Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra open its 2010-11 season at the Music Center at Strathmore Saturday night with the presentation of Mahler’s grand Seventh Symphony.
This leading performance marks an entire season exploring the musical brilliance of Gustav Mahler, not only through his compositions, but also through his ardent arrangements of works by other legendary composers. With these performances — many of them selected by the orchestra as a “Musicians’ Pick” — the BSO honors the 150th anniversary of Gustav Mahler’s birth and 100 years since his death by presenting several of his works beginning with a Mahler masterpiece.
“The wide range of emotions depicted in Mahler’s Seventh is the ideal way to start the BSO’s season, which also spans a wide emotional breadth,” said Matt Spivey, vice president of artistic operations. “Symphonies around the world are celebrating the ‘double jubilee’ of this great composer.”
The work is a study of different aspects of the night — some possibly disturbing — including a portrait, perhaps inspired by Rembrandt, of night watchmen pacing their rounds, a spooky scherzo followed by a sweet serenade featuring mandolin and guitar. Then for the “fantastic scoring” that Cooke referred to, the work’s brilliant finale offers a dazzling fanfare intended to represent “day” to the previous movement of “night.”
Mahler’s arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Suite, which includes the well-known “Air on a G-String,” opens the evening’s performance. When arranging the piece, Mahler combined the “greatest hits” from both of Bach’s Orchestra Suite Nos. 2 and 3 while expanding the number of musicians for a full and richer score.”
“Mahler’s evocative, trail-blazing and beautiful compositions affirm the Baltimore Symphony’s 2010-2011 season’s theme: ‘Life is better with music,’ ” Spivey said.
