Lots of Beethoven and The Sea-loving Debussy


The Emerson String Quartet returns to Union College, Schenectady, NY, on May 10, at 8 p.m., with part II of its late-Beethoven string quartet cycle. The program will include the Op. 132, Op. 150 and Op. 133 (Grosse Fuge) quartets.

This will be the Emerson’s 23rd appearance at Union College. Its members are Philip Setzer and Eugene Drucker, violins; Lawrence Dutton, viola; David Finckel, cello.

For tickets, at $25, call 518-388-6080.

The Berkshire Bach Singers, Orchestra and Soloists will perform Saturday, May 12, at 8 p.m., at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA. The program includes Handel’s (1685/1759) oratorio, "Israel in Egypt."

Conductor James Bagwell will lead a preconcert talk at 7 p.m. For tickets, call the Mahaiwe box office at 413-528-0100. Seats are $20, $30 and $40, with a discount for members of the Berkshire Bach Society.

The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall will host Albany Pro Musicawith David Griggs-Janower conducting on Saturday, May 12, at 8 p.m. The program includes choral music composed by the three Bs — Beethoven, Bach and Brahms. It opens with Beethoven’s Mass in C; continues with the Cantata No. 65 by Bach and "Nanie" by Brahms.

The vocal soloists will be Erica Rauer, soprano; Lucille Beer, mezzo-soprano; Allan Schneider, tenor; and Jack Brown, bass.

For tickets at $25, $10 for students, call 518-273-0038 or go to www.troymusichall.org. For information call 518-438-6538.

The Bard College Symphonic Chorus and Chamber Singers, directed by James Bagwell, will perform Handel’s "Dixit Dominus" and the "Ways of Zion to Mourn" on Wednesday, May 16, 8 p.m., at the college’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Admission is $5; free for children under 12. Call the box office for further information at 845-758-7900.

The American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by its music director Leon Botstein, concluded its spring series at Bard with two concerts last weekend.

On the program for both were two works composed early in the 20th century — Claude Debussy’s (1862/1918) "La Mere" and Gustav Mahler’s (1860/1911) Symphony No. 5.

These two works require a very large orchestra, including seven French horns and eight double basses, to mention but a few, to help create the enormous dramatic effects of this music.

Botstein handled the difficult score of the Mahler symphony with great skill and was able to draw a clear sound from his orchestra most of the time.

Mahler began composing this symphony at the Austrian resort Maiernigg in 1901. It premiered in 1903. He continuously revised the orchestration of the score until three months before his death. Mahler was also in great demand as a conductor not only in Vienna, but also in New York City at the Met, the Philharmonic and elsewhere.

His fifth symphony is different in many respects from his first four. There is no part for a vocal soloist, nor is there any choral part in the score.

This work begins with a "Trauer March" (Funeral March). Later in the first movement, Mahler combines a number of his themes, not easy by any means for a conductor to control his forces, nor for an audience to detect the themes played by the different instruments.

The scherzo has a number of French horn solos, which were skillfully handled by Jeffrey Lang, the orchestra’s principal. No bloops here!

And then, of course, there is the adagietto movement, which Leonard Bernstein used at the funeral of John F. Kennedy. Strange as it may seem, Mahler dedicated this movement to Alma Schindler, who became his wife while he was composing this symphony.

Debussy’s "La Mere" (The Sea) premiered in 1905 and received mixed reviews.

Debussy was in love with the sea and wanted to become a sailor but opted for the life of a composer.

 

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