To celebrate the close of its 50th anniversary season, the Washington Chorus has chosen another milestone — the 150th birthday of composer Gustav Mahler — to present an over-the-top concert of his most beloved works. A herculean cast of performers takes to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall stage with their illustrious leader, music director Julian Wachner, in “Mostly Mahler,” the magnitude of which is not often seen in choral programming.
The large orchestra, a 160-member chorus, eight soloists and a group of children choristers from the Washington National Cathedral are, according to Wachner, “everything we need to do a Mahler 8 performance.”
| Onstage |
| ‘Mostly Mahler’ |
| When: 5 p.m. Sunday |
| Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW |
| Info: $15 to $60; 202-467-4600; 800-444-1324; kennedy-center.org |
He refers to the evening’s opening piece, “Veni Creator Spiritus,” the exalted and highly jubilant first movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Mahler called the piece his greatest work and it was even billed in advertisements at the time as “The Symphony of a Thousand.”
Wachner has been quoted in the press as a man who “knows how to draw maximum drama from a score,” and his encapsulated presentation of Mahler’s songs and symphonies does indeed showcase both of these genres by way of contrast.
A 16-part a cappella choral arrangement embellishes his intimate Ruckert-Lieder No. 3, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen. Audiences need not understand the language or be a Mahler fan necessarily to appreciate its sublime declaration, one that is achieved with 160 voices. They have only to sit back and be carried off on glorious waves of sound.
“This is an incredibly beautiful arrangement which was originally [written] for piano and voices,” Wachner noted.
Vocal soloists for the performance have been provided by the Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Program from the Wagner Society of Washington DC. This is their first collaboration with the Washington Chorus. Evelyn Lear, one of America’s most celebrated opera and concert singers, will narrate the semi-staged performance of the Act III climax of Carl Maria von Weber’s comic opera, “Die Drei Pintos,” which was completed by Mahler.
Wachner concludes his Mahler tribute with triumph and celebration in his direction of the “Resurrection” finale to Symphony No. 2.
“This is a ‘Lord of the Rings’ level of energy,” he said. “It is thrilling, full-throated, [with] a lot of brass … very thrilling.”
