Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No 3 in D minor
Christopher Gunning (1944-2023)
Symphony No 10 (2017)
Stacey Rishoi (mezzo-soprano)
Boulder Concert Chorale (Women’s Voices); Boulder Children’s Chorale Festival Choir
Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra/Kenneth Woods
rec. live, 22 May 2022, Macky Auditorium, Boulder, USA
Colorado MahlerFest [2 CDs: 114]

A little while ago, I reviewed an admirable performance of Mahler’s Second symphony which Kenneth Woods conducted as the finale to the 2023 Colorado MahlerFest. Now I’ve had the chance to hear the recording of his performance of the Third symphony with which the 2022 MahlerFest concluded. In the preamble to the earlier review, I gave a bit of background information about both the MahlerFest and the way the festival’s orchestra is organised. I won’t repeat that here, save to say that the orchestra is assembled specifically for the festival and has the opportunity not only for intensive rehearsal but also for immersion in aspects of Mahler’s music during the course of the festival. If, however, you want to know more about the MahlerFest and about Kenneth Woods’ approach to Mahler, I commend to you an excellent and extensive conversation which he had with my colleague, Lee Denham in 2023.   

The aforementioned performance of Mahler’s Second was preceded by a significant piece of British orchestral music in the form of Thea Musgrave’s terrific Phoenix Rising. A similar format was followed in 2022; before performing the epic Third symphony, Woods and his orchestra gave the world premiere of the Tenth symphony by the late Christopher Gunning. That work is placed after the symphony on the CDs but since it opened the concert it seems logical to consider it first. Gunning attracted particular fame for his many scores for film and television but he also had a significant portfolio of compositions for the concert hall, including several concertos and, I believe, thirteen symphonies. I’ve heard quite a few of his orchestral works and I’ve been impressed. In his obituary of Gunning in The Guardian, Guy Rickards singled out his Tenth symphony as one of his two finest achievements in the genre (the other being the Twelfth (2018), which I have yet to hear); of the Tenth he said it was a work “in which his high regard for the music of Sibelius can be felt without ever sounding like the Finnish master”.

The symphony is cast in a single movement which here plays for 20:27. Gunning supplied a brief note about the symphony in the MahlerFest programme book. In it, he referred to “the material stated at the beginning constantly leading me from one section to the next. The result could be likened to a series of variations, each contrasting with the last”. Two other comments are worthy of note. The first is Gunning’s declaration that the symphony “follows a dramatic narrative which to me is vitally important; I have always looked on my symphonies as novels, with the characters in the form of themes or motifs which return and develop”. He also tells us that he knew the work “had to be relatively concise and straightforward for a listener to follow”.

The opening material referenced by Gunning takes the form of a long-breathed melody which, when you hear it, seems to have significant possibilities. One interesting side issue for me was that in the first couple of minutes the unfolding of this melody was punctuated at strategic intervals by a series of very loud bass drum beats. This immediately put me in mind of another tenth symphony: the transition between the fourth and fifth movements of Mahler’s Tenth. Is this an unintended reference into which I’m reading too much? As the symphony develops, we hear a succession of episodes, all of them exhibiting interesting and ingenious variety on what has gone before. I will freely confess that I think I will need to listen quite a few more times to appreciate to the full the derivation of some of these variants from Gunning’s primary material. However, that’s not to imply in any way that he has failed in his aim to make the work “straightforward for a listener to follow”. On the contrary, the music is very accessible. In addition,  it is tonal, strongly melodic and expertly imagined for the orchestra. I don’t know the precise scoring but it sounds as if Gunning has written for a sizeable ensemble. I think Gunning’s Tenth is a very interesting and worthwhile composition and I’m delighted that I’ve had the chance to hear it in this assured performance.

Most orchestras would think that a performance of Mahler’s Third constituted a good night’s work; in fact, the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra went on to play the Third, all 94 minutes of it, after giving the Gunning premiere. That they played the Mahler with no audible signs of tiring is a tribute, I think, not only to their collective musicianship but also their stamina.

I enjoyed the performance of the Mahler symphony. The huge first movement comes off very well indeed. Kenneth Woods and his orchestra bring off the darker, primeval episodes very convincingly. Crucially, Woods paces astutely the march passages which form so much of the movement; I loved the swagger in the music. Pleasingly, lots of detail comes across, for which both the engineers and the performers must share the credit. The principal trombonist, Lucas Borges is commanding in his important solos; a good number of his colleagues, including the concertmaster and the principal horn, also chip in with excellent solo work. In the programme for the symphony, which Mahler subsequently set aside, part of the title that he gave to this first movement was ‘Summer marches in’; well, in this performance we experience a colourful, exciting cavalcade, not least at the riotous conclusion of the movement. I felt drawn into this performance. Incidentally, Mahler’s original titles for all the movements are given in full in the track listing. As I said, Mahler discarded this programme but if you can access the MahlerFest programme book online you’ll find a thoughtful essay by Kenneth Woods in which he explains why we should still ponder those titles in connection with the music.

The second movement is given an idiomatic and charming performance in which the detail is keenly pointed. Mahler starts his third movement innocently enough but it’s not long before the music – and the scoring – becomes piquant, even deliberately grotesque. That’s well brought out here. The passage leading to the first posthorn solo is beautifully done, paving the way for the nostalgic calls of the posthorn in an ideal fashion. I may be wrong but I think that the solos are played on a trumpet, as is often done. Here, the player (Richard Adams) delivers the solos very well; he’s nicely distanced too. I’ve heard some conductors take the posthorn passages a little more slowly than Kenneth Woods does, conjuring up a dreamy atmosphere. Part of me wishes that Woods had adopted a slightly more relaxed tempo; on the other hand, his approach avoids excessive sentimentality. The very end of the movement is brazen – which I mean as a compliment.

In the fourth movement we hear Stacey Rishoi, who also sang in Woods’ performance of the Second symphony a year later. She’s an accomplished singer and I like the sound of her voice. However, for my taste she’s just a bit too forward and prominent as recorded. Furthermore, it seems to me that the performance as a whole lacks a sense of dark mystery; it all seems just a bit too ‘present’. I admire the crisp, fresh singing of both the ladies’ choir and the children in a spirited rendition of the short fifth movement. The big finale is properly spacious, though Woods also ensures that the music keeps moving forward. The orchestra plays the music with fine feeling and, as I suggested earlier, with no sense of tiredness at the end of a long, demanding concert. At 15:51 the trumpet-led chorale starts us on the final ascent and during the remaining minutes of the performance there’s a genuine sense of arrival. It’s small wonder that when the final chord has ended the audience goes wild; I’m sure it was a memorable night in Boulder, Colorado.

The orchestra plays this demanding symphony very well indeed, rising to all the many challenges that Mahler throws their way. Kenneth Woods leads the performance in an assured and idiomatic fashion. It’s a fine live performance, which I enjoyed very much.

The engineers have done an excellent job; the recorded sound is excellent. The recording, which can be obtained from the MahlerFest website, is available either as a digital download (which I’ve not heard) or in CD format.

This pair of discs is more than a souvenir of a very good concert. They preserve an excellent Mahler performance and the premiere of an impressive new symphony.   

John Quinn