3 orchestra legends bow out with Mahler might
Published: June 15, 2009, 12:30 am
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Three eminent Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra musicians took their last bows over the weekend. They are timpanist Jesse Kregal, who won a standing ovation Saturday; first violinist Clementina Fleshler, marking an astounding 50 years with the orchestra; and French horn player Milton Kicklighter, whose friends cheered him like a rock star, with shouts and whistles.
You could not celebrate these glorious careers with better music than Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, which brims with excitement, exuberance and sheer wonder.
There is no intermission, which was probably a smart move. This is a symphony that challenges you to believe in God and angels and life after death. You can’t exactly step out in the middle and have a beer.
The intensity was there from the start. The cellos’ growl was crisp and in sync — a good, menacing sound.
Here is where we benefited from the Kleinhans Music Hall acoustics. I doubt that Mahler ever got to hear this symphony as vividly as we did. It all carried flawlessly into the hall: the percussive sound of the bassists’ bows beating on the strings; the thunder of the timpani; the noble, Wagnerian trombones; the lonely, klezmer-like poetry of the occasional violin solo.
Music Director JoAnn Falletta kept the music focused — not an easy thing to do, especially in the sprawling first movement, because Mahler keeps changing mood and tempo. She managed an artful pause before the second movement, the delicate Landler.
The third movement, for which Mahler adapted his own song, “St. Anthony of Padua’s Sermon to the Fishes,” was robust and rustic. It was full of witty interplay among the strings and woodwinds. Honks on the tuba and more beating of the basses hinted at the unruly aspects of nature and humanity.
Falletta has said that the movement that follows — the simple song of the soul on its way to heaven — is the part she finds most affecting. The song had a caressing grace. Mezzo soprano Stacey Rishoi sang it with lovely, naive simplicity, beginning to sing without even rising to her feet.
Then came the finale, in which Mahler appears to be conjuring up the last battle and Judgment Day. The crowded stage, including the extra musicians and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, hinted at the idea of the power and the glory.
How gratifying it was to hear Kregal, in his farewell performance, leading that famous mighty timpani crescendo. The effect of the offstage brass band, too, came off well, with the doors to the wings ajar and the music slightly muffled. The distant trumpet and horn calls that followed were answered by lovely birdsong from Christine Bailey, principal flutist.
The chorus, when it came in, was perhaps not the ultra-pianissimo that Mahler imagined, but it was probably as quiet as humanly possible.
Soprano Mary Dunleavy — replacing Mary Wilson, who had been previously announced — seemed to appear gradually from their midst.
The ending packed a magnificent punch. The organ, the bells, the brass — no wonder the close-to-full house stood up and cheered.
Concert Review
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony with conductor JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus on Saturday and Sunday in Kleinhans Music Hall.
mkunz@buffnews.com
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