Just decided, i'm going down to DC in early April...

[WarriorOfMetal]

...because I've just found out that the NSO is going to be performing one of the greatest pieces of music ever written: Mahler's 2nd Symphony. I used to be an usher at Boston Symphony Hall, and the Boston University Symphony Orchestra had a performance of Mahler 2 there a night I was working.
I had heard the beginning of the first movement in an orchestration class I took that semester, and was interested in hearing it, so I watched and listened through the space between a set of doors close to the stage. During the final movement, it got to a point where the doors I was listening through were actually shaking from the orchestra's sheer power. This was when I realized that most metal bands have nothing on the sonic power of a large orchestra, and it was greatly inspiring to me.
I have a recording of this symphony, and it's one of my favorite things to listen to, ever...and I find that I always want to turn it up loud when I listen to it. I'm listening to part of it right now, and I decided I should google and see if there are any performances happening this year, in places that aren't hard to get to...well, DC's easy enough, and I won't have to pay for a hotel or anything, since my parents live near there.

Tickets go on sale in about 2 weeks, you can bet I'll be buying one or two.


I can not fucking wait

[Apophis]

Awesome

[WarriorOfMetal]

tomorrow morning, i leave Boston, driving down to Baltimore, MD. staying with a friend i haven't seen in 2-3 years, who i'm going to the concert with. friday is the concert...then saturday i hang out with my family and maybe 1-2 friends if i have time. sunday, back up to Boston.

[jacksonplayer]

I saw the NSO play Mahler's 2nd a couple of years ago, with Gilbert Kaplan as the guest conductor. Kaplan is this ultra rich dude who has dedicated his life to learning how to properly conduct that one piece of music, and he's generally considered the best in the world at it. It was very inspiring, to say the least. I may be going to this performance, also, but I'm not sure yet. The Kennedy Center has been programming a fair bit of Mahler lately, which is a bit surprising to me. I saw the Bolshoi Orchestra perform Mahler's Ninth there awhile back, which is my alltime favorite symphony. They gave a very peculiarly Russian interpretation, which did a lot to explain Shostakovich to me (another of my favorites).

[jacksonplayer]

I didn't see Friday's performance, but I caught the one tonight (the NSO typically does a Thurs.-Sat. run of a particular program). Superb!

[WarriorOfMetal]

Originally Posted by jacksonplayer

I didn't see Friday's performance, but I caught the one tonight (the NSO typically does a Thurs.-Sat. run of a particular program). Superb!

sweet, dude....originally i wanted to go to the saturday performance, but i couldn't find anyone who could go that night, so we went last night instead. i was a little bit disappointed with the alto, but overall it was great. there are so many little details you notice live that i've never really picked up on the recording i have (Pierre Boulez/Wiener Philharmoniker). the effect of the off-stage brass is awesome, too....you don't really appreciate it as much on a recording.

[jacksonplayer]

The recording I have is Simon Rattle/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. I highly recommend it. I've never thought of Boulez as suited for Late Romantic-era music. A little too dry and literal. But then, I like my Mahler way over the top.

The alto was good, but that soprano really did the job, eh? I'm pretty sure this soprano also was featured 4 years ago when the NSO performed the Second with Gilbert Kaplan conducting.

I agree about Mahler as a live experience. This is the fourth Mahler performance I've seen (the 2nd two times, and the 3rd and 9th each once), and what always strikes me is how much is going on at once. In most Romantic symphonies, there are a few basic things going on across the sections, but with Mahler, each section is playing its own unique part. It's astounding how it all fits together. You can just bathe in the music, focusing on the cellos for awhile, shifting to the different violin sections, then to the horns...good stuff. I read a piece about the 9th Symphony that described it as chamber music written for an orchestra, and I think that fits all of his music.

BTW, did you notice that the strings were arranged in antiphonal seating? The first violins were on one side of the conductor, the second and third violins on the other side, and the violas and cellos behind him. That was the performing standard in Mahler's day, and a lot of his music is written with "call and response" parts between the violin sections to take stereo advantage of that seating. Modern seating arrangements usually group the violins together on one side and the violas and cellos on the other. That was a very pleasant surprise when I saw it last night.

[WarriorOfMetal]

yeah, i did notice the unusual layout, thought that was interesting.