Review: MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 1 at Benaroya Hall

Two youthful artists beguiled the Seattle Symphony audience with their dynamic performances in a vibrant program that highlighted the similarities and contrasts between early works of two composers who were connected in intriguing ways.

In his debut with the orchestra, Australian conductor Nicholas Carter chose to the Seattle premiere of Benjamin Britten’s vivacious Piano Concerto, Op.13, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

Mahler was an inspiration to the young Britten, whose virtuosic concerto is full of energetic rhythms and bold orchestral colors. The youthful work was a tour de force for Benjamin Grosvenor, a pianist at the height of his musical powers,

Britten’s work, his first for piano and orchestra and his only concerto for the instrument, is brimming with exuberance and vigor. Premiered in 1938 at the London Proms with the 24-year-old composer as soloist, and revised in 1945, the inventive, mold-breaking and fiendishly difficult work was dedicated to British composer Lennox Berkeley. Previously paired by other orchestras with powerful Mahler pieces such as Das Lied von der Erde, there are moments that brings to mind Mahler’s much later Des Knaben Wunderhorn, as well as Britten’s mature operatic masterpiece, Peter Grimes. Described by Britten as “simple and direct in form,” in reality the concerto is a virtuosic opportunity for a pianist capable of exploiting its challenges, similar in many respects to Ravel’s Piano Concerto No. 4, with soupçons of Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Grosvenor, acknowledged by Gramophone as one of the top 5 pianists on record and known for his combination of brilliance and profound musicality, is one of those pianists. In his interpretation, he optimized both the technical and interpretative aspects of the piece so brilliantly as to seem a magician of the keyboard.

The first movement, Toccata: Allegro molto e con brio, gave Grosvenor the opportunity to make the  most of the pianistic bravura. The pianist’s opening took off immediately with Shostakovich-like declamation and youthful exuberance as well as exactitude, in his spirited pyrotechnics, which continued throughout the movement (What a pianist Britten must have been at that young age!) all the way to the Brahms-like flourish at the end. The huge orchestration showed off the players’ virtuosity in its many textures: brass heavy, special challenges for the high horns, with special effects and rounded out with 4 harps. Grosvenor's cadenza glissandi were both spectacular and tasteful.  

The Ravel-like Waltz: Allegretto second movement provided additional orchestral hues in the unusual duo between muted viola and piccolo with added solo clarinet, played with stylistic elegance by all three. Grosvenor exhibited sensitivity and clarity in his interpretation, again with phenomenal technical mastery.

The movement was followed by the Impromptu: Andante lento, a theme and variations including a quasi cadenza section, in which Grosvenor performed with delicacy and touching introspection. March: Allegro moderato sempre a la marcia provided a smart ending for the work, evoking the first movement and driving toward a climax of rhythmic potency. Britten pays respect to his inspiration, Mahler, in the dotted rhythms and in the challenging trumpet fanfares. The soloist brought the piece to an end with a rousing flourish that brought the audience to their feet.

With Britten’s concerto providing a robust opening, the festive atmosphere continued with Mahler’s ever popular Symphony No. 1 in D Major. The work is astonishing in that the young composer was courageous enough to include panoplies of orchestral delights in his first symphonic effort evoking a gamut of emotions, compared to Brahms, who waited until a more mature period of his compositional life to take on the symphonic genre. Mahler’s work reflects his own heroic journey as he envisioned it.

After the slow, Nature-inspired tranquil introduction of the first moment, the 28-year-old composer evokes his earlier Lieder eines farhrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) in the Allegro section, continuing the Nature theme derived from the words “Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld” (“I went this Morning over the Field”). Carter underscored the Wagnerian “Forest Murmurs” aspects of the piece with gentility and reverence.

The movement’s upbeat ending gives the robust Scherzo second movement notable impact, both in the beginning and in the wistful waltz of the middle section. Done with spirited movements from Carter, one could envision his leaping from the podium and dancing a Ländler.

The third movement provides repeated contrasts between its funereal opening melody, the wild klezmer music that Mahler heard while he was growing up, and the introspective interval of delicacy in the middle section, again quotingFahrenden Gesellen. Carter exploited the poignancy of the movement with gentle yet emotionally fraught gestures.

The stormy final movement was tempestuous and exciting. Carter contrasted the frenzied initial theme with the peaceful tranquility of the second theme, building to the ebullient climax and ending the evening with Mahlerian bravado and heroism, a bold and decisive personalized hero’s journey foreshadowing Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben.

There is no doubt Carter is a born conductor and no surprise that his talent has been recognized by luminaries in his field, among them Vladimir Ashkenazy, Simone Young and Sir Donald Runnicles. Carter’s dramatic, perfectly paced rendering of the much loved Mahler work showed great polish beyond his years and reflected his operatic background as Chief Conductor of Oper Bern, Switzerland. He is fascinating to watch, showing his joy with gestures that are exuberant yet always precise and controlled; ever energetic, at times seeming to levitate above the podium.

It’s no wonder the orchestra responded with an impassioned performance, demonstrating virtuosity in each section. Mahler’s First especially demands the ne plus ultra of trumpet playing. The musicians delivered on that challenge beautifully and consistently.

Both monumental works were perfectly matched in their brashness and sensitivity, helmed and rendered with great panache by two outstanding young artists: a program to delight all tastes.

Photo credits: Carlin Ma   

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