Article published September 20, 2009
Toledo Symphony tackles challenging Mahler work
Classics series opens with Symphony No. 3 in D Minor
Toledo Symphony Orchestra principal conductor Stephan Sanderling will lead the orchestra in a Mahler work next weekend.
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By SALLY VALLONGO
SPECIAL TO THE BLADE
Shaping up for the gridiron season started over a month ago for school teams and pro players. Hot daily workouts help prepare players for the rigors of four quarters of rough play under intense scrutiny by coaches, fans, opponents, and reporters.
In another corner of the cultural universe, Toledo Symphony Orchestra players have spent months working out so that the venerable orchestra will be fit to play a complex piece next weekend.
The challenge: Gustav Mahler and his Symphony No. 3 in D Minor, perennially ranked in the top 10 of toughest orchestral works.
In a bold kickoff for its marquee series, the Classics, TSO players and principal conductor Stefan Sanderling, plus more than 100 singers — including famed mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman — will line up on the Peristyle stage Friday for the first of two encounters with the longest and one of the most complex symphonies in the entire orchestral repertoire.
"The season could make or break on Mahler," says Keith McWatters, a percussionist and longtime TSO manager. "It's like starting with the Super Bowl and going from there."
Writes music critic John Shinner at the Allmusic.com Web site: "Clocking in at around 100 minutes, it is not only his longest work, it is also the longest work in the mainstay symphonic repertoire — long enough to contain Beethoven's and Brahms' Third Symphonies, with plenty of room left over for Bach's Third Brandenburg Concerto."
Sanderling, a Mahler specialist in his sixth year in Toledo, holds a similar position with the Florida Orchestra in Tampa, where he also has scheduled the Mahler work to open that group's classical season.
Yes, the musical gauntlet has been tossed, and McWatters, who handles all personnel matters for the 100-piece orchestra, knows why.
"Stefan schedules demanding music early in the season. It's to get us up and running." The ploy has worked, he adds. "People were worried about Mahler in July." That's when sheet music was distributed by librarian Ray Clark.
Actually, training started before that for some.
Sandra Frey Stegman, an assistant professor in choral education at Bowling Green State University, began preparing the BGSU Women's Chorus for its role in the upcoming performance last spring.
It was a new work for the longtime singer/conductor/pedagogue, who says of the Mahler, "The music is compelling and captivating, sometimes powerful, sometimes ponderous, but ultimately joyful and exultant."
And that's just the fifth movement of six in this huge work, in which the BGSU women and the Junior Choral Society of Northwest Ohio — a Fulton County group founded by Dr. Stegman 25 years ago and now led by Duane Beck, of Archbold — are to stand and deliver.
At the end of last year's term, Dr. Stegman played a recording of the fifth movement performed by the London Philharmonia with conductor Benjamin Zander for her 100 singers.
"It was hushed in the room as we listened to this," she recalls. When she announced the coming event to her singers, "They were thrilled."
For Sandra Clark, principal horn (Sara Jane and William DeHoff Chair), it wasn't the first time to perform the work; the TSO played it in 1996 during conductor Andrew Massey's tenure.
"I love playing Mahler," says Clark. "It's a challenge, but one that rewards the player's work and skill like few other composers."
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was a busy Austrian conductor who composed nine symphonies and much other music during off-seasons. His third symphony was inspired by his vision of celebrating the spiritual and physical beauty of the natural world.
Clark, who will lead an expanded section of nine French horns for the concerts, says, "I find I can get lost in Mahler's world. The sense of satisfaction I receive is far greater with Mahler than with most other thorny and challenging works we've done."
Every section of the orchestra — strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion — has solos that are make-or-break tricky.
And certainly there are chance elements, even in a classical musical performance that is scored down to the last quarter-note rest. Six rehearsals this week stand between an artistic triumph on Friday and Saturday and a musical fumble.
The Toledo Symphony will perform Mahler's Symphony No. 3 at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. Tickets are $20-$50; student rush tickets are available at the door for $5.
Contact Sally Vallongo at svallongo@theblade.com.
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