St. Louis classical calendar for the week of October 7, 2019

It's a big weekend for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, as well as our local community orchestras.

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The St. Louis Low Brass Collective presents Octubafest on Saturday, October 12, at 3 pm. "Low Brass Polkas and Marches to Celebrate Octoberfest in the Soulard, come and play trombone, euphonium, and or tuba. Light, fun, and easy going, short optional rehearsal before we play to the revelers out at Soulard Market." The event takes place at the Soulard Market, 720 Carroll in Soulard. For more information: stllbc.org.

The St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra

The St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra presents a concert of music by Beethoven, Verdi, Rossini, Sinigaglia, and Dvorak on Thursday, November 11, at 8 p.m. The program includes Dvorak's Symphony No. 7, "From the New World", and Beethoven's "Coriolan" Overture. The concert takes place in Purser Auditorium on the campus of Logan University, 1851 Shoettler Road in Chesterfield, MO. For more information: stlphilharmonic.org.com.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents a Pulitzer Series concert on Tuesday and Wednesday October 8 and 9, at 7:30 PM. The concert features Memory Place by Christopher Cerrone and Songbirdsongs by John Luther Adams, performed by members of the woodwind and percussion sections of the SLSO. The performance takes place at the Pultzer Center for the Arts, 3716 Washington. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Lucas Waldin conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and IN UNISON Chorus, along with vocalists Capathia Jenkins and Ryan Shaw, in A Tribute to Aretha Franklin on Friday, October 11, at 7:30 pm. The concert takes place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Slatkin conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks in Mozart's Oboe Concerto, K. 314; Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben; and Yet Another Set of Variations (on a Theme of Paganini) by various composers. Performances are Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm October 12 and 13. "As Conductor Laureate, Leonard Slatkin is part of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra family. To celebrate his 75th birthday, the orchestra performs a new set of variations on Paganini's most popular melody. SLSO Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks makes her first major concerto appearance with Mozart's Concerto, while Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben displays the skill of every section of the SLSO." Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

The University City Symphony Orchestra presents its season premiere concert on Sunday, October 13, at 3 pm, with a pre-concert talk at 2:15 pm. "Be Our Guest! You are cordially invited to the UCSO's opening concert of the 2019-2020 Season. The concert will feature violinist Manuel Ramos in a stunning performance of the Rodolfo Halffter Violin Concerto - a rare gem. Come see what makes the UCSO 'The World's Most Adventurous Community Orchestra!'.”The performance takes place at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity in University City. For more information: ucso.org.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of October 7, 2019

Another big explosion of theatre this week, including shows from New Jewish, KTK, and Stray Dog.

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The Agitators
Photo by ProPhotoSTL

Upstream Theater presents The Agitators running through October 13. "Upstream Theater is excited to present Mat Smart's compelling play The Agitators, which takes us straight into the thunder and lightning of the 45-year friendship between Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. After meeting in Rochester in the 1840's, these two social activists became great allies and, at times, great adversaries. They agitated the nation, they agitated (and sometimes aggravated) each other and, in so doing they helped change the Constitution and the course of American history." Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, including show times: upstreamtheater.org.

KTK Productions presents the comedy/drama Amateurs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, October 11-20. "Following the opening night of the Timberly Troupers' musical about undertakers, Dorothy and her slightly daft husband, Charlie, host a gathering of actors and friends. The chic opening night party is in another part of town, but into Dorothy's living room comes a guest list that includes Nathan (a recently divorced high school teacher who is also a very bad ventriloquist), Wayne (better at loving than acting), Jennifer (who has a sure shot at Hollywood stardom), Ernie (one of the Troupers' actors filled with ham and spite), Irene (his out of patience wife), Mona (who was in love with Wayne but has since moved on to someone else) and Paul (a well-known drama critic and friend of Dorothy's who has just broken his rule of never reviewing community theater). When Paul has a heart attack he drops his not-yet-published review before being taken to the hospital. The actors read it and confront the harsh reality of a pan. Dorothy's sweetness and patience rise above Ernie's bitter tirade, and the others trade barbs and insults as they try to control their emotions. The party becomes the setting where the dreams, loves, failures and successes of this group are explored with bittersweet humor and the relationship between risk and need is touchingly depicted." Performances take place at St. John the Baptist Church, 4200 Delor. For more information: kurtainkall.org or call 314-351-8984.

Brighton Beach MemoirsPhoto: Greg Lazerwtz

New Jewish Theater presents Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 4 and 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm, October 10-27. "Brighton Beach, September 1937. Eugene Jerome is dreaming of baseball and girls. Over the course of a few short days amid family harmony and disharmony, young Eugene will come to understand life a little deeper. This award-winning play is a bittersweet memoir that captures the life of a struggling Jewish household where, as his father states 'if you didn't have a problem, you wouldn't be living here.'" Performances take place in the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur. For more information: www.newjewishtheatre.org or call 314-442-3283.

TLT Productions presents Chasing Waterfalls through October 12. "Chasing Waterfalls, a R&B musical revue strolls down musical memory lanes. Featuring music from the 90's Era and the early 00's - 'Chasing Waterfalls' explores pop culture and the glorified life of the music industry." Performances take place at the .ZACK Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: www.metrotix.com

CSZ St. Louis presents The ComedySportz Show on Saturday nights at 7:30 pm. The show is "action-packed, interactive and hilarious comedy played as a sport. Two teams battle it out for points and your laughs! You choose the winners the teams provide the funny!" Performances take place on the second floor of the Sugar Cubed, 917 S Main St. in St Charles, Mo. For more information: www.cszstlouis.com.

Cry-Baby
Photo by Jill Ritter Lindberg

New Line Theatre presents the musical Cry-Baby Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm through October 19. "It's 1954. Everyone likes Ike, nobody likes communism, and Wade 'Cry-Baby' Walker is the coolest boy in Baltimore. He's a bad boy with a good cause -- truth, justice, and the pursuit of rock and roll." Performances take place at the Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepard Drive, three blocks east of Grand, in Grand Center. For more information, visit newlinetheatre.com or call 314-534-1111.

Metro Theatre Company presents The Girl Who Swallowed a Cactus Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm, October 12 and 13. "When school is out, there's nothing to do and the desert sun beats down hot. Sheila and her friends find themselves in search of something-anything-interesting to explore. So when a walking, talking, and surprisingly well-dressed coyote shows up, the kids find themselves on the adventure of a lifetime!" The performances take place at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. For more information: metroplays.org.

Hello, Dolly!

The Fabulous Fox Theatre presents the musical Hello Dolly! through October 13. "Winner of four Tony® Awards including Best Musical Revival, HELLO, DOLLY! is the universally acclaimed smash that NPR calls "the best show of the year!" and the Los Angeles Times says "distills the mood-elevating properties of the American musical at its giddy best." Director Jerry Zaks' "gorgeous" new production (Vogue) is "making people crazy happy!" (The Washington Post). After breaking box office records week after week and receiving unanimous raves on Broadway, this HELLO, DOLLY! is now touring America, paying tribute to the original work of legendary director/choreographer Gower Champion - hailed both then and now as one of the greatest stagings in musical theater history." The Fabulous Fox Theatre in on N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts presents Ismene by Sato Makoto Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through October 13. "Ismene is a modern take on Sophocles' Antigone told through the eyes of Antigone's younger sister. Her beloved brothers have killed each other in battle; the king has declared one a hero and the other a traitor. When the body of her traitorous brother is delivered to her door, Ismene must decide what to do. This poignant, absurdist play explores the role of family, loyalty, and coca cola in one of the great Greek tragedies." Performances take place in the Emerson Studio Theater of the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information, www.webster.edu/conservatory/season or call 314-968-7128.

Lindenwood University presents the musical Little Shop of Horrors Wednesday through Friday at 7:30 pm, Saturday at 2 and 7:30 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm, October 9-13. "The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names "Audrey II" - after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down and out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it, blood. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II's out-of-this-world origins and intent towards global domination!" Performances take place at the Scheiegger Center for the Arts on the Lindenwood campus in St. Charles, MO. For more information: http://www.lindenwood.edu/j-scheidegger-center-for-the-arts.

Clinton County Showcase presents the drama Mama's Boy Fridays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, October 11-20 "The riveting story of Lee Harvey Oswald and his complex relationship with his overbearing mother Marguerite, "Mama's Boy" follows Marguerite's reckless attempts to reunite her family, from Lee's return to the U.S. from Russia, through the assassination of Kennedy, to her son's own murder and her defense of his innocence in the months that follow. A fascinating examination of family dynamics and obsessive maternal devotion played out in the shadow of history. The Kennedy assassination serves as a framework for "Mama's Boy," but the play isn't overtly political, or intended to change public opinion." Performances take place outdoors at the Avon Theatre, 535 N. 2nd St. in Breese IL. For more information, visit ccshowcase.com.

A Night With Janis Joplin

The Stifel Theatre presents A Night With Janis Joplin on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 8 and 9, at 7:30 pm."Fueled by these amazing songs, A Night With Janis Joplin is a sensational show featuring a musical journey celebrating Joplin and her biggest musical influences like Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Odetta, Nina Simone and Bessie Smith. These are the women who inspired one of rock and roll’s greatest legends." The Stifel Theatre is at 14th and Market downtown. For more information: stifeltheatre.com.

The St. Louis Writers' Group presents the first round of its Playwright Slam on Monday, October 7, at 6:30 pm. "Get ready for a night of fun impromptu theater. The order of scripts to be read will be chosen at random. Actors to read will be chosen at random. Each script will be given a five minute read, and rated by a panel of judges based upon audience reaction. The judges will select several plays to move on to round two which will be ten minutes of the same script, from which a winner will be chosen." The event takes place upstairs at Big Daddy's, 1000 Sidney in Soulard. For more information: www.stlwritersgroup.com.

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Sherlock Holmes in "The Case Without a Clue" running through October 27 The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

A Call to Conscience presents The Three Not-So-Little Pigs on Wednesday, October 9, at 10 am. "A St. Louis play about bullying set in various neighborhoods in the St. Louis area. "The Three Not-So-Little Pigs" shows the damaging effects of physical, verbal, and social bullying. The play encourages students to explore the importance of standing up for each other, learning to get along with one another, and being good friends." The performance takes place at the Emerson Theatre at Harris Stowe University, 3046 Laclede. For more information: https://acalltoconscience.org/

The University Theatre at Saint Louis University presents Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, October 10-13. "Separated in a shipwreck, twins Viola and Sebastian each believe the other is dead. The stranded Viola disguises herself as a man leading to an unlikely and comical love triangle. Trickery, confusion and romantic hijinks abound in this most beloved of Shakespeare's comedies. Directed by Nancy Bell." Performances take place at The Grandel, 3610 Grandel Square in Grand Center. For more information: metrotix.com or at the venue one hour prior to performance.

Valhalla Cemetery and The Hawthorne Players present Voices Of Valhalla: A Hayride Through History through October 12. Hayrides through Valhalla Cemetery depart every fifteen minutes beginning at 6:30 each evening as members of the Hawthorne Players portray some of the noted locals buried in Valhalla. Valhalla Cemetery is located at 7600 St. Charles Rock Road. For more information, visit hawthorneplayers.com.

Stray Dog Theatre presents the rock musical The Who's Tommy opening on Thursday, October 10, at 8 pm and running through October 26. "Back by popular demand! Based on the iconic 1969 rock concept album, The Who's TOMMY is an exhilarating tale of hope, healing, and the human spirit. The story of the pinball-playing, deaf, dumb, and blind boy who triumphs over his adversities has inspired and amazed audiences for 50 years." Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

Alfresco Productions presents the Mel Brooks musical Young Frankenstein Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, October 11-20. Performances take place at the Alfresco Art Center, 2401 Delmar in Granite City, IL. For more information: (618) 560-1947 or www.alfrescoproductions.org.

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents Zombie Love (No Biting) running through November 2. "Calling all Zombies! Tired of being judged for munching on the occasional brain? So you're not really "alive" anymore but you can still enjoy socializing with the living and enjoying a hilarious show together! Well, we've got the perfect show for you! Drama! Comedy! Looove! ...And, of course, Zombies! Don your best Living Dead Costume and choose to be a Zombie, or not (its up to you), but we do promise lots of fun for both the living and the undead! hey, Hey, HEY! No Biting!" The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.

For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.

Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of October 4, 2019

Lots of new stuff this week, including a unique theatre/dance hybrid.

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New This Week:

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The Agitators
Photo by ProPhotoSTL

Upstream Theater presents The Agitators running through October 13. "Upstream Theater is excited to present Mat Smart's compelling play The Agitators, which takes us straight into the thunder and lightning of the 45-year friendship between Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. After meeting in Rochester in the 1840's, these two social activists became great allies and, at times, great adversaries. They agitated the nation, they agitated (and sometimes aggravated) each other and, in so doing they helped change the Constitution and the course of American history." Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, including show times: upstreamtheater.org.

My take: This is a somewhat qualified recommendation, based mostly on the rave reviews about the work of the two actors in the show, J. Samuel Douglas and Erin Kelley. In her KDHX review, for example, Tina Farmer writes that "J. Samuel Davis returns to the Upstream stage in the role of Frederick Douglass. Once again he gives a superb performance...Erin Kelley does fine work in her portrayal of Susan B. Anthony, convincing us of this woman's utter, tireless commitment to the cause." But she goes on to note tha the script is "rather weak" and that the characters themselves are a bit one-dimensional. At Limelight, Andrea Braun strikes a similar note, observing that "much of the play seems rather like a lecture" but adds "if there are better actors than Kelley and Davis to play these parts, I don’t know who they are." All the other aspects of the production have gotten plenty of praise as well and the play tells a story that is probably not well known, so (to quote The Bard), "'tis enough, 'twill suffice."

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Equivocation
Photo by John Lamb

The West End Players Guild opens its 109th season with Bill Cain's Equivocation Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, October 3-6. "Equivocation is a Shakespearean tale of intrigue starring the Bard himself. The King offers Shakespeare a commission he can't refuse, to write a play about the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament. Shakespeare discovers it is a perilous assignment, as he learns that the King's version of the story does not quite square with the facts. Shakespeare is torn between the truth and the Crown. Can he walk this tightrope without losing his head (literally)?" There will also be a show on Thursday, October 3, at 8 pm. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 North Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, call 314-367-0025 or visit www.westendplayers.org.

My take: Speaking of The Bard, This freewheeling mix of fact and fiction has gotten good notices. "West End Players Guild begins its 109th season," writes Mark Bretz at Ladue News, "with an absorbing production of this provocative, fascinating and richly rewarding play by Jesuit priest Bill Cain." At STLToday, Calvin Wilson is less enthused about the script but praises the "imaginative direction and a terrific acting ensemble" and ends by calling it "a witty and wonderfully insightful play and a must-see for fans of all things Shakespearean." Sounds like a plan.

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Hello, Dolly!

The Fabulous Fox Theatre presents the musical Hello Dolly! running through October 13. "Winner of four Tony® Awards including Best Musical Revival, HELLO, DOLLY! is the universally acclaimed smash that NPR calls "the best show of the year!" and the Los Angeles Times says "distills the mood-elevating properties of the American musical at its giddy best." Director Jerry Zaks' "gorgeous" new production (Vogue) is "making people crazy happy!" (The Washington Post). After breaking box office records week after week and receiving unanimous raves on Broadway, this HELLO, DOLLY! is now touring America, paying tribute to the original work of legendary director/choreographer Gower Champion - hailed both then and now as one of the greatest stagings in musical theater history." The Fabulous Fox Theatre in on N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

My take: How can anyone not like this show? The original Hello, Dolly opened on Broadway in January of 1964 after some rocky out-of-town previews and several revisions. It ran for 2,844 performances, considerably raising the bar for the definition of "blockbuster." It's not hard to see why. Herman's score is one of his best (not that he every wrote a bad song anyway) and the book retains all the humanitarian humor of the Thornton Wilder play on which it's based. Go and enjoy.

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Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, The Big Muddy Dance Company, Jazz St. Louis and the Nine Network of Public Media present an adaptation of Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder Friday and Saturday, October 4-5 at 8:00 pm. "The collaboration between Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Nine Network of Public Media, Jazz St. Louis, and The Big Muddy Dance Company brings to life Such Sweet Thunder, a 12-part jazz suite from Duke Ellington, in a multi-disciplinary performance to portray a tempestuous love story set in the 1950s. Bruce Longworth will adapt the script and direct the ensembles which include two actors Rayme Cornelle (Kate) and Ron Himes (Henry), 18 dancers in original choreography by Dexandro Montalvo and a 15-piece band playing Ellington's timeless score." Free performances take place in the Public Media Commons in Grand Center. Reservations are recommended. For more information: www.sfstl.com

My take: Honestly, I think this just speaks for itself. It's a jazz suite by Duke Ellington based on Shakespeare and adapted by Opera Theatre's Bruce Longworth. What more do you want? Well, how about this: it runs about an hour, it's free, and although it's outdoors, evening temperatures are finally seasonal. Case closed.

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Valhalla Cemetery and The Hawthorne Players present Voices Of Valhalla: A Hayride Through History October 4 - 12. Hayrides through Valhalla Cemetery depart every fifteen minutes beginning at 6:30 each evening as members of the Hawthorne Players portray some of the noted locals buried in Valhalla. Valhalla Cemetery is located at 7600 St. Charles Rock Road. For more information, visit hawthorneplayers.com.

My take: I had a chance to both see and appear in this annual event in 2014 and again in 2016, and I must say that I was impressed by the professionalism of both the script (assembled by director Larry Marsh from historical sources) and the quality of the performances. Here's how it works: you pile on a hay wagon and are driven through historic Valhalla Cemetery. At various points during the ride, the wagon stops and an actor portraying a historical figure buried at Valhalla steps out of the darkness and delivers a monologue on his or her life. They can be comic, tragic, or a combination of the two, but they're always well researched and informative.

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Held Over:

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Angels in America, Part 2
Photo by ProPhotoSTL

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches and Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika running in alternating repertory with through October 4. "A towering epic that unveils new depths with each passing year, Tony Kushner's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece arrives on The Rep's stage for the first time. The AIDS epidemic is the flashpoint in Kushner's swirling tapestry of American culture, myths and spirituality. Navigating this maelstrom are Prior Walter, whose prophetic visions lead him toward an uncertain destiny, Joe Pitt, a devout and painfully closeted Mormon, and Roy Cohn, a lawyer whose AIDS diagnosis forces him to face a lifetime of misdeeds. These twin plays' vision of a wounded and chaotic nation struggling toward redemption is more urgent than ever." Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: repstl.org

My take: Angels in America: Gay Fantasia on National Themes (to quote its full title) is, effectively, an opera with no singing. It's a sweeping, unapologetically theatrical examination of some of the most basic of human ideas: love, death, loyalty, commitment, community and lots of other things that are usually capitalized when we discuss them. It's an epic tale told, as the best epics are, through the lives of a collection of flawed and fascinating characters. I saw Part 1 last weekend was sufficiently blown away by the quality of the Rep's production to recommend both parts without reservation. Yes, they're very long shows--Part 1 clocks in at around 3:15 with two intermissions and Part 2 (in the current revision, which dates from 2013) at around 3:30. Trust me, you'll never notice the length. Kushner's writing is so deft and this production so brilliantly acted and directed that the time flies like, well, an angel. I'd put this version of Angels right up there with the stunning production Stray Dog did in 2012, and that's high praise indeed.

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Man of La Mancha
Photo by ProPhotoSTL

Stages St. Louis presents the musical Man of La Mancha through October 6. "A romantic and inspiring musical adventure, MAN OF LA MANCHA tells the epic story of seventeenth-century author Miguel de Cervantes and his immortal literary creation Don Quixote." Performances take place in the Robert G. Reim Theatre at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer Road in Kirkwood. For more information: stagesstlouis.org.

My take: Winner of five Tony awards and four Variety Poll of Drama Critics awards and with an impressive track record of 2,329 performances on Broadway, Man of La Mancha has remained enduringly popular since its first performance on the Great White Way in 1965. The Stages production demonstrates forcefully what that is the case. The drama, comedy, and (above all) the inspiring message about the importance of "achieving the impossible" by "attempting the absurd" (to cite the Miguel Unamuno quote that inspired Dale Wasserman to write the show in the first place) come through loud and clear. If you're a fan of this play, you won't want to miss this one. It's a polished and moving way to close their current season. And it's even performed in its original one act format, running right at two hours and feeling much shorter.

Symphony Preview: Insecurity complex

This weekend (Friday and Saturday, October 4 and 5) the noted Dutch conductor Edo de Waart leads the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Elgar's Symphony No. 1. They're big works by composers who were, at various points in their lives, beset by crippling writer's block.

Rachmaninoff in 1900
en.wikipedia.org

Probably the most famous case is that of Rachmaninoff. When his Symphony No. 1 had its St. Petersburg premiere in 1897, the twenty something composer seemed destined for greatness. His Piano Concerto No. 1, his opera "Aleko," and numerous other works had met with great success. The performance, alas, was a disaster that plunged the composer into a depression so deep that it took months of hypnotherapy to release his composer's block.

I went into the gory details in an earlier symphony preview article so I won't repeat them here, but suffice it to say that by the time Rachmaninoff got around to writing his "Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor," Op. 30, in 1909, he had his mojo fully working. The work was a hit, but so difficult to perform that for many years the composer himself was its only advocate.

It wasn't until the great Vladimir Horowitz recorded it in 1930 and began to actively promote it that it started to rise in popularity. These days it's so much a part of the standard repertoire that two of the finalists in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition,Fei-Fei Dong and Sean Chen, picked it for their final-round concerts.

This week's soloist, Joyce Yang (herself a silver medalist in the 2005 Cliburn Competition), is no stranger to the concerto, having garnered rave reviews for previous performances. "She played with a polished, pearly evenness that was remarkable for its ease up and down the keyboard," wrote Charles Pasles in the Los Angeles Times. That bodes well.

Interesting local note: Horowitz gave the Rach 3 its St. Louis premiere on January 27, 1928. The pianist had arrived in the USA just two weeks previously and had already created a sensation with the New York Philharmonic under Sir Thomas Beecham. Post-Dispatch music critic Thomas B. Sherman loved Horowitz ("a powerful tone and a sparkling and expertly controlled technique") but hated the concerto, calling it "as dull a thing as the noted Muscovite expatriate has ever done". History has rather overruled him that one.

Like Rachmaninoff, Edward Elgar had his share of insecurities, many of them stemming from his humble origins in rural Worcester from the fact that, unlike Rachmaninoff, he was largely self-taught as a composer, without the usual conservatory training. As Calvin Dotsey writes in notes for the Houston Symphony, the composer "struggled in obscurity for many years before finding fame in 1899 with his 'Enigma Variations,' a musical tribute to his wife and the close friends that had believed in him. Even after he had become a national figure and received a knighthood, money continued to be scarce for years to come, and Elgar suffered from periods of self-doubt and composer's block."

Edward Elgar, circa 1900
en.wikipedia.org

Too, many 19th century composers felt intimidated by the long shadow cast by Beethoven, so they didn't even attempt to write symphonies until they felt very sure of their craft. Brahms, for one, didn't feel confident enough to write a symphony until he was 43, and Elgar didn't finish his until he was 51.

Elgar's situation was further complicated, as Mr. Dotsey points out, because of the way Britain's musical landscape at the time was largely under foreign occupation:

In addition to the "giants" behind him, Elgar faced pressure as the first British composer of orchestral music to ever win widespread international acclaim. Despite Britain's poets, novelists, painters, scientists, playwrights and sprawling empire, for nearly two centuries British musical life had been dominated by foreigners: Handel and J. C. Bach took up residence in London, and Haydn, Mendelssohn and Dvorák had all made significant visits (a young Elgar actually played violin in an orchestra conducted by Dvorák at a choral festival in 1884). The reception of Elgar's First Symphony reflected not merely on himself, but on his nation, which had long been mocked by Germans as "das Land ohne Musik" ("the land without music").

Happily, the December 3, 1908, premiere of Elgar's first symphony was a massive hit. As recounted in Meirion Hughes's "The English Musical Renaissance and the Press 1850-1914: Watchmen of Music," The Daily Telegraph called it "a masterwork to our national musical literature." The Morning Post dubbed it "a work of the future [that] will stand as a legacy for coming generations."

Better yet, it was a hit with the public. "The symphony was an immediate success," notes the elgar.com web site, "with Elgar being recalled to the platform several times both during and after the symphony's first performance and the first London performance four days later. The symphony received around 100 performances during its first year and remains a standard of the classical repertoire, still performed regularly today." That said, the work isn't heard all that often here in the USA, so this weekend is a rare chance to experience it.

Mr. Dotsey has an excellent description of what you can expect to hear in Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in the program notes I cited earlier, as does Paul Horsley in program notes for the Kennedy Center. So I'll just add that, like most of Elgar's music, the symphony strongly reflects the inner life of the man who composed it. As David Cox writes in his chapter on Elgar in "The Symphony" (Penguin Books, 1967, edited by Robert Simpson):

Elgar's personality presented many contrasts, which are reflected in his music. Exuberance and joyous acceptance were offset by nightmarish self-doubt. Crude patriotic feelings contrast with the sensitive, poetic, near-mystic side of him... Now emotional, generous, warm-hearted; now withdrawn, irritable, discontented. At times aggressive and abrupt, hiding a shy, extremely sensitive nature.

Personally, I can hear many of those facets of his persona in this piece. There's quiet British confidence in the opening theme of the first movement, but it quickly gives way to an agitated sense of drama. The second movement scherzo is bustling and a bit anxious, and its middle section is a positively bellicose march. The Adagio third movement is surely "generous" and "warm-hearted," conjuring up images of a quiet English country fireside, and the dramatic final movement concludes with a powerful, confident restatement of the opening theme of the first movement that Elgar said expressed his "massive hope for the future."

Thank God he never lived to see Boris Johnson and Brexit.

The essentials: Edo de Waart conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with pianist Joyce Yang in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Elgar's Symphony No. 1 on Friday at 10:30 am and Saturday at 8 pm, October 4 and 5. Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center.

Symphony Review: An inspiring Mahler "Resurrection" from the SLSO

A good Mahler's Symphony No. 2 ("Resurrection") should deliver the "three Ts": tragedy, terror, and triumph. The performance last Friday night (September 27, 2009) by Stéphane Denève and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) and Chorus did all that and more. It was a brilliant piece of work.

[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview.]

The SLSO assembles for the Mahler 2nd

The "Resurrection" Symphony has long been a favorite of mine, going back to my first encounter with the classic Otto Klemperer recording from the early 1960s. A kind of Mahler multivitamin, the "Resurrection" contains all the key elements of the Viennese master's work: moments of chamber-music delicacy alternating with massive orchestral outbursts; vulgar marches; lilting Ländler; a darkly comic scherzo; and passages of sublime beauty; and, of course, that overwhelming final movement. And yet, in the musical equivalent of alchemy, Mahler's sense of architecture somehow transmutes it all into a single, unified work that brilliantly encompasses the themes of death, rebirth, and transcendence.

I loved everything about this performance, with certain moments standing out as emblematic of Mr. Denève's masterful command of the work.

Tamara Mumford

A tone of dramatic urgency was set from the start. There was anxiety in the string tremolos, and the rising first theme in the lower strings crackled with energy and menace. Mr. Denève used Mahler's silences very effectively, giving the final massive statement of the "death march" theme overwhelming power. That theme builds to a massive, dissonant series of chords in the brasses that resolves in a massive orchestral crash. Friday night it felt like the crack of doom.

There were many other wonderful details to be heard, all attesting to Mr. Denève's deep understanding of this music, right down to the most polished details. The Ländler theme of the second movement radiated wistful charm and the later pizzicato repetition by the strings was sheer gossamer. The sharp tympani attack that opened the third movement was striking and the orchestral "death shriek" at the end of that movement was hair raising. A writer for the BBC Symphony once described this as "the whole orchestra blowing/hammering/playing the heck out of their instruments," which about sums it up.

And then there was the calming fourth movement, with mezzo soloist Tamara Mumford both acting and singing the role of the small child insisting on admission to heaven with impressive conviction. She was a last-minute substitute for an ailing Kelley O'Connor, but you wouldn't have known that from the quality of her work. Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks blended with her lovingly in the first verse.

Joélle Harvey

The big challenge, of course, is the fifth and final movement, which begins with apocalypse--including offstage horns and even a brass band--and ends with the massive celebration of rebirth. Mahler wrote his own lyrics for this section, and they take the Christian concept of resurrection and expand it to a pantheistic celebration of life renewed. "At the end of the Second Symphony," observes Mr. Denève in the program notes, "the god that offers the possibility to arise, to be immortal, is a god that does not judge."

That's a lot of baggage for one movement and it can feel episodic, but it all worked perfectly Friday night. Soprano Joélle Harvey sang the "O glaube, mein Herz, o glaube" ("O believe, my heart, believe") verses with feeling, and the chorus sang with irresistible clarity and force. That final, full volume statement by the chorus and orchestra of Mahler's belief in the redemptive power of love was a glorious thing to behold.

This was, in short, a "Resurrection" that grabbed me from the start and didn't let go until that ecstatic finale.

Best of all, the SLSO musicians were all at the top of their game. The principals in every section played their solo moments perfectly. I was especially taken with Principal Flute Mark Sparks and Ann Choomack on piccolo in their fifth movement "birdsong" solo, but everyone covered themselves with glory. The horns and brasses, in particular, have never sounded better. All things considered, I'd rank that "Resurrection" up there with my all-time favorite, the one Leonard Slatkin conducted with the SLSO back in 1983. It was recorded digitally for Teldec back then. It's out of print, but you can still find it on Amazon.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra season continues this Friday at 10:30 am and Saturday at 8 pm with a pair of Romantic blockbusters: Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Elgar's Symphony No. 1. Edo de Waart will be at the podium and Joyce Yang at the keyboard. Performances take place in Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center.

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of September 30, 2019

There are new shows in the mix this week from Webster University, Shakespeare Festival, and the Fabulous Fox.

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The Agitators
Photo by ProPhotoSTL

Upstream Theater presents The Agitators running through October 13. "Upstream Theater is excited to present Mat Smart's compelling play The Agitators, which takes us straight into the thunder and lightning of the 45-year friendship between Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. After meeting in Rochester in the 1840's, these two social activists became great allies and, at times, great adversaries. They agitated the nation, they agitated (and sometimes aggravated) each other and, in so doing they helped change the Constitution and the course of American history." Performances take place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, including show times: upstreamtheater.org.

Angels in America, Part 1
Photo by Peter Wochniak

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches and Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika in alternating repertory through October 4. "A towering epic that unveils new depths with each passing year, Tony Kushner's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece arrives on The Rep's stage for the first time. The AIDS epidemic is the flashpoint in Kushner's swirling tapestry of American culture, myths and spirituality. Navigating this maelstrom are Prior Walter, whose prophetic visions lead him toward an uncertain destiny, Joe Pitt, a devout and painfully closeted Mormon, and Roy Cohn, a lawyer whose AIDS diagnosis forces him to face a lifetime of misdeeds. These twin plays' vision of a wounded and chaotic nation struggling toward redemption is more urgent than ever." Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: repstl.org

Alpha Players present the musical The Bridges of Madison County running through October 6. Performances take place at The Florissant Civic Center Theater, Parker Rd. at Waterford Dr. in Florissant, MO. For more information: alphaplayers.org, call 314-921-5678.

TLT Productions presents Chasing Waterfalls opening on Friday, October 4, at 8 pm and running through October 12. "Chasing Waterfalls, a R&B musical revue strolls down musical memory lanes. Featuring music from the 90's Era and the early 00's - 'Chasing Waterfalls' explores pop culture and the glorified life of the music industry." Performances take place at the .ZACK Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: www.metrotix.com

CSZ St. Louis presents The ComedySportz Show on Saturday nights at 7:30 pm. The show is "action-packed, interactive and hilarious comedy played as a sport. Two teams battle it out for points and your laughs! You choose the winners the teams provide the funny!" Performances take place on the second floor of the Sugar Cubed, 917 S Main St. in St Charles, Mo. For more information: www.cszstlouis.com.

Cry-Baby
Photo by Jill Ritter Lindberg

New Line Theatre presents the musical Cry-Baby Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm through October 19. "It's 1954. Everyone likes Ike, nobody likes communism, and Wade 'Cry-Baby' Walker is the coolest boy in Baltimore. He's a bad boy with a good cause -- truth, justice, and the pursuit of rock and roll." Performances take place at the Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepard Drive, three blocks east of Grand, in Grand Center. For more information, visit newlinetheatre.com or call 314-534-1111.

Equivocation
Photo by John Lamb

The West End Players Guild opens its 109th season with Bill Cain's Equivocation Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, October 3-6. "Equivocation is a Shakespearean tale of intrigue starring the Bard himself. The King offers Shakespeare a commission he can't refuse, to write a play about the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament. Shakespeare discovers it is a perilous assignment, as he learns that the King's version of the story does not quite square with the facts. Shakespeare is torn between the truth and the Crown. Can he walk this tightrope without losing his head (literally)?" There will also be a show on Thursday, October 3, at 8 pm. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 North Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, call 314-367-0025 or visit www.westendplayers.org.

Fifty Words
Photo courtesy of STLAS

St. Louis Actors' Studio presents Fifty Words by Michael Weller Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm through October 6. "While their nine-year-old son is away for the night on his first sleepover, Adam and Jan have an evening alone together, their first in years. Adam's attempt to seduce his wife before he leaves on business the next day begins a suspenseful nightlong roller-coaster ride of revelation, rancor, passion and humor that explores a modern-day marriage on the verge of either a breakup or deepening love and understanding." Performances take place at the Gaslight Theatre on North Boyle in the Central West End. For more information, call 314-458-2978 or visit stlas.org.

Hello, Dolly!

The Fabulous Fox Theatre presents the musical Hello Dolly! opening on Tuesday, October 1, at 7:30 pm and running through October 13. "Winner of four Tony® Awards including Best Musical Revival, HELLO, DOLLY! is the universally acclaimed smash that NPR calls “the best show of the year!” and the Los Angeles Times says “distills the mood-elevating properties of the American musical at its giddy best.” Director Jerry Zaks' “gorgeous” new production (Vogue) is “making people crazy happy!” (The Washington Post). After breaking box office records week after week and receiving unanimous raves on Broadway, this HELLO, DOLLY! is now touring America, paying tribute to the original work of legendary director/choreographer Gower Champion - hailed both then and now as one of the greatest stagings in musical theater history." The Fabulous Fox Theatre in on N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: fabulousfox.com.

Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts presents Ismene by Sato Makoto Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm Saturdaya at 2 and 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, October 3-13. "Ismene is a modern take on Sophocles' Antigone told through the eyes of Antigone's younger sister. Her beloved brothers have killed each other in battle; the king has declared one a hero and the other a traitor. When the body of her traitorous brother is delivered to her door, Ismene must decide what to do. This poignant, absurdist play explores the role of family, loyalty, and coca cola in one of the great Greek tragedies." Performances take place in the Emerson Studio Theater of the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information, www.webster.edu/conservatory/season or call 314-968-7128.

Satori presents Man in the Box by Tom Brady and Monica Newsam in collaboration with video artist Zlatko Cosic, on Friday, October 4, at 8 pm. " Man in the Box as performed in 2019 represents the culmination of a personal journey, witnessing the artistic growth as evolved over more than 40 years. Brady and Newsam perform together moving through a forest of eighteen -15' poles set to Brady's original music. Audience is immersed in the vision as catalyst. The juxtaposition of the sculptural stage space, light and shadow, original sound track and innovative movement vocabulary, create a transformative, visceral response." Satori is at 3003 Locust in Midtown. For more information: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/annonyarts-at-satori-3023940440

Man of La Mancha
Photo by ProPhotoSTL

Stages St. Louis presents the musical Man of La Mancha through October 6. "A romantic and inspiring musical adventure, MAN OF LA MANCHA tells the epic story of seventeenth-century author Miguel de Cervantes and his immortal literary creation Don Quixote." Performances take place in the Robert G. Reim Theatre at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer Road in Kirkwood. For more information: stagesstlouis.org.

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Sherlock Holmes in "The Case Without a Clue" running through October 27 The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, The Big Muddy Dance Company, Jazz St. Louis and the Nine Network of Public Media present an adaptation of Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder Thursday through Saturday, October 3-5 at 8:00 pm. "The collaboration between Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Nine Network of Public Media, Jazz St. Louis, and The Big Muddy Dance Company brings to life Such Sweet Thunder, a 12-part jazz suite from Duke Ellington, in a multi-disciplinary performance to portray a tempestuous love story set in the 1950s. Bruce Longworth will adapt the script and direct the ensembles which include two actors Rayme Cornelle (Kate) and Ron Himes (Henry), 18 dancers in original choreography by Dexandro Montalvo and a 15-piece band playing Ellington's timeless score." Free performances take place in the Public Media Commons in Grand Center. Reservations are recommended. For more information: www.sfstl.com

Valhalla Cemetery and The Hawthorne Players present Voices Of Valhalla: A Hayride Through History October 4 - 12. Hayrides through Valhalla Cemetery depart every fifteen minutes beginning at 6:30 each evening as members of the Hawthorne Players portray some of the noted locals buried in Valhalla. Valhalla Cemetery is located at 7600 St. Charles Rock Road. For more information, visit hawthorneplayers.com.

YoungLiars present Whammy! The Seven Secrets to a Sane Self at Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm through October 5. "The agony and the ecstasy of "self-help" get a delirious makeover in this madcap dance-theatre extravaganza. Part 1960s dance party and part Nietzschean nightmare, Whammy! prods and probes the American fever dream where Dr. Phil, Diazepam and daily affirmations crash headlong in sexual addiction, suicide and The Shirelles. WTF? Want to know the seven secrets to a sane self? You know you do! And there's only one way to find out! The show that started it all. Whammy! was the opening production of the inaugural Xfest. Ten years later the show (which has been presented in St. Louis, Columbus and NYC) returns - re-imagined and re-cast, featuring SIUE Theater Dance alums and faculty." Performances take place at The Centene Center for the Arts, 3547 Olive in Grand Center. For more information: www.facebook.com

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents Zombie Love (No Biting) running through November 2. "Calling all Zombies! Tired of being judged for munching on the occasional brain? So you're not really "alive" anymore but you can still enjoy socializing with the living and enjoying a hilarious show together! Well, we've got the perfect show for you! Drama! Comedy! Looove! ...And, of course, Zombies! Don your best Living Dead Costume and choose to be a Zombie, or not (its up to you), but we do promise lots of fun for both the living and the undead! hey, Hey, HEY! No Biting!" The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.

For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.

Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

St. Louis classical calendar for the week of September 30, 2019

It's officially fall, but the weather is hot and so is the local classical scene, with concerts from (among others) the SLSO, the Chamber Project, and nationally known organist Christopher Houlihan.

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The Bach Society of St. Louis presents Bachtoberfest on Friday, October 4, at 6 pm. " Join us for a festive evening of beer, wine, German fare and Deutschland's favorite drinking songs at the Anheuser Busch Biergarten! Attire is casual or Oktoberfest flair!" The event takes place at the Anheuser Busch Beer Garden, 1200 Lynch. For more information: www.bachsociety.org.

Members of The Chamber Project St. Louis

The Chamber Project STL presents a Very Open Rehearsal on Thursday, October 3, from 7 to 8pm. "Be a part of a working rehearsal with Chamber Project St. Louis. Learn about the process of making music in this casual, interactive musical experience. Ask questions about the music, the instruments, the musicians - whatever comes to mind. A moderator will facilitate engagement between the audience and the musicians, who will be preparing a piece for the upcoming concert on October 11." The event takes place at the Thornhill Branch of the St. Louis County Library, 12863 Willowyck Dr. For more information: chamberprojectstl.org.

Christopher Houlihan

Hope Lutheran Church presents organist Christopher Houlihan in a dedication recital for the church's newly constructed Parsons Pipe Organ on Friday, October 4, at 7:30 pm. "Houlihan's organ dedication recital includes favorites by Bach, Buxtehude, Schumann, Herbert Howells, and excerpts from Louis Vierne's Symphony No. 2. A renowned interpreter of Vierne's organ music, Houlihan's 'Vierne 2012' tour attracted international attention and critical acclaim for his marathon performances of Vierne's six organ symphonies in six major North American cities. The Los Angeles Times called his performance there 'a major surprise of the summer, a true revelation'.” Hope Lutheran Church is at 5218 Neosho Street. For more information: http://www.hopelutheranstl.org/home.

The St. Louis Chamber Chorus presents Swimming Over London on Sunday, October 6, at 3 pm. "Join the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus for the opening of Barnes' 31st year and another season of inspired choral music. Bob Chilcott's piece Swimming Over London inspires the theme, which is designed to suit the concert's venue. Now an African American masonic lodge, Masonic Prince Hall Grand originally housed a swimming pool! In addition to Chilcott's piece, the repertoire explores the motif of water in legends of submerged cities (Brahms and Edgar Bainton), to music that evokes lakes and rivers in England, Scotland and Poland in part songs celebrating the Thames (Arthur Bliss), Loch Lomond (Vaughan Williams), and the Vistula (Henryk Górecki)." The concert takes place at the Masonic Prince Hall Grand Lodge, 4525 Olive in Midtown. For more information: www.chamberchorus.org.

Lily Afshar

The St. Louis Classical Guitar Society presents Lily Afshar in Celebrating Women of Classical Guitar on Saturday, October 5, at 8 pm. “Who better to kick off our celebration of women in classical guitar than the first woman in the world to be awarded a Doctor of Music in Guitar Performance? Dr. Lily Afshar holds this claim to fame alongside her long list of equally as impressive accolades. Originally from Iran, her performance will feature Persian and Azerbaijani Ballads which are sure to delight.” The performance takes place at the Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road. For more information: www.guitarstlouis.net.

Edo de Waart conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra along with pianist Joyce Yang in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Elgar's Symphony No. 1 on Friday at 10:30 am and Saturday at 8 pm, October 4 and 5. "Two composers, contemporaries yet strangers, poured their whole selves into their music. Pianist Joyce Yang, “an astonishing virtuoso,” makes her SLSO debut. She captures a full kaleidoscope on Rachmaninoff's journey from darkness into light. Elgar's First Symphony was a hit from its first performance, a musical autobiography that surges with pride, love and joy." Performances take place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Gemma New

Gemma New conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a free community concert on Friday, October 4, at 7 pm. Sharing the stage with more than 100 music educators in a program that celebrates the importance of music education. The EXTRA CREDIT concert is a special side-by-side concert with musicians of the SLSO that celebrates the contributions of educators who teach music. The erformance takes place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Gemma New conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Music Without Boundaries on Sunday, October 6, at 3 pm. "Music is a language spoken around the world, with unique regional dialects created through differences in rhythm, style, instrumentation and tradition. In partnership with the World Traveler Gallery at The Magic House, we will travel around the world exploring a variety of music from different cultures." The concert includes works by Bernstein, Ravel, and Mendelssohn. The erformance takes place at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

Symphony Preview: Heaven, I'm in Heaven

This Friday and Saturday (September 27 and 28) Stéphane Denève leads the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Mahler's awe-inspiring Symphony No. 2 in C minor ("Resurrection"). Running around eighty minutes, it's the only work on the program but, trust me, you won't feel short changed.

Contemporary characterture of Mahler
conducting his Symphony No. 1

According to musicologist Donald Mitchell, Mahler once told Sibelius that a symphony "must be like the world. It must embrace everything." His "Resurrection" Symphony takes that "one stop beyond" to embrace not only the world but also what comes after the world has been left behind. Death, rebirth, transcendence--it's all here and delivered with that dramatic punch that characterizes Mahler's best work.

The "Resurrection" had a long gestation period. Mahler composed the grandly tragic first movement--which he titled Todtenfeier ("Funeral Rite")--in 1888, shortly after the completion of his popular Symphony No. 1. Indeed, as Richard Freed points out in program notes for the National Symphony Orchestra, the composer originally intended this movement as "a direct sequel to his First Symphony, representing the funeral of the hero celebrated as a young man in that just-completed work."

In 1889, during his tenure as director of the Budapest Opera, he began work on the sweetly nostalgic second movement, with its reflection of earthy joys left behind, but didn't manage to finish it until 1893, when he had relocated to Hamburg. There, he also wrote the witty scherzo that became the symphony's third movement. Based on Mahler's earlier setting of a poem from the collection of folk poetry "Das Knaben Wunderhorn" ("The Boy's Magic Horn") about St. Anthony trying to preach to fishes--who, like humans, listen politely and then and go on their merry way--it becomes a metaphor for the endless whirl of daily existence.

At the same time Mahler wrote another "Wunderhorn" song, "Urlicht" ("Primal Light") which would become the basis for the mysterious fourth movement. It represents, in Mahler's words, "the soul's striving and questioning attitude towards God and its own immortality."

The grand final movement, with its overwhelming depiction of the end of the world and the final spiritual rebirth of all things, didn't take shape until 1894 when Mahler attended the funeral of Hans von Bülow, the renowned pianist and conductor who was a major figure on the 19th-century German musical scene. At the funeral, the chorus began to intone the first words of Friedrich Gottlob Klopstock's "Resurrection Ode"):

Rise again, yes, you will rise again,
My dust, after brief rest!
Immortal life! Immortal life
Will He, who called you, grant you.

Soprano Joelle Hervey
Photo courtesy of the artist

As Mahler wrote in an 1897 letter to Arthur Seidl "It flashed on me like lightning, and everything became plain and clear in my mind! It was the flash that all creative artists wait for--"conceiving by the Holy Ghost!" He fleshed out Klopstock's original with lyrics of this own (see below) and the symphony was finally born.

First performed in Berlin in 1895 with the composer conducting, the work was the most popular of Mahler's symphonies during his lifetime and it was voted the fifth most popular symphony of all time by a worldwide poll of high-profile conductors conducted by the BBC Music Magazine in 2016.

Maestro Denève articulates the work's universal appeal quite well in this week's program notes. "Maybe the 'Resurrection' is the most global of Mahler's symphonies. It is beyond religion. He had lost his mother, his father, his sister. At the end of the Second Symphony, the god that offers the possibility to arise, to be immortal, is a god that does not judge.

It is about love. The way we will save ourselves is love."

If that sounds rather unlike the angry, hyper-judgmental religion of some believers these days, perhaps it's because Mahler's own faith has never been entirely clear. An Austrian Jew who converted to Catholicism out of professional expediency, Mahler has always, to my ears, shown a kind of joyous pantheism in his music that transcends the crabbed limitations of dogma. You hear it most prominently in his Symphony No. 3, but also in those lines that Mahler added to Klopstock's originals in the triumphal, ecstatic finale of the "Resurrection" (translation from the SLSO program):

O believe, my heart, believe:
Nothing will be lost to you!
Yours, yes, yours is what you longed for,
Yours what you loved,
What you fought for!

O believe:
You were not born in vain!
You have not lived in vain, nor suffered!

All that has come into being must perish!
All that has perished must rise again!
Cease from trembling!
Prepare to live!

O Pain, piercer of all things!
From you I have been wrested!
O Death, conqueror of all things!
Now you are conquered!

With wings I won for myself,
In love's ardent struggle,
I shall soar upwards
To that light which no eye has penetrated!
I shall die so as to live!

Rise again, yes, you will rise again,
My heart, in the twinkling of an eye!
What you have conquered,
Will bear you to God!

This God doesn't build walls. He doesn't have someone sitting at the gate of heaven to weigh souls. He's not interested in seeing anyone roast in hellfire. He's just welcoming back the part of himself that lives in everyone and everything.

Mezzo Tamara Mumford
Photo courtesy of Opus3 Artists

As you may have gathered from the preceding, the "Resurrection" Symphony has long been a favorite of mine, going back to my first encounter with the classic Otto Klemperer recording from early 1960s. A kind of Mahler multivitamin, the "Resurrection" contains all the key elements of the Viennese master's work: moments of chamber-music delicacy alternating with massive orchestral outbursts, vulgar marches, lilting Ländler, a darkly comic scherzo, and passages of sublime beauty, and, of course, that overwhelming final movement. And yet, in the musical equivalent of alchemy, Mahler's sense of architecture somehow transmutes it all in to a single, unified work that brilliantly encompasses the themes of death, rebirth, and transcendence.

Done well, the work's final glorious moments of spiritual rebirth never fail to move one to tears.

If you'd like a more detailed breakdown of the work, there's quite a good one in this week's program notes. For a lighter point of view, there's a droll article at Britain's commercial classical music station Classic FM that includes video snippets of great conductors going into near-orgasmic states of ecstasy conducting the work's final moments. It's irreverent but not inaccurate.

The Essentials: Stéphane Denève conducts The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus along with soloists Joélle Harvey (soprano) and Tamara Mumford (mezzo-soprano) in a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 ("Resurrection") Friday and Saturday at 8 pm September 27 and 28. Making her SLSO debut, Ms. Mumford appears as a substitute for Kelley O'Connor, who had to withdraw due to illness. Performances take place at Powel Symphony Hall in Grand Center.