Schubert 2 Mahler 1 @ Disney Hall

 

 

It seemed a bit peculiar for Disney Hall to program Songs of the Death of Children on Mother’s Day weekend. But even more consequential was presenting Mahler’s piece between Schubert’s 3^rd and 4^th symphonies.

 

Schubert’s sanity and emotional equilibrium made Mahler seem morbidly attention-seeking.

 

This wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

 

It wasn’t the performance itself—Dudamel extracted the maximum loveliness out of Kindertotenlieder, and Matthias Goerne sang as if he were alone in his room, and we were spying on his private grieving. The first song, "Now the sun wants to rise as brightly," was heart-stoppingly beautiful, but as the piece progressed, the pathos became unbearable. Not painful but indecent.

 

I discovered Mahler as a teenager—the right time to catch the bug—and have been a committed fan ever since. Mahler has always seemed so familiar and Schubert a bit alien.

 

Not this night. Schubert’s 3^rd was a fizzy cocktail of Haydn and Rossini, and in the smashing finale of the 4^th, Dudamel drove the Phil headlong. The violinists all shook their weary arms after it was over and the audience cheered.