BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Mahler and Bruckner
Usher Hall, 23/8/2024
BBC Scottish Symphy Orchestra, Sir Donald Runnicles (Conductor), Annika Schlicht (Mezzo-Soprano), Thomas Lehman (Baritone)
This was an absolutely fabulous concert given by the BBCSSO and its Conductor Emeritus, Sir Donald Runnicles. It featured two works, a selection of songs from Gustav Mahler’s collection, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn) and Anton Bruckner’s final, unfinished Symphony no. 9.
Before I get to the concert, I must return to the recurring saga of the EIF programmes. I have written on the EMR Blog about my belief that this year’s idea of a free sheet for every concert and a £10 Souvenir Programme for some, plus some information online, is a retrograde step. This concert represented the nadir! Not only was there no information about either of these great works, nor anything about the two excellent singers other than their names, but the free sheet listed an entirely non-existent fourth movement of the Bruckner, a Finale (Misterioso, nicht schnell). Bruckner’s Ninth is famously one of those unfinished final symphonies which haunted so many Romantic era composers. He left behind many ideas and notes which have been occasionally reconstructed by musicologists, but there is no final movement. It ends with the brass and strings rippling beautifully into silence, a peaceful conclusion to a monumental work in which Bruckner seems to wrestle with apocalyptic forces beyond his control. Who was responsible for these free sheets? Another pixillated poster, this time of Sir Donald, took up most of the space, while the back page waffled at length about the Festival and its theme of rituals etc. There was, in addition, a little paragraph about the Fourth Movement of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. This is the song, Urlicht, from ‘Des Knaben Wunderhorn’, but there was nothing to link this to the performance of the song tonight. Unless you knew that Urlicht in its orchestrated form was the 4th movement, the paragraph was totally meaningless! In addition, and finally on this topic, there were not nearly enough free sheets at the concert, and the poor ushers were reduced to running about trying to find more. The Festival must have known how well sold the concert was, so there is no excuse. I really hope that the EIF seriously rethink the programme situation for next year and return to the idea of an informative booklet at a decent price, written by people who know about music!
It was a great pleasure to welcome Donald Runnicles back to the Usher Hall. I was at school with Donald many years ago now, and it is wonderful to see how well he has done in his glittering career, as he approaches his 70th birthday in November. He has excelled in the late Romantic repertoire, and this concert represented that era marvellously.
Gustav Mahler was fascinated by the collection of poems collected in 1805 -8 by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, representing a whole range of folk themes from Germany’s past. He started composing songs to these poems as early as 1884, but it was in 1899 that the publication of ‘Songs from the Boy’s Magic Horn’ brought them to general attention. They were written for soprano and baritone with orchestra and permeated all of Mahler’s symphonies until the sixth.
We heard eight songs in this concert, unusually with mezzo and baritone, and they were splendidly performed by Annika Schlicht and Thomas Lehman.
Ms Schlicht is a hugely talented mezzo from the Ensemble of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, and she sang with intelligence and great articulation. I am used to hearing a soprano in these songs, and it took me a little while to adjust to their transposition, but her earthier tone was just right for these songs of love, death and loss. By the time she sang the definitive mezzo song, Urlicht (Primordial Light), which features so strongly in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, we were able to enjoy the sheer beauty of both an exquisite song and Ms Schlicht’s superb voice.
We have been able to enjoy the fantastic American baritone, Thomas Lehman, in the Usher Hall several times over recent years, most notably in Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ and in Wagner’s ‘Tannhäuser’, and I must say I have become something of a fan. In his mid-30s, and also a member of the Ensemble at Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Mr Lehman is the real deal in, particularly, the German baritone repertoire. His honeyed timbre and rock-solid technique, combined with an infectious ability to put over a text, mark him out as a very special singer. Whether in the whimsical song, Lob des Hohen Verstandes (In Praise of High Intellect), with its comical wheezing donkey noises, or the tragic Revelge (Reveille), the tale of a fallen drummer-boy and his dead comrades, Mr Lehman was able to convey the meaning of the songs with subtle movements, gestures and facial expressions. This is a rare talent.
Throughout these songs, the BBCSSO played with great attention to balance and nuance, superbly directed by Sir Donald, whose affinity to the Mahlerian style was obvious and deeply felt.
After the interval, we heard Bruckner’s tremendous unfinished 9th Symphony, a work so enormous in concept as to leave us in wonderment at this extraordinary figure in musical history. It has been suggested to me recently that Bruckner has become somewhat passé, an anomaly whose powerful and individual works do not fit in with our modern world. In this, the 200th anniversary of his birth, he is apparently so out of fashion that putting his symphonies in concert programmes is a turn off for 21st century audiences. It seems to explain why, in this anniversary year, this was the first Bruckner symphony I have heard live in Edinburgh. None of the symphonies have appeared in the repertoire of the RSNO in 2024. I know that Sir Donald, like me, has loved the music of this complex and strange man since we were both in our teens, and this performance convinced me more than ever of his genius.
From the monumental internal battles of the mighty first movement, through the pounding rhythms of the nightmare Scherzo, punctuated by lyrical interludes in the Trio section, to the serene ending of the wondrous Adagio, with its ethereal strings transporting the listener to a vision of heaven and infinity, this is a work of gigantic grandeur and scope, and Sir Donald was able to find every atom of beauty and majesty in it. Many years of study, contemplation and performance have come together in a reading of the symphony that can be described as definitive. The huge cheers and bravos of the packed Usher Hall were testament to the love that Edinburgh audiences have for Sir Donald, not just because he is one of us, but also because he is so good!
As a brief coda to this performance, I attended a meeting of the Wagner Society of Scotland on Saturday 24th August, in Greenbank Parish Church, Edinburgh, where Sir Donald Runnicles and Thomas Lehman gave a short recital of excerpts from Tannhäuser, followed by a fascinating question and answer session about Wagner and Bruckner. It was most enlightening to hear Sir Donald’s views and also the articulate thoughts of the young American baritone. Anyone in Scotland interested in the music of Richard Wagner should consider joining the Society. Information about it can be found online. As a recipient of the 1990 Wagner Society of London’s Bayreuth Bursary, I can highly recommend this splendid society, which does so much to keep alive the flame of Wagner’s genius.
