Issue #1
September 2001
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Mahler, Cleveland and the WTC
September, 2001
by Eric Kisch
After Tuesday's dreadful events, all entertainment and sports shut down as the nation started to come to terms with being at war with an as yet unknown enemy. On Thursday night, the Cleveland Orchestra opened its season with a concert that consisted solely of Mahler's Fifth. Additional works originally on the program were Wagner's Wesendonck songs with Deborah Voigt and a work by Berg. Ms Voigt was delayed in Florida by the cessation of airline travel and so the concert program was truncated.
As an affirmation of our values, as a balm for our sick souls, the concert was deeply satisfying. As a musical experience, it was extraordinary: clearly conductor and band threw themselves into the task with fervor and despite minimal rehearsal produced a stupendous performance. And Mahler seemed to be the right composer to deal with our conflicting thoughts and emotions. The opening funeral music was all too relevant and made more than its usual impact, its empty quiet ending expressing what we all felt all week. The stormy second movement seemed to reflect the seething rage and anger felt by so many at our relative powerlessness to fight back effectively immediately against the dastardly foe; moments of quiet consolation were dashed aside by the storm which seemed to continue unabated, but eventually faded into muttered silence. The laendler third movement made me think, for the first time, of the resoluteness and survivorship of the rustic peasants; no matter what tribulations, wars, famines and pestilence they had faced, they had come through and this was magnificently captured by the lilting music. It was as though Mahler had gained strength from the "common" sounds drifting through his window, which he incorporated into his world vision. After such boisterous cheer, the quiet tender Adagietto made a strong impression. One was ready for some expressions of love, or deep positive feelings. And with the unbridled good cheer of the boistrous finale, also it would appear deeply rooted in folk traditions, one felt that troubles had been overcome and that one could again face the world optimistically.
A very emotional rather than analytic response to tonight's music, but what comfort it provided. The audience was deeply moved and rose as one in a well deserved standing ovation that lasted many minutes. The horrors of the week had not erased our need for great music as succor, nor the means for providing it. Midst the incessant reports of the details of the disaster that befell us, and of the perpetrators, and also of what might follow, it was good to reflect for a couple of hours on the best that our civilization has to offer.
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