Watch and listen to symphonies by Mahler, a new opera by Missy Mazzoli, Ray Chen’s take on video game music and more.
The New York Times’s classical music and opera critics attend far more performances than they review. Here are some that hooked them during the past month.
Mahler Firsts
JOSHUA BARONE Despite years of hearing live music, we both had Mahler firsts this month; for me, the Eighth Symphony and for you the Third. Maybe it says something, that a composer so often performed still has his rarities.
ZACHARY WOOLFE Certainly these pieces are difficult to mount; they’re as large in scale as symphonic music gets.
Mahler’s Third Symphony
From the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance at Marian Anderson Hall
BARONE True. I saw the Eighth at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and it was mind-boggling to witness how much money it must have cost. This piece calls for eight vocal soloists, all of which were luxuriously (though imperfectly) cast, two standard choirs and a children’s choir. Mahler described it as having a Barnum & Bailey quality, which I don’t see as an advantage. At Symphony Hall, the opening felt as though it couldn’t have been anything other than an impenetrable wall of sound.
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Source: Music - nytimes.com
