both tense and reflective, the audience waited to respond. The paradox of Mahler’s obsessions and terrors is that he ultimately renews in his listeners a belief in the inextinguishable life force that music so supremely instantiates.
Led by Natalie Chee, this enormous ensemble of national and international excellence highlights the depth of Australian music making. So many extraordinary solo interventions were enacted: viola, cello, violin, trumpet, horn, flute, oboe, clarinet, harp, trombone, and contrabassoon. And the massed strings could shake the gods of Valhalla from their stupor. The double basses were Fafner and Fasolt bound together digging deep for the extraordinarily deep dynamics, dark and golden, that Mahler demands.
The sheer schwung of the orchestra and their responsiveness to their conductor was magnificent to listen to and watch. We await next year’s festival!
Australian World Orchestra – Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Sydney – November 24, 2023
Gar Jones
The savagery of the first movement develops organically from the slow introduction that launches the symphony, with a deeply simple syncopated rhythmic motif, while the harp announces further thematic significance. This simplicity of means ultimately results in cosmic significance as Mahler works on his material with obsessive regeneration. The architecture of this complex movement was bedded down by conductor Alexander Bridger – so we could see and feel its progression and elaboration. Mahler builds momentum, collapses it, unwinds, and then regroups – as though burnished and bruised by life’s brutalities. The brass instruments were memorable, with the most spectacular horn playing – powerful and pure. The trombones and tuba were truly “mit Hochster gewalt”. The power and solemnity of the funeral march blazed across the orchestra. This enormous movement sways between struggle and acceptance, love, and loathing. It is a unique journey.
One might be tempted to ask for a more gradated sonority as each thematic episode reappeared – the return of those mighty explosions – but the orchestra had given everything in the first parlay and could only emulate this as each major development occurred. But we were in no doubt that this was a struggle between life and death, where exhaustion is deeply felt. We are suspended in Mahler's cosmos, floating across a vast orchestra, until once more he summons with his grinding sonorities. The struggle is vast.
The deep gemütlichkeit of the second movement’s framework is often sabotaged by Mahler’s devilry. The peasants may be dancing but it is with a kind of deathly inebriation. The sarcasms of these various dance episodes were startling and darkly playful. The rhythmic heft of the playing highlighted the many dynamic levels that Mahler demands – coruscating in their execution by this band of players. In the extremities that Mahler dwells in, the short and the tall of perplexity and peace – the pianissimo ending by piccolo and contrabassoon was beautifully judged and deeply piquant.
In the third and shortest movement, the sheer weight of the terror that the orchestra unleashed induced soft expletives in this listener. The dark jest of the movement requires a sense of shaking menace. This performance of the rondo basked in the composer’s contrapuntal skill and manic violence – both at the same time – and kept the whiplash energy flowing like an enormous current. If the devil had an orchestra it would sound like this.
The slow build of the final adagio was one for the ages. The waves of angst that the strings unwound in this movement displayed cumulative power, exquisitely gradated. The players dug deep for the sound waves that surge and re surge. The sighing turn, almost baroque, that the music trills upon was expertly shaded, and those sounds of suspended stillness were as sharp as starlight flecked across the auditorium. In this movement. the orchestral dynamics seem to broker both a swirling summons and the slow diminution of power and beauty, as life and music expire, breathing slower and slower. The silvery threads of music haunted, with a touching intimation of the Abschied from Das Lied von der Erde (1908/12). “Ewig” indeed, as the hall lights slowly dimmed at one wth the fragile arc of strings sounds, massed and solo. This is a sound world that is febrile yet distilled, haunting (despite the persistent sharp coughs of several deeply gifted audience members).
It is hard to know when this final hymn ends, so soft did it flow into eternity, until only the shaded podium remained in sight with the flickering pulse of fragile yet potent music. All else was darkness as the disintegration of life finally unwound to deliver the cosmic heft of silence. The last two pages of the score can last several minutes. Meanwhile, both tense and reflective, the audience waited to respond. The paradox of Mahler’s obsessions and terrors is that he ultimately renews in his listeners a belief in the inextinguishable life force that music so supremely instantiates.
Led by Natalie Chee, this enormous ensemble of national and international excellence highlights the depth of Australian music making. So many extraordinary solo interventions were enacted: viola, cello, violin, trumpet, horn, flute, oboe, clarinet, harp, trombone, and contrabassoon. And the massed strings could shake the gods of Valhalla from their stupor. The double basses were Fafner and Fasolt bound together digging deep for the extraordinarily deep dynamics, dark and golden, that Mahler demands.
The sheer schwung of the orchestra and their responsiveness to their conductor was magnificent to listen to and watch. We await next year’s festival!
Australian World Orchestra – Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Sydney – November 24, 2023
Gar Jones