In what must be among the most ambitious programs ever tackled at the
, the student orchestra dug into the thorny, emotionally complex, large-scale Symphony No. 2 by faculty member
and the thorny, emotionally complex, large-scale Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler on Tuesday night.
One or the other would be a pretty tall order for a single concert; having both seemed like a bit of derring-do on the part of the players and conductor Hajime Teri Murai. But things turned out surprisingly well.
If the Peabody Symphony felt worn out by the experience, it didn't show much. The conservatory may have the heartiest pool of musicians on campus in years -- at least I don't recall symphonic performances at Peabody that boasted quite so much in the way of tonal consistency and depth, not to mention well-aimed fire power. On balance, slips of intonation or cohesiveness were minor.
I'm sure if there could have been a repeat or two of the program, things would really have been smoking onstage. And this was a program worth repeating, certainly worth being heard by more people.
Hersch is a startling talent. He writes music that contains
great complexity, but is remarkably lucid; music that is essentially abstract, yet positively neo-romantic in its expressive quality. The composer is so shy and soft-spoken that the amount of angst churning through his scores seems all the more remarkable. And it would be hard to get more angst-driven than his Symphony No. 2.
The dense harmonic blocks and mazes of percussive assaults seem to speak from a world of trouble, fear and doubt. But shards of light penetrate the music in ways that prove just as powerful. The superb orchestration ensures that each tormented peak and each moment of reflection registers clearly.
Murai's clear-cut conducting and the ensemble's committed response yielded an arresting account of this eventful work.
As he did in a 2003 Peabody concert, Murai offered a sturdy interpretation of Mahler's Fifth that balanced momentum with lyrical heat.
I again particularly admired the Viennese lilt he achieved in the Scherzo and the spacious shaping of the Adagietto. There were places in the first two movements when I would have preferred more subtlety of phrasing, tempo and dynamics, but the overall energy proved quite effective. The finale, too, had a terrific sweep.
At its best, the orchestra played with unity and tonal warmth; most of the solo contributions within the woodwind and brass sections hit the spot.
In a way, the darkness of the Hersch symphony provided an ideal lead-in to the funeral march that begins the Mahler score, making the eventual sunburst in the latter all the more cathartic.
PHOTO OF MICHAEL HERSCH COURTESY OF PEABODY INSTITUTE