By Daniel Buckwalter
(#commonmanatthesymphony)
A stirring night on stage began with the carnival atmosphere of World War I pilots, home from Europe, dive bombing and executing barrel rolls over American farmlands in the 1920s, all from the imagination of the Eugene Symphony Orchestra’s Composer-in-Residence, Matt Browne.
It continued with the light touch of Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, written when he was just a teenager, with the delicate keyboard artistry of twin sisters Christina and Michelle Naughton.
But to me, Thursday night at the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall belonged to another composer, one I could listen to all day in snippets — Gustav Mahler — as the Eugene Symphony, under the direction of Francesco Lecce-Chong, performed Mahler’s four-movement novelistic Titan Symphony.
For all my general admiration of Mahler’s symphonies, Thursday night’s performance of the Titan was the first time I had listened to a Mahler symphony from start to finish.
Perhaps that’s because at roughly 55 minutes in length, it may be one of the shortest of his 10 symphonies. There’s only so much lush horns, deep bass and ferocious strings that I can take before I need to pause for fresh air. I can’t imagine a day-long Mahler marathon.
Yet, while I’m no one’s idea of a musicologist, I’ve always been strangely attracted to Mahler. The fourth movement of his fifth symphony hooked me, but there is much more.
I always feel his music is character-driven, like opera (though, oddly, while he conducted opera he never wrote one). He seemed to enjoy presenting visions of fierce violence interspersed with brief interludes to catch the breath.
The Titan Symphony is no different. I was taken by it all, especially the affecting solo by principal bass Keith Wymer (based on Frère Jacques) to open the third movement.
It is emotional.
Indeed, at the start of the piece right after intermission, Lecce-Chong had to take an extra moment before lowering the baton for the first note. It is an exhausting ride to the triumphant finish.
And it was wildly different from the first half of the program. The New York City-based Naughton sisters have won rave reviews with their live performances both nationally and internationally, and it’s easy to see why. They display light touch and answer each other’s phrases with flair. They had a wonderful rapport with the audience, which gave them a standing ovation.
Browne, who also is based in New York City, made his Eugene Symphony composing debut Thursday night with his seven-minute Barnstorming Season. It was easy to visualize the planes and the starry wonder of the Midwest America residents who saw them.
Browne is the first composer in a four-year “First Symphony” initiative with the Santa Rosa (California) Orchestra, which Leece-Chong also conducts. It will provide four rising young composers with the opportunity to premiere their first large-scale orchestral work. Browne’s contribution to that project will premiere with the Eugene Symphony in March of 2020.
Next up for the Eugene Symphony is Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, played to the showing of the film above the orchestra, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2 in the Silva Concert Hall.
