THE WANDERER'S CHRONICLE
N.10

Succession assured
Guy Cherqui

Succession assured

The programme offered to the youngsters of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester was unusual: the Farewell (Abschied) from „The Song of the Earth” and the 9th Symphony, that other farewell to the world. Claudio Abbado would like to instil the idea that a farewell is not as a matter of principle something sad, but that it can generate (as it belongs to life) something very intense as well as very deep emotions. This was the case recently at the traditional appointment with Abbado in Bolzano, where the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester prepared its Easter tour and gave the first of a series of concerts which was to take them from St. Petersburg to Rome.

The Farewell from “The Song of the Earth” is at the same time a crepuscular hymn to renascent nature (flowers, trees, brooks) and a farewell to life on earth on its way to a heavenly elsewhere. The last words “ewig... ewig...” (“for ever... for ever...”) point towards an eternal journey full of quivers and lacerations at the same time.

The 9th Symphony, which Mahler composed in pain, is the moment in which the artist says farewell to everything he loves (life, art, music). In a whirlwind equally melancolic (1st movement) as it is heartrending (2nd and 3rd movement) it only ends with the approach of death in the 4th movement, where it sinks gradually into silence – a final silence which is part of the score (Mahler wrote “Still”) and where the sound slowly fades away until it is impercebtible.

Once again the orchestra demonstrated its ability to master in a short time (a fortnight of rehearsals, including 4 days with Claudio Abbado) such a difficult score which exposes the solo parts so frequently. Above all they acquired in that short period a homogeneity and an individual sound which straight away casts them amongst the greatest. Claudio Abbado himself called out to us after the concert “They are marvellous!”. Admittedly, we remember the incredible technique of the Berlin Phil. in Salzburg and Lucerne, where their full, round, impressive sound conveyed to the last movement in particular something like an infinite sigh and an interior monologue. The youngsters of the GMJO need not blush at the comparison: it is indeed the only one that makes sense. With less experience and less mastery, but at least as much if not more enthusiasm and an incredible self-sacrifice they offered an interpretation at the same time energetic, stunning as well as already deeply (and surprisingly) mature. We will always remember the concentration of the young Venezualian double bass Johanee Gonzales Seijas, the commitment and the sensitivity of the French violoncellist Benoît Grenet and the absolute mastery of the leader of the orchestra, Raphael Christ. You can see where he gets it from as he is the son of Wolfram Christ, principal viola of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and former principal viola of the Berlin Philharmonic. Tutored, amongst others, by members of the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic these young musicians show us once again that the succession is in safe hands.

Anna Larsson was a slight disappointment in the solo part of the Song of the Earth. We like her deep voice and have appreciated her many a times (in particular in Mahler’s 3rd symphony or last year in the Kindertotenlieder and the Rückert-Lieder in Reggio Emilia). Was it the acoustic of the hall? This time the voice seemed to be dull, the low notes less resounding, the breath shorter and the emotions did not seem to be really felt.

On the contrary the orchestra, under Claudio Abbado, was capable of surmounting all the technical traps of the score and brought to such heartrending pages that additional amount of feeling which it so vitally needs. We will always remember the instrumental twinkle which dominates the first part of the Abschied, but also the stunning Rondo (3rd movement of the 9th), swept along by an infernal whirlwind – and the final movement where we pass gradually from a sound, to traces of sound, to complete silence – which leaves the musicians in suspension, as if the movement of their arms was stopped in its impetus. Great art!

Galvanized by these young musicians, as usual, Claudio Abbado was in peak form, available to all and announcing for next autumn the creation of another orchestra (in Bologna) this time dedicated to Mozart.