Last Thursday I attended the next concert in my season ticket to the
National SO: the world premiere (and on opening night) of Philip Glass's
Symphony No.  7, and Matthias Goerne singing Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn
songs.

This was the first real exposure I've had to Glass; I've even managed
to avoid his film music somehow.  I didn't know what to expect, and held
my breath at the first downbeat.  Surprisingly melodic and accessible!
This three-movement work had several really interesting passages and was
rhythmically very complex.  Scored for orchestra, piano, organ, and
choir, the 37-minute work was much better than I was expecting.  I would
definitely like to hear it again, and even my wife, no lover of contemporary
music, was impressed.

In the Afterwords session after the concert, Glass and Leonard Slatkin
talked about their days at Julliard.  Glass, who seems hyper-intelligent
but very approachable, said that although he is not into the Central
European music world anymore, his most useful exercise in learning
orchestration came when he copied out the score of Mahler 9.  He also
categorizes himself as a composer for the theater, not the concert hall,
which gives him another tenuous connection to Mahler (true, you can argue
that both ways; Mahler was comfortable in both).  I thought the insights
were worth thinking about.  A member of the audience asked Glass if, now
that he has heard his piece for the first time, would he be tempted to
revise it.  "I thought it worked pretty well," he said.  So did I.

This makes two interesting discussions with composers of modern works.
I talked about Slatkin's Afterwords discussion with John Corigliano here:

http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0411&L=CLASSICAL&P=R1766&I=-3

Goerne was great in several of the Wunderhorns, but there's only so much
even he can do in the Kennedy Center, which is an outstanding hall for
symphonies but can swallow even the greatest singer.  I liked what he
did in Lob des hohen Verstandes.  He started out in typically jaunty
character, but when it came to "zu singen um das Meisterstueck," he
really turned it into a legato phrase, which makes sense given the lyrics.
I'm sure others must do this but it was really noticeable that night.
Good thinking by him.  Unfortunately, he also had a premature entry in
the same song.  Covered it up nicely, I have to say.  I thought Goerne
and Slatkin nearly derailed a couple of times regarding tempo, but none
of the near-glitches ruined the performance for me.

Next up: Mahler 9 in April.

Mitch Friedfeld