An inspiring M3 from Falletta and the BPO

[buffoto]

Last night the Buffalo Philharmonic, led by JoAnn Falletta, knocked it out of the park.  The orchestra's playing was superb and the pacing for each movement perfect.  The soloist, mezzo soprano Robynne Redman, was also outstanding.  I heard M3 performed a couple of summers ago by the Chautauqua Symphony and was underwhelmed (not so much by the actual performance, but by the acoustics in the Chautauqua Amphitheater which are awful; sound gets sucked out of the back end of this behemouth wooden structure causing a lack of volume and blurring of contrasts).  No such problem with Kleinhan's Music Hall here in Buffalo. The acoustics in this concert hall are outstanding and Falletta and the BPO shined last night.  I was lucky enough to hear The Pittsburgh Symphony 2 years ago perform M3 under the direction of Manfred Honeck and I was deeply moved by that performance.  Falletta's interpretation was just as powerful. I've now heard Falletta and the BPO perform M2, M4, and now M3.  IMHO JoAnn Falletta knows her Mahler and knows it well.  This concert will be repeated today at 2:30 and I will again be in attendance.  I'm hoping that my home orchestra some day records their Mahler interpretations so the world will finally know how lucky we Buffalonians are to have the BPO, Maestro Falletta, and Kleinhan's Music Hall, one of the best concert halls in the world.  By the way, the Chautauqua Symphony will be performing M1 this summer at the Chautauqua Institution on Thursday, Aug. 2nd. at 8:15 p.m. Although the acoustics are not perfect, if you sit in back of the orchestra , which is possible in the Chautauqua Amphitheater, you are bound to have a very good experience.  Last year I sat in back of the orchestra for a performance of Beethoven's 7th and I was not disappointed with the sound.           

[Constantin]

buffoto, 

Glad to hear of your good experience for this M3 and welcome to the GM Board.

I used to always say that M3 was my favorite Mahler symphony.  Not that I like it any less, but as some of the wiser members here have taught me, it's really hard to have a favorite, other than the one I'm listening to now--for all are parts of the sum of Mahler's gift to the world.

But we should remember that Mahler said his M3 contained the whole universe, so if we had to be limited to a single Mahler symphony, this might be a good choice.

Speaking of wise choices, you made a wise one to attend again the performance this afternoon.  Wish I were in attendance too!

[barry guerrero]

Hi,

Three things. First, I used to see JoAnn Falletta conduct the Women's Philharmonic in San Francisco decades ago. I know first hand just how incredibly talented she is. I'm thrilled to hear that she has given Buffalo such a great M3 performance.

Second, I've come to realize that the third was really almost a 'calling card' for Mahler in his own time. It actually caught on quicker than the "Resurrection" symphony, and certainly far more than either the first or fourth symphonies did, during Mahler's own time. It almost seems that  that's what's happening once again, as the third seems to be rising in stature these days.

Third, I know almost nothing about Buffalo, except that I wish that Michael Tilson Thomas had stayed there (my MTT barb for the day).  Seriously, I'm pretty sure that Mahler conducted there, on tour, with his New York Philharmonic. Correct me if that's wrong (I don't have my Knud Martner book near me right now).

I also know that I love the movie "Buffalo 66" with Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci. Perhaps one of the greatest 'indie' films ever made. Anyway, congrat's on the wonderful Mahler 3.

Barry Guerrero

[waderice]

Three things. First, I used to see JoAnn Falletta conduct the Women's Philharmonic in San Francisco decades ago. I know first hand just how incredibly talented she is. I'm thrilled to hear that she has given Buffalo such a great M3 performance.

Second, I've come to realize that the third was really almost a 'calling card' for Mahler in his own time. It actually caught on quicker than the "Resurrection" symphony, and certainly far more than either the first or fourth symphonies did, during Mahler's own time. It almost seems that  that's what's happening once again, as the third seems to be rising in stature these days.

Third, I know almost nothing about Buffalo, except that I wish that Michael Tilson Thomas had stayed there (my MTT barb for the day).  Seriously, I'm pretty sure that Mahler conducted there, on tour, with his New York Philharmonic. Correct me if that's wrong (I don't have my Knud Martner book near me right now).

I also know that I love the movie "Buffalo 66" with Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci. Perhaps one of the greatest 'indie' films ever made. Anyway, congrat's on the wonderful Mahler 3.

Barry Guerrero

First, let me also welcome buffoto to the GMB.  I'm sure you will find this forum an interesting place where GM fans can share opinions respectfully amongst each other, even if they agree to disagree.  I'm happy that you had a great experience with M3 in Buffalo, and my wife and you concur that Falletta is a really good conductor.  While we're talking about female conductors, we saw Marin Alsop conduct a really great M9 with the Baltimore Symphony a couple of years ago.  That performance was probably the best live one of M9 I have ever heard.  And after the performance, an exhausted, but gracious Alsop came out onto the stage to answer questions from the audience for about 10 minutes.

While on the topic of disagreement, I must take issue with Barry on M2 vs. M3.  I disagree that M3 caught on quicker in Mahler's lifetime than did M2.  If I recall correctly, M3 was performed only once more (in Amsterdam, during a Mengelberg Mahler festival) after the premiere in Krefeld, Germany, during Mahler's lifetime.  I remember seeing somewhere that during Mahler's lifetime, M2 had ten performances, and it was well-received each time it was performed.  Two of these performances were Mahler's musical farewell when he left Vienna and his callling card when he arrived at the New York Philharmonic as music director.

Though I won't take a position on whether or not MTT should have stayed in Buffalo, I will say that probably the best album he produced while there was the complete music of American composer Carl Ruggles.  In case none of you here know, Ruggles was a contemporary of Charles Ives, and wrote music that probably was more dissonant than that of Ives, plus his output was considerably smaller and each work shorter in duration.  Ruggles was an inveterate reviser of his works.

Wade Rice

[barry guerrero]

"If I recall correctly, M3 was performed only once more (in Amsterdam, during a Mengelberg Mahler festival) after the premiere in Krefeld, Germany, during Mahler's lifetime"

You may very well be correct in regards to the popularity of M2 vs. M3. However, I'm very certain that M3 received far more than just those two performances (during Mahler's lifetime).  I don't have my "Mahler's Concerts" (Knud Martner) book here in S.F., but I'll bring it with me next week and post the exact info.

Another interesting tidbit: Mengelberg wasn't the only conductor to perform Mahler's music frequently. Ernst von Schuch in Dresden gave a surprising number of performances in Dresden.

[buffoto]

Hi,

Three things. First, I used to see JoAnn Falletta conduct the Women's Philharmonic in San Francisco decades ago. I know first hand just how incredibly talented she is. I'm thrilled to hear that she has given Buffalo such a great M3 performance.

Second, I've come to realize that the third was really almost a 'calling card' for Mahler in his own time. It actually caught on quicker than the "Resurrection" symphony, and certainly far more than either the first or fourth symphonies did, during Mahler's own time. It almost seems that  that's what's happening once again, as the third seems to be rising in stature these days.

Third, I know almost nothing about Buffalo, except that I wish that Michael Tilson Thomas had stayed there (my MTT barb for the day).  Seriously, I'm pretty sure that Mahler conducted there, on tour, with his New York Philharmonic. Correct me if that's wrong (I don't have my Knud Martner book near me right now).

I also know that I love the movie "Buffalo 66" with Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci. Perhaps one of the greatest 'indie' films ever made. Anyway, congrat's on the wonderful Mahler 3.

Barry Guerrero

You're correct, Mahler did indeed conduct in Buffalo.  He was touring with the NYP and I believe it was early December 1910 (1909?).  I do recall reading that Beethoven's 6th was on the program.  On the morning of the performance, he and Alma visited Niagara Falls.  Standing on the precipice of the falls, as he listened to the roar of cascading water, Mahler was said to have shouted above the din,  "true fortissimo!", or something to that effect.  After returning to his hotel room, according to Alma, he said to her that, and I'm paraphrasing, the grandeur of nature is impressive, but some works of art produced by humankind are equally or even more sublime than nature!     

I really enjoyed "Buffalo 66", but it angered many locals when it came out.

Speaking of JoAnne Falletta, yesterday I learned that, just the weekend before last, she conducted the Virginia Symphony in 2 performances of M8. M8 and M3 performed over two consecutive weekends! What a gal!
Thanks for all the welcomes.  It was great to discover a forum in which discuss all things Mahler.   

[waderice]

I don't have my "Mahler's Concerts" (Knud Martner) book here in S.F., but I'll bring it with me next week and post the exact info.

Unfortunately, my copy is currently packed away in storage for six weeks while I await settlement on my new house north of Philly, so I'll have to wait to see what you post.  Too bad such valuable information isn't available in a computer database for quick look-up.

Wade

[mike bosworth]

Unfortunately, my copy is currently packed away in storage for six weeks while I await settlement on my new house north of Philly, so I'll have to wait to see what you post.  Too bad such valuable information isn't available in a computer database for quick look-up.

For the last few years I have been assisting both Prof. Paul Banks in London and Knud Martner on projects involving the documentation of all performances of Mahler's music during his lifetime.  As you know, "Mahler's Concerts" includes only those performances of Mahler's music in which Mahler himself was involved.  I have been able, thanks to the advent of an enormous amount of newly digitized contemporary newspapers and journals, to discover numerous previously unknown performances of Mahler's music that supplements Knud Martner's own painstaking research over the past several decades.  The results of this research show that Mahler's music was being performed much more widely and frequently in his own lifetime that has been previously portrayed/understood.

The discoveries I have made thus far pertain mainly to performances of M1, M4, and various Lieder.  For example, the Spanish/French conductor José Lassalle claimed to have conducted M1 alone 27 times during 1909-1910.  So far I have been able to document 12 of these, and I am expecting to track down more in the near future.  Performance databases prepared by Prof. Banks for M1 and M2 are now available on-line as part of his "Mahler Cat".  The current versions are not up to date; the M1 listing is missing many performances that I have been able to recently confirm, including two in Warsaw and one in Riga:

http://www.cph.rcm.ac.uk/MahlerCat/pages/Symph1/Symph1perfs.htm

Some of the M4 performances I have found include those in Lodz and Warsaw in 1910.

Another interesting find is a performance of the orchestral version of "Urlicht" in Brooklyn in 1898.

I have a book in the works (so far without a publisher, alas) that will cover this subject, in particular performances of M1 during Mahler's lifetime, which are now approaching 70 known instances (only 17 conducted by Mahler himself).

Mike Bosworth

P.S. Mahler's appearance in Buffalo with the NYPS took place on 7 Dec. 1910

[barry guerrero]

Mike,

Thank you so much for that great info. Could you shed some light on Ernst von Schuch in Dresden?

It's generally thought that Dresden didn't have much to do with Mahler, but it appears that von Schuch was quite enthusiastic.

[mike bosworth]

Barry,

You are right about Schuch.  Here is a quick summary of his performances of Mahler in Dresden during Mahler's lifetime:

Dresden, 10.5.1888:  Die Drei Pintos (+ 8 Reprises)
Dresden, 15.1.1897:  M2, movements 2, 3, 4 only (Mahler in attendance)
Dresden, 16.12.1898:  M1
Dresden, 20.12.1901:  M2 (Mahler in attendance)
Dresden, 27.1.1905:    M5
Dresden, 5.4.1907:      M6, movements 2 (2. + 3. Satz)
Dresden, 17.3.1908:  4 Sinfonie
Dresden, 28.11.1908:  Die Drei Pintos (+ 6 Reprises that season)
Dresden, 28.1.1910: 1 Sinfonie

[mike bosworth]

It seems I inadvertently sent my response to Barry before I was completely done editing it.   Here is the 'final' version:

-------------------------------------
 
Barry,

You are right about Schuch.  Here is a quick summary of his performances of Mahler in Dresden during Mahler's lifetime:

1888:  Die Drei Pintos (Dresden première + 8 Reprises)
1897:  M2, movements 2, 3, 4 only (Mahler in attendance)
1898:  M1
1901:  M2 (Mahler in attendance)
1905:  M5
1907:  M6, movements 2 and 3 only
1908:  M4
1908-1909:  Die Drei Pintos (7 performances that season)
1910:  M1

Mahler remained on friendly terms with Schuch until the end.  In a 1909 letter Mahler provides some details about M8 and M3 to Shuch, who may have conducted either or both of these in Dresden after Mahler's death.

In 1910 Schuch was one of 12 people Mahler authorised to receive a complimentary copy of the newly finished piano/vocal score for M8.

Mike Bosworth

[barry guerrero]

I know that M8 got performed in the Frauenkirche sometime after Mahler's death. I might be wrong, but I believe that that performance was conducted by Fritz Busch. I might also be wrong about this too: I think that Thielemann may have recently conducted M8 in the newly rebuilt Frauenkirche as well. Before I'm gone from this earth, I REALLY want to go to Dresden.