Mahler in Monte-Carlo
GIUSEPPE
PENNISI visits
the Printemps des Arts Festival
the Printemps des Arts Festival
The name and
images of Gustav Mahler are associated with the mist and the fog of Central
Europe or with the mountains of Tyrol (where he used to spend the summer).
Thus, it is quite unusual to imagine him under the blue sky, by the seaside of
the French Riviera. This year, the Printemps des Arts Festival (19 March — 10
April 2016) has been dedicated to him. This is the thirty second edition of the
festival, and, as is customary, it has two other sections: music from the
period of Louis XIV (Le Roi Soleil) and French regional popular music, in
particular from Bretagne. The main attraction is Mahler, however. Almost all
his symphonies and Lieder were performed either in the modern Ranieri III
auditorium or in the lovely opera house. The festival's general manager and
artistic director, Marc Monnet, told me that Mahler was chosen as this year's
main feature because his music is still quite unknown in Southern France and
the Italian part of the Riviera. Before the festival, seminars were held in
various of the area's cities, small towns and schools, to prepare the audience
for the composer's style. During the festival, each concert was preceded by a
one hour lecture.
I attended
the final week, when four major symphonies and the Adagio from the
incomplete tenth symphony were played by the Bamberger Symphoniker (conducted
by Jonathan Nott), the NDR Radiophilharmonie (conducted by Andrew Manze), the
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR (conducted by Eliahu Inbal) and the
Orchestre Philarmonique de Monte-Carlo (conducted by Daniel Harding). I thought
that M&V readers would be more interested in an overview of this
final week than individual reviews of each concert.
On 7 April,
the Bamberger Symphoniker, with its own women's chorus and the children's
chorus of the Monaco Académie de Musique, performed the vast Third Symphony.
The concert also included Correspondances pour soprano et orchestre by
the recently departed Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013), a key figure in French
twentieth century musical development; a stunning Barbara Hannigan was the
soprano soloist.
 Barbara Hannigan |
Since I have
recently reviewed Mahler's Third Symphony as performed by the Budapest Festival
Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer (Sincere Conversion, 15 March 2016), I'll
point out only the differences between the readings of two superb conductors and
two excellent orchestras.
 Jonathan Nott conducting at the Festival Printemps des Arts on 7 April 2016 |
In short,
Fisher gave a more shining interpretation than Nott's more philosophical and
thoughtful reading, especially in the long sixth movement (Adagio). As
the auditorium is small for such a huge sized orchestra and the choruses, the
children's chorus was placed in the final rows of audience seating. This gave
an interesting stereophonic touch. The alto, Gerhild Romberger, had also
performed in Rome with the Budapest Festival Orchestra in mid-March. With
Dutilleux's composition before Mahler's symphony, an intermission was needed.
Thus, the evening ended up being very long (from 7pm until 11.30pm, including
the lecture), but the auditorium was full and and the atmosphere enthusiastic.
There were accolades and ovations at the end.
On 8 April,
for the Fifth Symphony, the auditorium was not sold out. Andrew Manze and the
NDR Radiophilharmonie gave a technically perfect performance, but real emotion
was felt mostly in the fourth movement Adagietto. There was warm
applause at the end.
 Andrew Manze conducting on 8 April 2016. Photo © Alain Hanel |
On 9 April,
Eliahu Inbal conducted the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR in front
of a full house. Mahler's Seventh Symphony is, at the same time, a prediction
of the composer's own death — the first movement is a funeral march — plus a
representation of his joy and lust for life — the fifth and last movement is a
rondo with quotations from operettas and popular music. It is also a song to
the night — the Nachtmusik of the second and the fourth movements. The
conductor and orchestra gave a passionate and moving, almost heart breaking,
interpretation by decreasing the tempi in the first four movements and
increasing them in the final rondo. After an hour and a half's performance, the
audience responded with fifteen minutes of ovations and accolades.
 Elihu Inbal conducting on 9 April 2016. Photo © Alain Hanel |
The last
concert on 10 April was timed for the late afternoon — 6pm in lieu of the usual
8.30pm — because it was followed by a major party for the festival subscribers,
and also to make it easier for the audience to attend. It had been sold out for
several weeks before the event. It featured of the most renowned of the younger
generation of conductors, forty-one-year-old Daniel Harding, who in September
will become musical director of the Paris Orchestra, while keeping his
assignment as musical director of the Swedish Radio symphony orchestra. The
program included the last and the first symphonic compositions by Mahler: the
'adagio' of the unfinished Tenth Symphony and the full First Symphony (named The
Titan).
 Daniel Harding |
Harding,
conducting the Orchestre Philarmonique de Monte-Carlo, is a fine-featured man,
with large gestures. He pulled terrifically dynamic performances from his
players, and showed a sovereign understanding of these most complex scores. In
the 'adagio' of the incomplete Tenth Symphony, he and the orchestra delved into
the mystery of what will happen after the human adventure. Mahler knew that he
was very ill when composing the expressive line of the 'adagio', alternating a
single line with several lines crossing one another, almost as a counterpoint.
Harding and the orchestra gave a very emotional reading : Mahler's conclusion
of his own life felt like a quiet travel towards the infinite. This was very
different, of course, from the First Symphony, composed nearly twenty years
earlier — a joyful vision of life, with the remembrance of a well known
children's song and a real explosion of hopes and expectations. The audience
was enthralled, and erupted in ten minutes of standing ovation.
In short,
under Monte-Carlo's sunny Spring sky, in an auditorium carved out of the rock
of the harbor and overlooking the magnificent bay, four of Mahler's symphonies
in as many days, with the finest orchestras and conductors, provided an
exciting, mind blowing and hard to forget experience.
Copyright © 15 April 2016 Giuseppe Pennisi,
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