"Keeping Score: Mahler, Origins and Legacy" created and conducted
by Michael Tilson Thomas. Documentary and a complete performance of
Symphony No. 1 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
recorded in September 2009
SFS Media (2 discs) TT: 243 minutes 16:9 widescreen
with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY DVD 60041
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY BLU-RAY 60042
BUY NOW FROM ARKIVMUSIC
This is the seventh in the video Keeping Score programs broadcast
on PBS, a commendable series that began in 2006. This site has mentioned many
of them:
the Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique (REVIEW),
Beethoven Eroica (REVIEW), Stravinsky Rite
of Spring (REVIEW), Copland Appalachian
Spring (REVIEW), Shostakovich Symphony
5 (REVIEW), and Ives Holiday Symphony (REVIEW).
Some of these are on Blu-Ray as well as standard DVD, and a few of the performances
have been issued on CD or SACD. For complete information, check listings on ARKIVMUSIC
One could say that these are unique extended “educational” programs.
Michael Tilson Thomas and the producers have themselves learned from succeeding
releases, each being a step up in presentation technique, visual splendor and
content. All were filmed in Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco except
the Shostakovich which was recorded during a Proms concert in Royal Albert
Hall
in 2007. The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra's musically sharp and colorful
playing
displays a deeply committed orchestra which is beautifully recorded available
on this release in surround sound, 5.1 or stereo on the DVD, and Dolby TruHD
5.1 or Dolby TruHD 7.1 surround or Dolby 2.0 stereo on the Blu Ray. The excellent
dynamics, full-bodied sound
and
rich orchestral
textures
heard in all formats will
delight
audio buffs.
This
is one of the first symphonic Blu-Ray discs released in 7.1 surround
sound and it is mightily impressive.
This Mahler Keeping Score issue is special in several aspects. It consists
of two extensive, perfectly produced presentations with Thomas as narrator, a
journey
through four Mahler works, and a complete live performance of Symphony No.
1.
The first disc is the real reason this set is a “must have,” a truly
inspired presentation of the composer's life, with Thomas visiting sites from
his birthplace to the grave site with lots of stops in between. MTT takes everything
Bernstein taught him about “presenting” and brings it into the 21st
century. A deeply felt presentation, it is expanded with extensive location actualities
which explain Mahler's origins, rational and irrational feelings, fears,
his identification with nature, fascination with the ironic and the grotesque,
then finally the grand, and ultimately his tragic last years and death. We visit
the square in Iglau , now Jihlava in the Czech Republic, hearing the “Sonic
Goulash” that enveloped Mahler as a child, experiencing the military
bands, the church, tavern and synagogue sounds as well as the sounds of nature
that
influenced his works. We are in the fields and forests, in Vienna at the court
opera, we visit the composition huts, and for the first time ever, go into
his magnificent lakeside home near Maiernigg, Austria. We visit New York and
Carnegie
Hall, and finally return home to his grave site. This superb documentary is
meticulously presented by Michael Tilson Thomas and the production crew. Joan
Saffa and
David Kennard were producers and directors of the Keeping Score series.
Do note the “making-of” extras on this disc – they are well
worth watching.
The second disc contains “A Mahler Journey” and a live concert
performance of the first symphony. The Titan symphony is a youthful
work despite its groundbreaking achievements, and MTT understands when to be
serious about
it and when to let it rip. Energy is generally high within the limits of score
markings. I would prefer the first movement a tad slower, but by the end, we
are up and running. I have real problems with the start of the 3rd movement
in this and many other performances as the double bass solo is a bit too pretty
and mannered. It was intended to have sarcastic bite, as exemplified in the
Mitropoulos performance (Sony 62342). A little more swagger
in the second
theme
(like
in
the Bernstein recordings) would have been welcome. But we finish in powerful
style with superb brass and percussion, vividly captured by the engineers.
We
see an involving visual presentation of the orchestra using at least 14 cameras
verses
the 4 to 8 used in most videos, many providing moving rather than static
shots. And all are artfully edited by a first rate audio and video team
under the direction of Gary Halvorson. There are several other videos of Mahler
One on
DVD
or
Blu-ray
(DVD-Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic, DGG), (Blu-Ray-Abbado/Lucerne Orchestra,
Euroarts). And there are a many superlative performances on CD including
those by Bruno Walter, Bernard Haitink, Jascha Horenstein, and Rafael Kubelik,
to mention just a few.
In A Mahler Journey, conductor
Michael Tilson Thoma's narration guides us through the composer's life
with four musical references, beginning with his youthful and pivotal song
cycle, Songs
of a Wayfarer with the incomparable baritone Thomas Hampson.
Strangely there are no subtitles for this one section, and no clear presence
of the soloist in the center channel. Themes from this work are present in
almost
all of Mahler's
music with the song, Ging heut morgen ubers Feld, “This Morning
I walked
across the field,” heard almost thematically intact in the first movement
of the first symphony. Hampson is “state of the art” in Mahler
song, tasteful, moving, perfectly on pitch and totally in character. Then we
hear complete
movements from three symphonies: the Adagietto from Symphony No. 5,
certainly the best known work in the composer's repertoire; the bizarre Scherzo
from
Symphony No. 7, and the quirky Rondo Burlesque from the Symphony No. 9. Each
of these examples is introduced by MTT talking directly to the audience in
Davies Symphony Hall and to you as he explains Mahler's journey through a life
of giddy
heights and deep desperation.
The website for Keeping Score is a tour de force. Visit it and see all the above
plus dozens of sidebars and breakouts. As Newsday said, “Playing
music well is difficult, yet the world has an abundance of fine performers.
Explaining
a little about music is easier, yet few do it well. Those who can do both supremely
form a tiny club, whose honorary chairman is the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.”
The cost of this release must be mentioned. The Blu-Ray version is almost $60.00,
the DVD is almost $45, a hefty price indeed. You might consider it as a contribution
to the very worthy Keeping Score project, or the San Francisco Symphony. But
you can't write it off your taxes!
L.R.M. (June 2011)