Kahane Returns Leading Ironic Mahler Work

by Diane Peterson

The Press Democrat, April 24, 2006

(SANTA ROSA) - The Santa Rosa Symphony ushered in spring Saturday evening at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts with a refreshing performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1, a work that mimics nature's awakening after the long sleep of winter.

Under the baton of outgoing Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, the Mahler symphony - one of the composer's shortest and easiest to follow - took on a deeply ironic tone, with crisp rhythms underscoring the work's dark and bitter edges.

The Mahler symphony was performed after intermission by an army of musicians, including a whopping seven horn players, five trumpet players and two timpanists. There were several new faces sprinkled throughout the orchestra, including the young local harpist Christina Kopriva.

Despite an unusually warm hall, the sprawling work kept the audience awake with its dramatic thunderclaps, sudden pauses and apocalyptic climaxes. You had to pity the poor musicians, however, who were mopping their brows once it was over. They definitely earned their standing ovation.

Before intermission, a reduced string orchestra opened the evening with a world premiere of Oswaldo Golijov's "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," a chamber work that the composer recently rearranged for orchestra and clarinet.

The alluring and accessible work, commissioned by philanthropist Kathryn Gould and Meet the Composer Inc. as part of the Magnum Opus series, showcased the considerable talents of clarinetist Todd Palmer.

Palmer demonstrated his virtuosity on a variety of clarinets, skillfully navigating between singing, melodic lines and tricky rhythmic passages.

Along the way, he demonstrated a natural affinity for the trills and slides of klezmer music, the Jewish folk tradition originating in Eastern Europe.

Golijov, who is writing a soundtrack for filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and a piece for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, attended the performance and spoke with Kahane during the preconcert conversation. He also came onstage after the performance to acknowledge the audience's standing ovation.

Dressed in an off-white jacket and a bright red shirt, the Argentinian composer spoke about the Jewish traditions underlying "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," including its klezmer dances and prayer from the High Holidays.

By juxtaposing Golijov's work with Mahler's Symphony No. 1, written in 1888, Kahane underscored the connections between the two works, which are separated by more than a century but share gypsy Jewish roots.

Like Golijov's work, Mahler's groundbreaking first symphony overflows with melody, traveling from innocence and heroism through death and defeat, ending in a triumphant blaze of glory.

His first symphony is alternately singing and sneering, disturbing and consoling, steeped in Romanticism and at the same time contemporary.

Despite a year's absence from the podium, Kahane marshaled the orchestra's forces in the Mahler with precision and refinement, forgoing the baton in quieter moments and leading with his hands.

As a result, the symphony emerged like a polished jewel, especially during the unsettling third movement, a grotesque death march punctuated by a consoling melody.

Principal bass player Randall Keith executed a gentle solo at the opening of the third movement, and the violas soared in the finale.

Now, if only the French horns could hit all of their notes, the audience might reach nirvana. Or at least an earthly version of it.

The Santa Rosa Symphony will repeat the Saturday program at 8 tonight at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa. Tickets are $27 to $49. 546-8742.