Gilbert Kaplan and Mahler 2

Friday and Saturday night we (the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus ) performed the Mahler 2nd Symphony with Gilbert Kaplan and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

The concerts went well.

It was a fun experience to work with Mr. Kaplan. He's a little stiff as a conductor, but his obvious passion for the work carried him through. The orchestra was little ragged here and there, but by and large, they did the piece justice.

The Mahler 2 is a wonderful thing, and even a bad performance of it is better than a great performance of many other works -- and this was not a bad performance by any stretch of the imagination. There are places in it that move me to tears every time I hear it.
Being able to sit on the stage and watch it being performed is a rare privilege. And a live performance is infinitely more exciting than any recording.

As a singer, my only problem with the piece is that after waiting for an hour and quarter, getting wrapped up in the splendor of it all, I always wonder if any sound will come out of our mouths when it's time to sing "Auf erstehen." Eventually the sound comes, but those anxious few seconds before it does are terrifying.

I've been lucky enough to perform the piece with several conductors. In my opinion, the best was with Jesus Lopez-Cobos. James Conlon, whose performances are usually more about James Conlon instead of about the music, does a fine job with the Mahler 2 as well.

Kaplan, on the other hand, has a metronome in his head and approaches the music almost scientifically, never taking a chance or varying his approach. The emotional content of the performance does not come from Kaplan -- it comes from the music itself. The music on the page, if played in time and together, can't really be screwed up. Mahler's genius will always come through.

As a conductor, Kaplan is OK. He is a precise conductor. From intense and in-depth research, he knows (or at least believes he knows) what Mahler's intentions were, and conducts accordingly. He set his precise tempos and interpretation, and the music and the musicians did the rest.

Under another conductor, it might have been more polished or more emotional, or more something else, but it was still Mahler's music and Mahler's genius that was the star of the show and you can't go wrong with that.

I feel privileged to have participated in the performance. I find it hard to understand how the mind of one man could generate such an incredible work.

Bravo to Mahler. Bravo to the orchestra. And Bravo to Gilbert Kaplan for loving the music and promoting it all over the world. His intriguing story brings new listeners to this wonderful piece.