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General Category => Gustav Mahler and Related Discussions => Topic started by: Toblacher on September 29, 2011, 07:20:16 PM
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In my forty years of concertgoing, I've attended at least a dozen live peformances of the 4th and I can recall only one (a concert by the Jerusalem Symphony in Philadelphia in 1976) where the conductor placed the soprano at the rear of the orchestra, on a platform that a cello soloist would use.
This is what GM himself did when he last conducted it in New York in January, 1911. I believe though he never specified in the score anything about the placement of the soprano.
Has anyone else ever seen a conductor place the soprano anywhere else but beside the podium?
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In Dallas, they placed the entire cast of soloists for M8 behind the orchestra (at the front of the choir, in other words). I think they sometimes put the mezzo in with the women/children's choir in M3.
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When I did M2 38 years ago, Antal Dorati had the soloists seated with the Chorus on the back row, but they projected and sounded just fine.
I think soloist placement is something that most composers, Mahler included, left up to the conductor, unless there were specific directions as to placement.
Wade