Maazel's Mahler Cycle 2011: Mahler Symphony No.3

Maazel Mahler Cycle: Symphony No. 3 (Royal Festival Hall, 8^th May 2011)

However much Mahler fascinates me it was with a little trepidation I was seated for this two hour, without interval, concert and of course armed myself with a chocolate ice-cream on hearing that once things were started there would be no remerging until the symphony itself finished to sing. Even for a Mahler admirer and for having heard some of his previous works I was not quite prepared for this experience. Two hours without interval may still sound daunting, but I can assure you time evaporated during Maazel’s spellbinding conducting of this Mahler symphony. This was an utterly mesmerising and epic evening.

As reviewed by the Guardian “Maazel’s Mahler is a cosmic experience” (Guardian, April 2011). Sarah Connolly gave a hauntingly lovely mezzo-soprano rendition of Nietzsche’s “Midnight Song”, especially commendable since Connolly covered for the planned performance by Christianne Stotjin at short notice. The first violinist Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay played with exquisite lucidity and led the strings beautifully in what was some very rousing and intense music making. The final movement in particular is utterly breathtaking and although I have considered some of the concerts I have been to in the past wonderful this is not so much something witnessed as an experience lived that leaves one speechless. The range of moods in the music covers a broad spectrum, from sweet religiosity, slyvestian flora and fauna to gripping passion in the final moments. The journey is one through the landscape of the human soul itself and in its final throes it is piercing, penetrating every cell both physical and metaphysical with its beauty. By doing so the music itself seems capable of transfiguring the human mass receiving its impact. It is a piece that in its closing makes love to the listener’s soul, imbuing it with new feeling, so that you leave changed through having encountered it. To put it in the words of a much more able and much admired music critic, Edward Said, this piece does indeed seem to demonstrate how Mahler's "drawn-out lines" may indeed "signify an ecstatic accepyance of mortality." (E. Said, Music at the Limits, 2009. p. 180) It also complied with a view posited by Donald Mitchell on Mahler, as noted in Said, (ibid) that it is necessary for "the music (to) carry you beyond lines and strict patterns into a heightened form of ritual."  

(Maazel’s cycle continues at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall with Mahler’s symphony No.7 on Thursday 26 May 2011 7pm)

Mahler’s music to Nietsche’s incredibly powerful words is indescribable and certainly conveys the depth of the sentiment that “all longing craves eternity.”*

*O Man, take heed!

What does the deep midnight say?

I slept! From deep dreams I have awoken!

The world is deep

And deeper than the day thought!

Deep is its woe!

Longing, deeper still than heartache!

Woe says: Pass hence!

But all longing craves eternity,

Craves deep, deep eternity.

(Midnight song by Friedrich Wilhelm Neitsche 1844-1900 as translasted by William Mann and printed in the performance programme.)

Ron Sexsmith and Jim White in Concert

Ron Sexsmith and special guest Jim White (London, Barbican, Sat 30^th April)

Jim White.

White is a quirky artist whose guest performance provided a lively opening to the evening. His lyrics, enigmatic in the way a Bonny Prince Billy lyric is, where introduced but quite considerable accounts regarding the context of their creation. To be fair these did add a great deal to the experience of listening to the songs and White is an interesting performer/ narrator. An interesting personality whose experiences include (as noted by the Barbican programme) a New York Taxi Driver, Pro-Surfer, Drifter as well as Fashion Model, Film-Director and photographer. His vocals are lovely but certainly, though this may be an unfair comparison, they pale somewhat alongside Sexsmith whose singing is utterly stunning. White’s strength is definitely in being a narrator, using his diverse life experiences to put interesting scenarios into entertaining melodies. The funniest and my personal favourite is about a Tornado, simply because his introduction to this was great. He recalls the inspiration for this song deriving from an incident in the USA where he and a friend were standing on the coast and saw a Tornado, which then started coming towards them. At the time they were both high on drugs. White recalls that he heard a voice deep inside telling him to run, which he did, in the correct direction; away from the Tornado. His friend however, heard the same voice telling him to run but apparently into the Tornado, by which he was picked up thrown around and then dropped as the Tornado seemed to loose momentum and his friend starts to jump about celebrating the fact he appeared to have ‘killed’ the Tornado. I certainly will listen to more of White’s performances as he is an interesting artist.

Ron Sexsmith.

It was on Songwriter’s Circle BBC4 that I first heard Ron Sexsmith sing with a voice described (by Elton John) as being that of an angel. The episode of Songwriter’s Circle was preceded by a documentary on this artist’s career. His career as a singer songwriter, guitarist (and on piano) has inspired followers and acclaim from figures in the music industry such as Chris Martin (Coldplay), Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan.  Not long after encountering him via television transmission I had the wonder of hearing him performing live and a wonder it truly was. It is perhaps rare, or at any rate a sign of a very special talent when hearing the performance live supersedes the sound of the artist on record. This was one such occasion. On stage and live his vocals are incredible, utterly stunning in the raw without any of the airbrushing of professionally recorded sound.

His on stage presence is magnetic, his shyness and retiring character I think only add to his on stage charm. That music is truly a way for him to shed his inhibitions and express himself most effectively lends his performances with a natural ease and causing music making to seems deceptively so effortless an art. Music is therapy and a way of life to Sexsmith, as can be devised from comments he makes; “When whatever anxiety you’re feeling turns into a song, that cancels it out, in a weird way.” And “.., writing songs is very therapeutic for me. I would vote for song-writing over therapy.” These feelings are evident in the catharsis experienced by being in the audience of one of his concerts.

What appeals to me about Sexsmith is the beauty of his lyrics, they are in the same vein of poetry as some of Leonard Cohen’s work and set to beautiful melodies. In particular Speaking with the Angels and There’s Gold in Them Hills. What was wonderful about Sexsmith’s performing of his work was the way in which he alternated more melancholy works with more upbeat and up-tempo numbers. He was also able to perform in succession, occasionally interspersing the performance with some lovely and concise remarks which allowed him to build up a beautiful rapport with the audience throughout. He responded to a couple of requests and handed out a typed up version of his lyrics to a spectator who had written in about the importance of a certain song in their lives. These gestures were beautifully and casually done, clearly genuine and without pretension. The way in which he introduced his band members to the audience was well done and the interaction he sustained with them throughout. I particularly liked the way in which he rather apologetically asked Dave Matheson on the keyboard to step aside for him to play piano. He sat at the keyboard rather timidly pressed a few keys and then started playing and singing There’s Gold in Them Hills with beautiful clarity.

A friend of mine studying music related to me she almost saw this concert and that the friend she would have gone with told her it was an emotional evening and they were almost in tears. As the Barbican programme said “Ron’s probing of the human heart in all its sensitivity and vulnerability are true to Ron himself. A performer whose concerts are always heartwarming affairs.” I couldn’t agree more. Sexsmith is undoubtedly a performer of incredible sensibility and tenderness. His concerts are an experience that cannot come highly recommended enough. I was amazed when it was 11 o’clock, we had been listening to him for almost two hours, yet I believe I could have listened for the whole evening.

Ron Sexsmith will be performing again on Thursday 16th of June at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London 7.30pm. Joining him will be rising star Anna Calvi. See link for details: http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/search/results/Sexsmith?filters=type:tessitura_production