Review: Thanks for the memories

This review originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

David Robertson and Orli Shaham

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When I reviewed the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's world premiere of Steven Mackey's Stumble to Grace a few years ago, I was struck by the music's whimsy and humorous sensibility as well as by its flashy orchestral writing. All of those qualities were present once again last Sunday (October 22, 2017) at Powell Hall, as the SLSO opened their concert with Mackey's 2015 Mnemosyne's Pool.

Laid out in five movements and running around forty minutes, Mnemosyne's Pool is scored for a massive orchestra (nearly 100 musicians), including a percussion battery that includes everything from a triangle to a brake drum. The wildly inventive variety of sounds that Mackey produces with those forces provides much of the work's charm.

The title refers to the Greek goddess who presided over the pool of memory in Hades, and in his notes at the Boosey and Hawkes website, Mr. Mackey says that the work centers on "the role of memory in musical creation and reception." An abrupt change in the melodic line "asks the listener to remember an earlier point in the line instead of continue inexorably forward."

To me, the many shifts of mood and orchestral color in Mnemosyne's Pool did, in fact, evoke memories, but they were memories of other composers. The first section, for example, unfolded as a kind of passacaglia that reminded me of Bach. Later a bassoon figure brought Bartok to mind while other passages strongly suggested the work of Leonard Bernstein. There were no explicit quotes or even paraphrases (Mr. Mackey is too original for that), but the overall effect was a kind of kaleidoscopic total recall of a century or so of sound, all filtered through Mr. Mackey's unique sensibility.

In his spoken introduction, maestro David Robertson noted that Mnemosyne's Pool was a work that he had come to love, and his enthusiasm showed in everything he and the SLSO musicians did. The work is, as a Musical America critic noted, a kind of "concerto for orchestra" that bristles with remarkable solo passages for nearly every instrument, and the members of the band all had chances to strut their stuff. Will James and his percussion section, in particular, covered themselves with glory.

After intermission, the orchestra turned to more familiar territory, beginning with Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.

First performed in 1870 and then revised in 1877 and 1880, Romeo and Juliet manages the neat trick of compressing the essential emotional themes of Shakespeare's five-act tragedy into around 20 minutes of music. Mr. Robertson's interpretation was appropriately theatrical, featuring strong dramatic contrasts, beginning with a hushed opening chorale and delicate string pizzicati that made the transition to the first statement of the battle music all the more potent. The famous "love theme" had a lush, swooning feel, enhanced by especially fine playing from Associate Principal Horn Thomas Jöstlein and the rest of the horn section.

The concert concluded with one of the great showpieces of the twentieth century, Rachmaninoff's brilliant Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini from 1934. The Russian expatriate was one of the previous century's great pianists, and the Rhapsody served him well as he toured Europe and America, including an appearance with the SLSO in December of 1934. The piece is a sort of mini-concerto, consisting of 24 variations on (appropriately) the twenty-fourth and last of Niccolò Paganini's Caprices for solo violin -- a tune that has proved irresistible for composers from Liszt to Andrew Lloyd Webber.

At the keyboard was Orli Shaham, who first met Mr. Robertson when two were appearing together at Powell Hall in 1999. They were married in 2003, the same year Mr. Robertson became the SLSO Music Director, but have rarely appeared together with the orchestra. With Mr. Robertson's tenure coming to an end this season, this past weekend's appearance could be the last one they ever do together with the SLSO, which lent a kind of poignancy to the event.

The performance itself displayed the mix of nuance and technical skill that I have come to expect from Ms. Shaham. You could hear the former in the subtle gradations of tone that mirrored changes in the mood of the music, accompanied by changes in facial expression and body language that indicated a deep involvement with the score.

As for Ms. Shaham's virtuosity, it was apparent in every precisely rendered note of this challenging work. This was particularly noticeable in her seemingly effortless way with the fiercely difficult final variation, which even the composer was said to have found a bit daunting.

The applause Sunday was prolonged enough to move Ms. Shaman to play an encore for us: Bach's Prelude in E minor, BWV 855a, in the B minor transcription by the Russian pianist Alexander Siloti. The luminous mix of Baroque and late Romantic elements was an ideal way to end the concert.

Next at Powell Hall: David Robertson conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in music by Richard Strauss, Alban Berg, and Beethoven Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., October 27-29. Soprano Christine Brewer will perform Berg's Seven Early Songs and SLSO Principal Horn Roger Kaza will play Strauss's Horn Concerto No. 2. The concerts will conclude with Beethoven's popular Symphony No. 5. The performances take place at Powell Hall in Grand Center.

(New) season's greetings from the St. Louis Symphony

David Robertson

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The St. Louis Symphony announced its 2016/2017 season today and, after skimming through the complete calendar I have to say it looks like a winner.

You'll probably have your own favorites among the wide variety of programs offered, but here are some of my personal highlights:

"The Spirit of St. Louis" (16 and 17 September): David Robertson conducts a celebration of Charles Lindberg's historic trans-Atlantic flight that includes Kurt Weill's "The Flight of Lindbergh" along with music by Boulez and Debussy (he did fly to France, after all).

"Symphonic Dances" (21-23 October): Orli Shaham will perform Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 4" in a program that also includes Rachmaninoff's nocturnal "Symphonic Dances" and Balakirev's "Islamey". Whether that will be the orchestral version or the insanely difficult solo piano original, I have no idea, although I'd love to see Ms. Shaham take a crack at the latter.

Leonard Slatkin
leonardslatkin.com

"Slatkin Conducts Porgy and Bess" (11-13 November): It's always good to see our former music director on the podium; even more so when it's an all-American program like this one, with works by Barber, Copland, Gershwin, and Mr. Slatkin himself.

"Belshazzar's Feast" (24 and 25 February): Opportunities to hear William Walton's vibrant 1931 cantata are not that common, so this is most welcome. So are the other two works on this English-themed program: Elgar's "Falstaff" and the overture to Nicolai's "Merry Wives of Windsor" (an opera based, of course, on the Shakespeare play).

"An Alpine Symphony" (10 and 11 March): I will never pass up an opportunity to hear Richard Strauss's monumental symphonic poem "Eine Alpensinfonie" (complete with wind machine and thunder sheet). Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 1" (with Steven Osborne as soloist) will make for a nice contrast. Stéphane Denève, whose work I have admired in the past, will conduct.

"Rhapsody in Blue" (7-9 April): It's always a pleasure to her the original jazz band version of the Gershwin classic, especially when paired with his exciting "Concerto in F." Kirill Gerstein will be at the keyboard with Maestro Robertson on the podium. The program will include Milhaud's jazzy ballet score "La Création du Monde" ("The Creation of the World").

Alan Held

"The Flying Dutchman" (4 and 6 May): Building on the success of its previous concert presentations of opera classics, the orchestra and chorus are taking on perhaps their most ambitious effort yet with Wagner's "Der Fliegende Holländer" ("The Flying Dutchman"). With its arresting, tempest-tossed overture and themes of redemption through love, this 1843 opera marked Wagner's emergence as a major operatic composer and librettest. "From here begins my career as poet," he would later write, "and my farewell to the mere concoctor of opera-texts." Principal members of this international cast will be American bass-baritone Alan Held in the title role, Irish soprano Orla Boylan as Senta (whose self sacrifice will set the Dutchman free) and New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Senta's father Daland

Season tickets are available now at the St. Louis Symphony web site.

Symphony Preivew: All roads lead to Mozart

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Nicholas McGegan, who is conducting the St. Louis Symphony in a program of (mostly) Mozart this weekend, is clearly a man who enjoys his work. When I've seen him conduct the orchestra, he practically bounds out to the podium, his face alight with a cherubic smile. His body language shouts: "this is going to be FUN!" And so it always is.

Mozart, party animal

That couldn't be more appropriate for Mozart, a fellow who certainly knew how to enjoy himself. The portrait of Mozart as a potty-mouthed party animal in Peter Shaffer's popular play "Amadeus" may be distorted, but it's a distortion based on reality. Even as a child, some of Mozart's letters home were, as Brockway and Weinstock write in "Men of Music," "so coarse (to our taste but not to that of the eighteenth century) that their editors have scarcely left on unbowdlerized. Mozart is often in high, and very often in ribald, spirits."

Those high spirits are clearly in evidence from the very beginning of the "Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major," K. 271, that closes the first half of this weekend's concerts. "This is an astonishing and delightful opening," writes Charles Rosen of the Allegro first movement in "The Classical Style, "surprising not only for its use of the soloist at the very outset, but also for the wit with which he enters, as he replies to the orchestral fanfare." The second movement is dramatic and even tragic, but the Rondeau: Presto finale, with an unexpectedly graceful minuet in the middle, once again shows Mozart in jolly form.

The soloist for the concerto is Music Director David Robertson's wife, Orli Shaham. A frequent guest at Powell, Ms. Shaham is a versatile pianist, as comfortable with contemporary music as she is with the established classics. She also has a theatrical keyboard style that's fun to watch, which should mesh nicely with Mr. McGegan's exuberance.

The other Mozart music on the program is a bit more solemn: three entr'actes written in 1774 for the five-act drama "Thamos, King of Egypt" by Tobias Philipp, baron von Gebler. The play is filled with skullduggery and backstabbing in ancient Egypt, so Mozart's incidental music is appropriately dramatic. "Gebler’s play," writes John Henken in program notes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, "is a Masonic allegory, and though not yet a Mason himself, Mozart gave it much of the expressive symbolism he later lavished on The Magic Flute. This is particularly apparent in the first Interlude, with its richly rhetorical chords, slippery chromaticism, muscular tension, and its contrast of light and dark." Whether or not Mozart ever saw a production of the play with his music is unknown.

Haydn in 1792
Artist: Joseph Hardy

Also on the bill this weekend is the "Symphony No. 98 in B-flat major," written in 1792 by Mozart's older contemporary (and admirer) Joseph Haydn. It was part of a dozen symphonies (the last ones he wrote, in fact) composed for a pair of trips to London in the last decade of the eighteenth century that were highly successful, both in terms of critical reception and income. It's notable for, among other things, a second movement that might contain a passing reference to the British national anthem. "The slow movement," writes Philip Huscher in program notes for the Chicago Symphony, "opens with a veiled reference to the first two phrases of 'God save the King,' which Haydn had heard played by a wind band 'in the street during a wild snowstorm' while he was putting the finishing touches on the symphony. Donald Tovey, the British critic and writer, thought that the slow movement, which toys with quoting from Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, was Haydn’s way of paying homage to his friend. Whatever Haydn’s intent, this music is like a great hymn."

The symphony is also notable for its final movement. "At the very end," writes Mr. Huscher, "Haydn uncharacteristically takes the spotlight. Since it was still Haydn’s habit in 1792 to conduct his symphonies from the keyboard, where he would normally provide the unobtrusive harmonies of the continuo part, he wrote a few measures of rippling arpeggios for himself to play. Like all of Haydn’s inside jokes, it’s over in a flash. Apparently the London audience loved it, for, as Haydn’s journal boasted, in a newly learned English that would have impressed Mozart, 'the new Symphony in B-flat was given, and the first and last Allegros encort.'" Playing the role of Haydn this weekend will be Ms. Shaham. Somehow, I don't think she quite looks the part of a 60-year-old Austrian, but I expect her performance will make you forget that.

Gluck in 1775
Artist: Joseph Duplessis

The concerts open with thirteen dances from Christoph Willibald Gluck's 1761 ballet "Don Juan," as arranged by Mr. McGegan. As Paul Schiavo points out in his program notes, Gluck's ballet is based on Molière's play "Le Festin de pierre" ("The Stone Guest"), many elements of which would find their way into Lorenzo DaPonte's libretto for Mozart's "Don Giovanni" over two decades later. "The most arresting music," notes Mr. Schiavo, "comes at the end of the ballet, when the preternatural statue confronts Don Juan and effects his doom. Here furious scale figures, piercing harmonies and menacing tones of the wind instruments make for strong musical drama."

Compared to what Gluck's contemporaries were writing back then, those final movements are highly arresting and melodramatic. Audiences seem to have found it to be rather strong stuff, though. "Gluck’s audience," wrote David Hurwitz in a 2009 article for "Listen" magazine, "was fascinated by the work, as much for the dancing and decor as for the music itself. It exercised a certain horrid fascination — some listeners actually found the piece ugly, but still couldn’t resist it." He goes on to observe that "Gluck’s music inspired a whole new generation of composers. Mozart’s own 'hell scene' in Don Giovanni reveals the clear influence of Gluck’s earlier effort, and not just because it’s in the same key. It is the music’s expressive intensity that links the two composers."

This weekend, it seems, all roads lead to Mozart.

The Essentials: Nicholas McGegan conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, with piano soloist Orli Shaham, on Friday at 10:30 a.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m., November 6 and 7. The concerts take place at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Urban Legends

Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson with pianist Orli Shaham
What: Music of Copland, Bernstein, and John Adams
Where: Powell Symphony Hall
When: February 15-16, 2013

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“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen.” – Raymond Chandler, Red Wind (1938)

In his notes for the 2009 world premiere of City Noir by the Los Angeles Philharmonic composer John Adams doesn’t list Raymond Chandler as a source of inspiration, although he does mention Chinatown and The Naked City (which are surely related). Listening to the bravura performance of City Noir that closed Friday morning’s concert, though, it was that quote from the beginning of Red Wind that came immediately to mind.

Like that story, City Noir is a mix of violence (sometime suppressed, sometimes overt) and sensuality with an “anything can happen” edginess. Written for a large orchestra, including a massive percussion section, a jazz drummer, and an alto sax soloist, the music has the kind of cinematic sweep that suggests a classic private eye flick on steroids. It’s mostly exciting stuff but after a while, especially towards the end of the frenzied first movement, “The City and Its Double,” I began to feel a bit like Marlowe after a working-over by a couple of thugs. This is complex music, but subtle it mostly ain’t.

Still, it gave Mr. Robertson and his forces a chance to show what fine musicians they are. Everyone played well, of course, but Principal Tim Meyers’s “walking” trombone solo in the second movement and Acting Principal Tom Drake’s performance of what Adams describes as a “moody ‘Chinatown’ trumpet solo” in the third were standouts. So was the virtuoso alto sax work of guest soloist Tim McAllister. Principal horn Roger Kaza and the new Principal Violist Beth Guterman Chu also had nice moments in one of the work’s few quieter passages at the end of the second movement. Mr. Robertson conducted with his usual all-in commitment and precision.

This weekend’s performances of City Noir are being recorded by Nonesuch for a later commercial release along with Adams’s Saxophone Concerto (which the symphony is performing in October). I think the record company will be pleased with the results. They’ll also be happy with the lack of coughs, cell phones, or other audience noise during the softer passages, demonstrating that people actually can be quiet when they put their minds to it—or at least when symphony CEO Fred Bronstein makes a personal appeal to do so before the concert.

Orli Shaham
Photo Credit: Christian Steiner

Like City Noir, Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety") is urban music. In Bernstein’s case, though, New York is just the backdrop for musings on the difficulty of finding The Meaning of Life in an age when God is either dead or (to quote Walt Kelly) merely unemployed.

The program for this hybrid of piano concerto and symphony comes from W. H. Auden’s 1947 epic poem of the same name about four angst-ridden young people who meet in a New York bar and try to find the answer to, as Douglas Adams put it, the question of “Life, the Universe, and Everything.” Over the course of the work’s six sections the protagonists reflect on the meaning of life, fantasize about happiness, mourn the death of God (Auden’s “Colossal Dad”), abandon themselves to hedonism in a late-night party, and finally find some sort of faith, or at least a sense of resolution. In a 1977 press conference at the offices of Deutsche Gramophon (where Bernstein was recording Age of Anxiety), the composer said that resolution was the “Buddhistic idea” that God was everywhere.” That notion is probably more Bernstein than Auden, of course.

That’s pretty ambitious stuff for a purely orchestral work (although no more so than, say, Also Sprach Zarathustra) but even without the extra-musical program, The Age of Anxiety still makes perfect sense, with a clearly laid-out structure and irresistible thematic material that is classic Bernstein. Indeed, in the 1977 interview cited above, the composer said that the work had “acquired a life of its own” and that the poem and the symphony were no longer “mutually integral.”

Speaking of interviews, in a Valentine’s Day interview for St. Louis Magazine piano soloist Orli Shaham notes that she and her husband Maestro Robertson have frequently collaborated on Age of Anxiety. “I feel in many ways as I’ve grown with the piece,” she says. “We’ve grown with it together. It’s grown in direct relation to what the other one of us thinks about the piece.” Indeed, Mr. Robertson has even prepared the version of the score she uses (cut and pasted to minimize page turning).

No surprise, then, that their performance Friday morning was of the “two minds with but a single thought” variety. Ms. Shaham was strongly invested in the music, to the point where you could almost see her acting out the parts of Auden’s characters. I’ve always found this somewhat theatrical aspect of Ms. Shaham’s keyboard style very appealing, especially given her formidable technique, and Friday was no exception. Mr. Robertson’s direction made the most of the dramatic contrasts in the score and the overall result was just stunning. The standing ovation that followed should have gone on longer and would have if it had been up to me.

As in the Adams, there were some solo performances in the orchestra that deserve a nod. Tina Ward and Principal Scott Andrews were perfect in the highly exposed clarinet duet that opens the work; Principal double bassist Erik Harris tore up the joint with his “slap bass” part in “The Masque”, which also featured some very flashy work by the percussion section; and Peter Henderson provided some nice accents on celesta and the small (but critical) offstage piano part that Bernstein (as he notes in that 1977 interview) uses as a way to indicate “the separation of self from reality.”

The concert opened with Copland’s short suite of themes from his score for the 1939 film version of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. This peaceful evocation of Grovers Corners, the fictional New England “everytown” of the early 20th century, is about as distant from the tightly wound urban soundscapes of Adams and Bernstein as you can get. But, like them, it strongly evokes a sense of place and time. Mr. Robertson’s interpretation stressed the lyrical a bit more than I prefer, but it was a lovely performance nevertheless. The applause for it was shockingly brief, I thought, given the quality of the performance. Maybe the audience was insufficiently caffeinated.

Next on the regular calendar: There’s a Black History Month concert with the IN UNISON® Chorus on Thursday, February 22 at 7:30 PM and an appearance by jazz trumpeter Chris Botti on Friday, February 23, also at 7:30. The regular season resumes on Friday and Saturday, March 1 and 2, at 8 PM with Delius’s The Walk to the Paradise Garden, Elgar’s Violin Concerto (with Tasmin Little), and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4. Sir Andrew Davis conducts. For ticket information: stlsymphony.org.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Saturday, February 16

Photo Credit: Christian Steiner

Pianist Orli Shaham (pictured) and St. Louis Symphony conductor David Robertson demonstrate why they're the hardest-working couple in classical show biz with a bravura performance of Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety") as part of an American Masters concert weekend. The program also features the local premiere of City Noir, John Adams's hyperchaged 2009 homage to the Los Angeles of Raymond Chandler and Chinatown (which is being recorded live for future release on Nonesuch), and a gracefully lyrical reading of Copland's Our Town suite. The concert starts at 8 PM at Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand in Grand Center. The concert will be broadcast on St. Louis Public Radio at 90.7 FM, HD 1, and on via live Internet stream but, to paraphrase the orchestra's web slogan, you have to see it live. Get your tickets at stlsymphony.org.

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Chuck's Choices for Thanksgiving weekend, 2012

As always, the choices are purely my personal opinion. Take with a grain (or a shaker) of salt.

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New this week:

Orli Shaham with the Tessera Quartet
photo by Ali Winberry)

The Centene Charitable Foundation presents Baby Got Bach on Saturday, November 24, at 10:30 am. “The acclaimed interactive concert series for children age 3 to 6 returns to town with a free show at Centene Plaza, 7700 Forsyth, at the corner of Forsyth and Hanley Roads in Clayton. Hometown musician and internationally renowned concert pianist, Orli Shaham, is the founder and artistic director of this innovative program. Ms. Shaham will be joined by St. Louis Symphony percussionist Thomas Stubbs and friends. This community event is free of charge and reservations are required, and can be made online at www.BabyGotBach.org.”

Mustard Seed Theatre presents Imaginary Jesus through December 2 at the Fontbonne Fine Arts Theatre, 6800 Wydown Blvd. "This hilarious, faced-paced show follows Matt on his journey to discover the true face of Jesus. Along the way he makes friends with St. Peter, a talking donkey and a modern Magadalen; while facing down 'Magic Eight-Ball Jesus,' 'Social Justice Jesus,' 'Legalist Jesus,' and 'King James Jesus' just to name a few." I don't know whether the Church of the SubGenius's "Fightin' Jesus" shows up or not, but even without him still still looks sufficiently demented to merit your attention. For more information, call (314) 719-8060 or visit the web site at www.mustardseedtheatre.com.

Mariposa Artists presents Love Grows Here, an eveing of songs by cabaret star Lina Koutrakos performed by local cabaret artists Shauna Sconce, Robert Breig, Dionna Raedeke, and Katie McGrath, on Saturday, November 24, at 8 PM. Rick Jenses in pianist and music director. Koutrakos's music is powerful stuff and Jensen is one of the best in the business. The performance takes place at the Kranzberg Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/285124 or email mariposa.artists at gmail.com.

Child's play

 

Steven Mackey on "Stumble to Grace"

Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and pianist Orli Shaham conducted by David Robertson
What: Music of Mackey and Mahler
Where: Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis
When: September 23 and 24, 2011

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In the program notes for the world premiere of his Stumble to Grace for piano and orchestra, composer Steven Mackey credits the inspiration for the work to watching his toddler son learn to walk, moving from “experimenting with perambulation” to, a year later, showing “a confident lilt in his step”. “I wanted to open my compositional process”, he writes, "to incorporate some of the whimsy and exuberance that he brings to his exploration of the world.”

Judging from what I saw and heard Friday night, Mr. Mackey has achieved that goal and then some. Whimsy and exuberance are, it seems to me, in rather short supply these days both on the concert stage and in the wider world beyond it. Stumble to Grace has both in abundance, along with a loopy, humorous sensibility, flashy orchestral writing, a spectacular piano part, and undeniable charm. The result is pretty much irresistible.

Written in five movements (which Mr. Mackey, in a possible nod to Piaget, calls “stages”), Stumble to Grace moves from a comical opening in which the deceptively simple-sounding piano line plays something like musical “pat a cake” with the celesta and some of the more specialized noisemakers of the percussion battery, proceeds through increasingly sophisticated episodes, and culminates in a cheerful and hair-raisingly tricky fugal finale. It does so in an unmistakably “modern” but still lively and completely approachable way. Mr. Mackey has, happily, no use for the academic aridity that characterized so much “serious” music as recently as a few decades ago. I heard what sounded like nods to Gershwin, Copland, and Debussy (among others), but overall the sound is entirely Mr. Mackey’s own.

Ms. Shaham and her husband, Mr. Robertson, are friends of Mr. Mackey and his wife. Their young children often share play dates and Mr. Mackey has written music for Ms. Shaham’s Baby Got Bach children’s concert series. These performances of Stumble to Grace have, as a result, the kind of authenticity that you would expect from such a close personal relationship between composer and performer. Ms. Shaham, in particular, seemed very much in the spirit of the thing at every moment, acting the role as well as playing it with great assurance. Mr. Robertson led the orchestra through Mr. Mackey’s sometimes-thorny musical maze with his usual aplomb, and the musicians played with the virtuosity that has come to be their hallmark. Mr. Mackey could not, I think, have asked for a better premiere.

Virtuosity was apparent, as well, in the killer reading of the Mahler Symphony No. 1 that concluded the evening. Clocking in at just under an hour, the First is probably the most economical of Mahler’s symphonies. It is, to paraphrase Anna Russell, a kind of Mahler vitamin pill, combining all the composer’s characteristic gestures in one compact work. It’s all here: the vivid invocation of the natural world, the heaven-storming despair, the macabre humor, the jocular impressions of village bands and sounds that would later be labeled “klezmer”, and, of course, a wildly triumphant finale with a full complement of brass—including an expanded horn section—standing and gloriously blazing away. The subtitle “Titan” that’s often applied to this work may have originally referred to a novel of the same title by Jean-Paul Richter, but I think it’s simply an apt description of this music. Its impact is Titanic in every sense of the word.

A good Mahler First, then, should send you away with tears of joy in your eyes—which is exactly what this performance did. Everything worked for me, including things that sometimes don’t, such as a tendency to linger lovingly over orchestral details or to take slow sections very slowly. This was a Mahler First to remember, with all the humor, drama, and exultation in exactly the right measure and (some minor flubs in the brass section not withstanding) sounding exactly right. It makes me look forward with considerable anticipation to his Bruckner Seventh in November. Yes, a great Mahler conductor is not necessarily a great Bruckner conductor, but bodes well.

Next at Powell Hall: a mostly-American program of Ives, Copland, and Gershwin along with Schoenberg’s ground-breaking Five Pieces for Orchestra. The last is a late substitution for what would have been another world premiere—the Double Bass Concerto No. 3 by Edgar Meyer with the composer as soloist. The one and only performance is Friday, September 30. For more information you may call 314-534-1700, visit stlsymphony.org, like the Saint Louis Symphony Facebook page, or follow @slso on Twitter.