“Das Klagende Lied” takes the listener on a dark journey into the woods.
As Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony have demonstrated time and time again, the music of Gustav Mahler resonates with evocative imagery. Friday night at Davies Symphony Hall, the orchestra presented the composer’s fairy tale cantata in a multimedia production that married Mahler’s sound world with an often striking visual component.
The hour-long score proved rich material for this unusual semistaged performance, lending physical form to this gnarly tale of fratricide and supernatural revenge. Call it another coup in the growing list of theatrical performances Tilson Thomas and his orchestra have presented over the last decade.
“Das klagende Lied” (the title, loosely translated, is “Song of Lament”) conjures a relentlessly grim fantasy world. Set to the composer’s own texts, based on German fairy tales, it’s the story of one brother murdering another for the chance to marry a beautiful queen. After the deed is done, the queen agrees to marry the murderous brother, but on the eve of the wedding, a minstrel finds a piece of the dead brother’s bone in the forest. Shaping it into a flute, he brings it to the wedding feast, and the flute sings the story of the killing.
Friday’s performance for orchestra, mixed chorus, four vocal soloists and offstage band was suitably large-scale, and director James Darrah matched it in a mostly effective staging.
The production’s principal features were a curved platform that ran the length of the stage behind the orchestra, backed by a wall suggesting an architectural ruin (set design by Ellen Lenbergs, with lighting by Pablo Santiago.)
Adam Larsen’s projections supplied evocative images – wintry trees, wisps of fog, a verdant forest. That would have been enough. The addition of four dancers (Rebekah Downing, Alexandra Jenkins, Nicholas Korkos, and Sam Shapiro) and two children (Colin Bires and Charlotte Kearns), costumed by Sarah Schuessler, added little to the narrative and often proved distracting.
Indeed, the musical values tended to outshine the visuals throughout the performance. “Das klagende Lied” isn’t one of Mahler’s masterpieces: completed just after the composer’s 20th birthday, its individual parts don’t always cohere. But the distinctive musical language that Mahler would continue to develop in his symphonies – the ethereal harmonies, enchanting forest sounds, and characterful solos, particularly for woodwinds – are in evidence throughout the piece. Tilson Thomas brought them forth in brilliant detail, and the orchestra played with tremendous verve. Ragnar Bohlin’s Symphony Chorus made potent otherworldly contributions.
The soloists were excellent. Mahler gives the majority of the vocal writing to the mezzo-soprano, and Sasha Cooke, singing with plush, earthy tone, sounded splendid. Joelle Harvey’s radiant soprano supplied pristine contrast. Tenor Michael Konig and baritone Brian Mulligan – both making their San Francisco Symphony debuts – sang with strength and focus as the brothers.
Before intermission, Cooke also served as soloist for Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer.” The most recent San Francisco Symphony performances, in 2009, featured baritone Thomas Hampson; here, Cooke’s velvety mezzo put the songs across with aching beauty and expressiveness.
The all-Mahler evening opened with the composer’s “Blumine.” Tilson Thomas, returning to the gentle sonorities of this 10-minute symphonic movement, led a luminous performance.
Contact Georgia Rowe at growe@pacbell.net.
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
Presents a semi-staged production of “Das klagende Lied” and other works by Gustav Mahler
When: 8 p.m. Jan. 14, 2 p.m. Jan. 15
Where: Davies Hall, 201 Van Ness, San Francisco
Tickets: $35-$162; 415-864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org
