“Mahler’s Third Symphony”
Sunday, May 22, 2022 | 3:30 PM | $5-60
Kenneth Woods will give a pre-concert discussion at 2:30 PM
Stan Ruttenberg Memorial Concert
Macky Auditorium, 1595 Pleasant Street, Boulder
Stacey Rishoi
- GUNNING Symphony No. 10 (2017) World Premiere
- MAHLER Symphony No. 3 (1896) U.S. premiere of Breitkopf and Härtel critical edition
Kenneth Woods, conductor
Stacey Rishoi, mezzo-soprano
Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra
Women of the Boulder Concert Chorale
Boulder Children’s Chorale Festival Choir
The Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra, led by Artistic Director Kenneth Woods, will open this concert with the world permiere of Christopher Gunning’s Symphony No. 10. This piece was written in 2017 and has been recorded by Woods and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (recording below) but has never been played publicly. Gunning is a British composer known for his scores to numerous TV shows and movies. While doing that work, it turns out he was also writing for the concert hall. We are excited to share this wonderful piece of music with you. As the Mahler is a very long symphony, this piece is about 20 minutes after which there will be a short intermission.
The orchestra will be joined onstage by Stacey Rishoi, the Women of the Boulder Concert Chorale, and the Boulder Children’s Chorale Festival Choir for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. This monumental work has been voted one of the top ten symphonies of all time in a BBC Music Magazine survey of conductors. Mahler composed most of his music in his summer composing huts in the Alps, and while this one is no different, he gave the movements titles that more explicity tied it to nature.
First Part: Pan Awakes. Summer Comes Marching In (Bacchic procession)
Second Part: What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me
What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me
What Humanity Tells Me
What the Angels Tell Me
What Love Tells Me
But at the premiere in 1902, Mahler did not choose to publish these titles. He wrote to the critic Max Kalbeck, “Beginning with Beethoven, there is no modern music without its underlying program.—But no music is worth anything if you first have to tell the listener what experience lies behind it, respectively, what he is supposed to experience in it.—And so yet again: pereat every program!—You just have to bring along ears and a heart and—not least—willingly surrender to the rhapsodist. Some residue of mystery always remains, even for the creator.” After toying with using descriptive titles in the past, Mahler had decided that they did not help unless the listener first heard the music without those suggestions.
About the Symphony, Mahler wrote to soprano Anna von Mildenburg:
Just imagine a work of such magnitude that it actually mirrors the whole world—one is, so to speak, only an instrument, played on by the universe…My symphony will be something the like of which the world has never yet heard!…In it the whole of nature finds a voice.
Introduce yourself to the Gunning Symphony with Ken’s recording.
What to Expect
Macky Auditorium is a very cool building. Its history begins with Andrew J. Macky, a Boulder pioneer, gold rush settler, carpenter, and founding director of the First National Bank of Boulder. A primary figure in Boulder’s history until his death in 1907, Macky bequeathed $300,000 to the University for an auditorium. It took 13 years to build, delayed due to legal issues, and was completed in 1922. Since then, it has been home to everything from commencement ceremonies to the Conference on World Affairs and music from the Boulder Philharmonic and Yo-Yo Ma to Chick Corea and Trey Anastasio.
Parking can be difficult so we’ll let the Unviversity tell you about it here: https://www.colorado.edu/macky/your-visit/parking.
Unless you approach it from the quad, you will most likely walk up the hill from the back side. You will need to walk around the front to the rather grand entrance. There is a small outer lobby where you can purchase tickets if you still need them. The inner lobby is warm and spacious and opens into the main hall which is large and beautiful. It’s truly a magnificent place to see and hear a concert.
The concert will be over two hours, Mahler was never one to write short pieces. The orchestra will be about 100 musicians! There will be a pre-concert talk at 3pm to which you are all invited. Artistic Director Kenneth Woods will discuss the program. Unfortunately, due to ailing health, Christopher Gunning is not able to attend. There will be a break to use the facilities, stretch your legs, and get settled again for the emotional roller coaster ahead.
As the final concert of MahlerFest XXXV, this will be a fancier affair than some of our other events… but it’s still Boulder. There may be some ties in the audience (long not black!) but there will certainly be some jeans and t-shirts as well.