An exciting concert in the Auckland Philharmonia's Premier Series that features the world premiere of Ross Harris's 7th Symphony and baritone Benson Wilson performing Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer.
Giordano Bellincampi conducts
HARRIS: Symphony No 7
Ross Harris Photo: Gareth Watkins, Lilburn Trust, Wallace Arts Trust
Of the 7th Symphony, Ross Harris is quoted with the following in the program notes:
"Three fragments of Gregorian chant form the basis of Symphony No.7. Their musical implications are addressed in a gradually unfolding single movement in which they are developed and transformed.
"Does the chant material suggest anything more than an archaic modality? Do these fragments which disintegrate and reform in gentle or harsh ways imply a commentary on something connected to religion and faith? I don’t know. I don’t know if the treatment of these chants has any significance beyond the purely musical. That remains to be heard.
"Symphony No.7 is written for the APO. I have been very fortunate to have had the APO premiere all of my symphonies and I am very grateful for that."
MAHLER: Songs of a Wayfarer
Photo: Nick MacBain
In his 20s and an assistant conductor in Kassel, Germany, Mahler was also head-over-heels in love with a soprano, Johanna Richter. Unfortunately for the composer, but maybe fortunately for his art, the desire was unrequited.
On New Year’s day 1884, Mahler wrote to a friend:
"Last night I sat alone with her and we were both almost wordless awaiting the New Year. Her thoughts were not with her companion, and when the clock struck, and the tears poured from her eyes, the terrible realisation came over me that it was not for me to dry those tears… My accomplishments: I have written a song cycle, six songs for the time being, all of which are dedicated to her. She does not know them. What else can they tell her beside what she already knows? . . .The songs are conceived as if a wayfaring craftsman has suffered a heavy fate and now goes out into the world and wanders aimlessly."
Those six songs were pruned to four and completed for voice and piano in 1885. It took a further six years of tinkering before they were delivered in the orchestral form.
In the first song, Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht, our narrator ponders his darling’s upcoming wedding day – he’s not on the invite list.
Next, Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld is a joyful stroll through nature is interrupted, of course, by a pang of solitary despair.
Then the narrator imagines a glowing knife plunged into his chest in Ich hab' ein glühend Messer.
Finally, in Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz, nature offers some relief, as our narrator finds peace sleeping under the falling blossoms of a linden tree. But is he snoozing, or is he in fact sleeping the final sleep of death?
BRAHMS: Symphony No 1 in C minor Op 68
Brahms was lauded early. His friend and mentor Schumann gushed publicly announcing him as "the one chosen to express the most exalted spirit of the times in an ideal manner, one who sprang fully armed from the head of Jove… A youth at whose cradle the graces and heroes of old stood guard."
And Brahms, in his early 20s, had musical ambitions to attack the lofty form of the symphony writing to his friend Joseph Joachim, "I have been trying my hand at a symphony during the past summer, have even orchestrated the first movement and have completed the second and third."
However, the pressure of that giant Beethoven "marching behind him" and his own rigorous standards meant these musical beginnings found their way into other works. The world waited… and waited for the first symphony of Brahms.
He was 43 when he finally brought one out.
The critic Eduard Hanslick, so often good for a quote, declared of the reveal:
"Seldom, if ever, has the entire musical world awaited a composer’s first symphony with such tense anticipation . . . The new symphony is so earnest and complex, so utterly unconcerned with common effects, that it hardly lends itself to quick understanding . . . [but] even the layman will immediately recognize it as one of the most distinctive and magnificent works of the symphonic literature."
Recorded by RNZ Concert in Auckland Town Hall, 3 August 2023
Producer: Tim Dodd
Engineer: Rangi Powick
