Bignamini and DSO Take On Mahler’s Ninth

Jader Bignamini conducting the final movement of Mahler’s ninth symphony (screen shot from the video being discussed)

Apparently, last week’s account of “the final live-stream of the season in the Live from Orchestra Hall series presented by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO)” was premature. Yesterday evening saw another concert in the series, this time devoted to a single composition. Music Director Jader Bignamini led a very full ensemble in a complete performance of Gustav Mahler’s ninth symphony. In his brief opening remarks Bignamini informed the audience that this was the composer’s last completed symphony. He died before it was first performed; and that first performance was led by his close colleague, Bruno Walter.

Walter would later move to the United States to escape the Nazis. He settled in Beverly Hills and became part of the “Weimar on the Pacific” crowd. His activities included making recordings for Columbia with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (which probably included members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing anonymously). He recorded the Mahler ninth in January and February of 1961, and that album is probably one of the few that affords “close contact” with the composer.  Walter had been recording performances of Mahler’s music for Columbia since 1945, when an album was made of his leading the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York (as it was then known) in a performance of the fourth symphony with soprano Dési Halban singing in the fourth movement.

Mahler was very much a “devil with the details.” When he composed for a large ensemble, much of his writing would give attention to individual instruments. One key advantage of last night’s video was the wealth of opportunities to see instruments seldom encountered with extended solo passages. Given my own instrumental background, my favorite last night was the bass clarinet (Shannon Orme, who holds the Barbara Frankel and Ronald Michalak Chair). In a similar vein, Marcus Schoon received considerable camera attention for his work on contrabassoon. There were also several excellent shots of Dennis Nulty on tuba, as well as percussionists Joseph Becker, Andrés Pichardo-Rosenthal, Luciano Valdes, and James Ritchie, who also added an extra hand to Jeremy Epp’s timpani work. Taken as a whole, the camera work played a leading role in guiding the attentive listener through the vast complexes of Mahler’s polyphonic inventions.

I have lost count of the number of times I have listened to this particular Mahler symphony in Davies Symphony Hall, but the video director for last night’s performances drew my attention to any number of details that I had not previously encountered with ears as my primary resource!