Mahler Symphony #2 - SC Symphony, SC Civic, Cinco de Mayo

[Drunk Monk]

awestruck

Too blown away to review right now. I must sleep now and process it later. It was the perfect medicine for the moment.

[Drunk Monk]

I like my classical symphonic music to be bombastic - Wagner, Holst, Tchaikovsky - there's just nothing like the power of a full orchestra dropping the bass.  I knew nothing of Mahler but now I will add him to the list.  90+ symphony players, 80+ choral singers, 2 opera soloists, 2 conductors because there was a second orchestra in the lobby, as well as four extra trumpeters positioned in the upper corners of the auditorium.  All for one piece.  And those booms.  A massive percussion session with four players on kettle drums and two on gongs.  Mahler sets up those sonic depth charges so big that one even got applause, which is sort of frowned upon in symphony because you're not supposed to clap until the movement concludes.  The piece moves through melodies and strange, almost jazzy silent breaks to massive booms.  I could hear a lot of Wagnerian influence.

#2 is known as the Resurrection.  This was the final installment in this year's series (we get season tix now) and this year was the 60th anniversary.  I had only made a passing mental note about it, that I would go to the symphony the night after I returned from LA from filming.  Then Sifu died.  I didn't sleep well in LA, rising at 4 or 5 and going down for breakfast as soon as it was served at 6:30.  Last Wednesday, I checked my calendar, worried that the funeral services would jam my participation in Sifu's funeral.  That's when I discovered it was called Resurrection and that's when Sifu's passing really hit me hard. I had kept my guard up so I could focus on filming, but those walls came crashing down. Fortunately, I was alone at that hour.  The food servers were out of eyesight as I wept into my omelet.  

#2 is all about death and resurrection.  It asks those questions of mortality and eternal life.  Travelling from a funeral, the symphony's movements moves from despair to hope, redemption and resurrection.  When the first soloist and during one of the choral parts, I found myself weeping again.  I weep now to remember that. 

O believe, my heart, O believe:
Nothing to you is lost!
Yours is, yes yours, is what you desired
Yours, what you have loved
What you have fought for!

There was a part of me that regretting not seeing the Daoist ceremony through and not visiting more with Lam Kwoon family afterwards, but it felt like fate that the universe gave me this symphony right then, right when I needed to hear it.  Stacy, who also, amazingly, wasn't that familiar with Mahler, came in with skepticism, eager to hate on it because of so many fawning Mahler fans.  But she too walked away as a convert.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this season with SC symphony.  Our seats were above the percussion, which was ideal for me.  Next year, we've requested to be near the soundboard in hopes of getting a better mix.

[cranefly]

At some point, probably not right away, you ought to consider giving Mahler by Ken Russel an eye and an ear.  The movie uses Mahler scores throughout.

http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...ght=mahler

Today is proving a far more difficult day for me.  There had been so much preparation -- and others did a whole lot more than me -- and then the participation/performance on Saturday and Sunday, for which I had all sorts of worries and little sleep, knowing that we'd be doing unfamiliar things with the sketchiest of guidance, or with spur-of-the-moment changes, and yes, I'm neurotic, always have been, I overthink things, I agonize over my screwups, and there were a number on Saturday and Sunday...

Anyway, today is the first day without all those worries, where I'm free to think about what just went down, and now it's really sinking in.

[Drunk Monk]

It's always after when you really feel the hole, right?  I imagine practice this Sunday will be really hard again, in a different way.

I'm juggling too many axes for it to hit me, except when I drop one and chop off a toe.  And I'm running out of toes.  

Music has always been a major refuge for me.

[King Bob]

DM - since you like the bombast, you should consider SF Opera's Ring cycle this summer

[Drunk Monk]

I know, right?

It’s over $1K for the whole cycle. Too rich for my blood.

[King Bob]

One show then? I figured it was like a bucket list thing for you. I went when the did Messiaen's Saint Francis, with a huge chorus, and percussionists on the sides of the stage, and it was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. Well worth the ticket price, which I think was around $100 but I can't remember exactly.