Lenárd Understands Mahler

The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra provided a dignified memorial on this year’s 100th anniversary of the death of composer Gustav Mahler at its 11th concert for season-ticket holders at the city’s Rudolfinum, with a performance of his majestic Symphony No. 3 in D Minor conducted by its future principal conductor Ondrej Lenárd

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) completed his Third Symphony in a small studio near Attersee in the summer of 1895. Inspired by the local countryside, he contemplated the entire spectrum of human existence and human emotion and created a monumental symphony which was “a work of such magnitude that it actually mirrors the whole world.”

The symphony is unusually long and is broken up into six movements, the first of which is the longest. The evening therefore runs to an hour and 40 minutes in total without a break. The composition of the orchestra is also far more extensive than is usual and contains a number of unusual instruments such as post horn and rute. It also features a large number of particular instruments, such as four piccolos at the same time, eight horns, and extra percussive instruments (such as two timpani played by two players). As well as the very large orchestra, there is a children’s and women’s choir and a mezzo-soprano solo in the fourth movement.

The first performance in 1897 featured only three parts and was tepidly received. However, the symphony – conducted by the composer himself – met a warm reception from the public when it was performed in its entirety for the first time in 1902. However, such gigantic pieces cause interpreters considerable problems; it is difficult for the conductor in terms of balance and for the orchestra in terms of endurance. Furthermore, the structure of the symphony is also in itself a challenge. Its first movement, over half an hour long, is unrelenting – a march that is at one moment sunny, at another sad, and sometimes cynical. The final movement, intense in emotion like an adagio, is almost as long. And between them there are four shorter movements that are very different in character. It is very difficult for the musician for the six parts to make sense as a whole.

The concert’s conductor Ondrej Lenárd demonstrated his close relationship to Mahler, making the enormous “pastoral” Third Symphony sound wonderfully soft. After just a few bars, the listener was drawn into a precisely created atmosphere. Under his baton, the march was buoyant, almost disarming in its jauntiness.

Here we must draw attention to the unmistakable trombone solo. The sound of this bulky instrument was in the first movement in particular incredibly colourful, rounded, absolutely faithful in terms of detail and also worthy as regards dynamic scale.

The second movement in the form of a minuet was elegant enough, although it sounded very delicate and fragile in comparison with the powerful sound of the previous one. The third movement was absolutely amazing, particularly in the lyrical passages of the post horn’s monologue.

The two subsequent vocal parts were handled by mezzo-soprano Annamaria Popescu. Thanks to her cultivated singing technique and velvet smooth tone, she made the solo as beautiful as it should be; it was melancholically lyrical and calm. The women’s and children’s choir was well-balanced in the following movement. Their sound was wonderful, their articulation faultless, and all of their inputs very varied in terms of mood. The Kühn Children’s Choir with choir master Jiří Chvála and the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno with choir master Petr Fiala brought to mind a choir of angels.

The solo singing and angelic choir were wonderful. But it was in the majestic finale that the conductor led the symphony with huge emotional intensity to the very zenith.

Mahler’s Third Symphony is like an epic journey through a landscape full of dramatic contrasts and it was rightly met with loud ovations from an enthusiastic audience at a full Dvořák Hall at the Rudolfinum. The concert was recorded, so those who were unable to attend will be able to hear it for themselves in several broadcasts on Czech Radio.