It was performed by the Bristol Concert Orchestra + Colston Choral Society & Choirs with Collette Lam (soprano) and Joke de Vin (contralto), conducted by Stefan Hofkes; at the Colston Hall , Bristol, UK.
The opener was 'Feel the Spirit' by John Rutter, a puerile piece of utter rubbish that doesn't deserve to be put anywhere near Mahler under any circumstances! However, after the interval came the Mahler.
I have to say that for a largely amateur production this was pretty good! The first movement was the best overall and felt quite polished with steady pacing, frightening climaxes and gentle phrasing particularly near the end. Lack of cohegence in the strings caused the second movement to suffer in all but the lovely pizzicato section - it developed a very 'school orchestra' sound in the violins & violas especially, which it never lost for the rest of the symphony. In the 3rd movement the orchestra came closest to getting totally lost with some vital missed cues and very unsteady brass playing, but it picked itself up and in the second half, the excellent rhythmic quality offered by the cellos and basses held it together. By this point I was comfortably impressed with the percussionists, particularly the quality of the tam-tam playing; even the soft playing could be heard, and the big hits were outstanding!
Urlicht was absolutely beautifully sung by Joke de Vin. What a shame the brass chorales found soft playing too much to manage without some off-putting parps.
The 5th movement crashed in with huge tam-tam and an impressive, frighteningly huge sound from the rest of the orchestra! Once it had all died down, the first off-stage ensemble was really effective, but a little too close (inevitable however in a building not designed for Mahlererian size). The build up to the big march was handled well (bearing in mind the upper strings are still permanently in 'school orchestra' mode), and the first of the percussion rolls had the big tam-tam causing such a decibel that a woman in a row in front of me put her hands over her ears! The 2nd off-stage ensemble was positioned behind and above the audience which made for a really good effect, but this one was less cohesive than the first with some errant squeaks and tinkles. However the orchestral explosions - especially the final one just before the entrance of the choir were outstanding.
The choir was made up of various local groups had children as well as adults. Their entrance was handled well, but just a little too loud I felt - and a bit too fast. Soprano Colette Lam's voice shone over the choir at the just the right moments in a beautifully restrained, controlled way. Again, the orchestral interludes between the choral verses were a little too loud, but otherwise fairly well controlled. A slightly amusing moment came when the male choir sings the first 'Bereite dich': everyone appeared to have been told to sing it loud-ish (mf to f), whereas one singer belted it out at full voice (ff to fff) almost as if he were a soloist.
It was at the very end where, sadly, it all fell apart. Rushed isn't the word for it! The choir were probably tired by now (maybe bereft of the will to sing after the abysmal Rutter piece), but they didn't sound as though they were giving it their all. There was a fantastic, very fat organ augmenting the already large forces which was really satisfying, and the player of the large tam-tam gave his instrument an almighty wallop at the end of the final choral line to cue in good bells (tubular, but long and deep brassy looking ones). BUT THEN HE SAT DOWN! The final bars were played far too quickly, the small tam-tam player hit his instrument with gusto right on cue while a silence was all he got from his counterpart. A quick final chord and it was all over.
I wasn't overwhelmed, I was disappointed. I can cope with incoherent, very slightly untuned strings, parpy brass and squeaky cor anglais, but to mess up the ending like that was so sad, especially when it was unnecessary.
The whole thing was being recorded for DVD - I've ordered a copy despite my disappointment as I was there and, musically, there was a lot which worked really well - especially the glorious soloists. I wonder if they will edit the wrong notes and errant sounds, coughs and sneezes, and people kicking plastic drinks glasses!
Topic: I went to see M2 live concert last night... (Read 6418 times)