TITANIC ACHIEVEMENT

Youth Philharmonic and Fresno State orchestra combine to present Mahler's First Symphony.

By Steven Robles - December 6, 2009

Sunday was definitely a special day for Fresno’s young musicians and the city's arts society in general. The Youth Orchestras of Fresno collaborated with the Fresno State Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Thomas Loewenheim to tackle the Shostakovich Festive Overture and Mahler’s First Symphony that easily lives up to the name Titan. About 150 musicians packed the stage at Saroyan Theatre and delighted a nearly full house.

The 1954 Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich started the night with a well-executed fanfare by the brass followed by the entrance of the strings and woodwinds that was well handled and set the energetic mood that would follow for the rest of the piece. The musicians handled the changing ideas and emotions quite well and were more than capable of bringing this classic work to life.

The First Movement of Mahler's Symphony Number 1 in D major, the "Titan," was interpreted very well in many of the string and wind instruments, although some of the lower lines in the wind instruments would have benefited from a bit more clarity.

At the beginning, the offstage trumpets called the attention of the audience to something important that was about to happen. The French horns did an exceptional job in setting a very gripping and lyrical mood for the rest of the musical ideas to be executed. Again the varying color and emotion that make Mahler great were executed well.

The dance-like second movement that seems like a symphonic poem of sorts provided a good contrast with the overall serious character that Mahler seems to have in most of his other work. I especially liked the job the strings did communicating a mature attitude with their various melodies.

The third movement starts with the contrabass playing a solo of Frère Jacques in a minor mode. Although I feel the soloist could have worked a little more on tone and intonation, I realize that the extremely high register of the part may be very difficult to manage. The rest of the orchestra saved him with their entry on the same theme. The oboes did exceptionally well with their introduction of the next theme that slowly blended with the various other ideas in a way that captivated my attention.

The fourth movement started with a well executed blast by the percussion that welcomed the brass and violins to join in with a nearly perfect theme that characterized the fury and power of Atlas and Cronus. Then in an almost remorseful way, the energy backed down into the beauty of the second theme. The piece then traveled into a development that brought back the original theme in remembrance of the first movement.

The entire night's interpretation and technical difficulties were both done extremely well and I hope that another show of this caliber by such young people can be brought to our city and make us question all who say that one must be a certain age to express such complex emotion.

Steven Robles studies composition and theory with George Warren.

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