Compassion for Mahler

By WILLIAM DART

Gustav Mahler was not a happy soul. Persecuted during his life on Earth, he was also maligned after his death.

When it came to the most popular of his symphonies, the Fifth, which the Auckland Philharmonia is playing under Miguel Harth-Bedoya this week, Mahler described it as "accursed". Nobody understood it and he wished he could conduct the first performance 50 years after his death.

In 1961, a half-century after the composer's passing, Leonard Bernstein was proving to be just the charismatic spokesman Mahler needed, in a series of brilliant theatrical recordings for CBS, interpretations which have not been made obsolescent by Bernstein's later outings for Deutsche Grammophon.

A few years on, the title of an essay by the American conductor spelled it out: Mahler: His Time Has Come.

There is something of Bernstein's flamboyance in Miguel Harth-Bedoya's podium manner, although the AP's favourite conductor stresses he wasn't fired by Bernstein's or any other conductor's Mahler.

His interest in the composer grew from a Mahler cycle undertaken with the Eugene Symphony when "we wanted a project playing repertoire they had not played and which I had not conducted, so we could all learn it and grow together".

The Fifth, which many know from the soundtracks of such films as Death in Venice, Before Night Falls and even Lorenzo's Oil, stands out because "it is in the middle of his symphonies.

It is a combination of being rather simple in many ways, but also extremely deep. The opening Funeral March sets the mood, a mood somewhere between pessimism and the severe psychological depression that had always haunted Mahler.

And we should look for Mahler in the work, I ask, mentioning the notorious incident when Leonard Bernstein told the Vienna Philharmonic they were playing the notes but he couldn't see Mahler.

"Mahler is in his music. That's a given," Harth-Bedoya replies. "The disappointments he had, the loss of his child, the very Jewish sounds he grew up with have all been put by Mahler the idealist into the wonderful and amazing universe of the symphony."

Harth-Bedoya doesn't follow the recordings of other conductors either, although last year, when he conducted the Fort Worth Symphony in Mahler's Second, Mahler expert Gilbert Kaplan came up with some revelations in his pre-concert talk.

"Kaplan was fascinating when he compared the various tempos of conductors, and he had charts and charts of the lengths of the various symphonies. Some would vary by 10 minutes.

"But going into this sort of thing would throw me off. I set my pacings and then there's nothing I can do about it.

"In any case, the pacing is more important than the choice of tempo, particularly for transitions. Mahler is not a straightforward composer. Within every section there will be various smaller sections - you could say there is a micro view as well as the macro one.

"The problem is to link it all together, to attain a flow and retain the attention of the audience, otherwise the music can seem very long. The symphonies are long already, but if they feel long something is not working right."

I could well imagine audiences will thrill to those sweltering climaxes and a few eyes may well moisten during the Adagietto.

These are opportunities some less-than-scrupulous conductors can milk for all they are worth. Is there ever a worry of Harth-Bedoya going over the top?

He laughs. "My feeling is that it is better that way than not. One cannot be shy and introverted for most of the time."

Preview

* What: Auckland Philharmonia

* Where: Auckland Town Hall

* When: Tonight, 6.30; Tomorrow, 8pm