California Symphony Celebrates The Works of Brilliant Austrian Composers in “Mahler’s Inner Circle”
California Symphony explores the sphere of incredibly gifted people who influenced Gustav Mahler in its “Mahler’s Inner Circle” concerts, including one recently presented at the Hoffman Theatre at Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, CA. Featuring contralto Sara Couden performing Alma Mahler’s ‘Fünf Lieder’, the California Premiere of Hans Rott’s ‘Symphony No. 1’, and Alexander Zemlinsky’s ‘Lustspiel Ouvertüre’. This program continues the orchestra’s adventurous 2022-23 season, celebrating its 10th season under Music Director Donato Cabrera, introducing works never before performed by the California Symphony, and featuring an all-women line-up of soloists.
Alma Mahler was an accomplished composer who relinquished her work to marry Gustav Mahler, with the five songs in her ‘Fünf Lieder’ being the only works published during her husband’s lifetime. Throughout her life, Alma became the muse of many celebrated writers, composers, and artists – from Gustav Klimt to Alexander Zemlinsky, Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, Oskar Kokoschka, and Franz Werfe. Klimt and Kokoschka painted her; she married Mahler, and following his death, Gropius and then Werfel. During her marriage to Mahler, she had an affair with young architect Walter Gropius, who helped her edit and publish the five songs that make up Fünf Lieder. They will be performed by Walnut-Creek based Sara Couden, a premiere interpreter of operatic, chamber, and song repertoire who has appeared at major opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera, as well as Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Seattle Symphony.
Hans Rott’s ‘Symphony No. 1’ showcases music by an intriguing composer sometimes referred to as “the greatest symphonist who never was.” Rott attended the Vienna conservatory with Gustav Mahler in late 1870s, but their fortunes diverged soon after, and Rott died in an asylum at age 25. Rott’s one and only completed symphony – here being given its California premiere with these concerts by the California Symphony – bears many similarities to Mahler’s works, and scholars are only now uncovering Rott’s enormous influence on his celebrated friend. Said Mahler, “It is completely impossible to estimate what music has lost in him. [Rott’s] genius soars to such heights even in his first symphony, written at the age of twenty.” A poignant remembrance of lost promise, ‘Symphony No. 1’ has gained numerous admirers since its first performance in 1989.
Also featured was Alexander Zemlinsky’s charming ‘Lustspiel Ouvertüre’, which was originally written for a comic play. The failed play quickly vanished, Zemlinksy’s overture disappearing with it. A century later, the lighthearted work has returned to the repertory. The composer was a former tutor and suitor of Alma Mahler, said to have used the abrupt ending of that love affair as motivation to transform his budding talent into mastery. The lush melodies of ‘Lustspiel Ouvertüre’ echo those of Brahms, who was a supporter of the young Zemlinsky. While Zemlinksy’s music began to resurface during the wake of the Mahler revival in the 1960s, the restoration hasn’t been easy – particularly since the Nazis erased the wildly successful and popular Jewish composer from society’s collective consciousness. Here, California Symphony sheds new light on this compelling treasure that was almost lost.
These collective works of brilliant Austrian composers is presented in such a way by the California Symphony as to take the stuffiness out of the classical concert experience. They are absolutely superb!
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Photo caption: “Mahler’s Inner Circle” contralto soloist Sara Couden performs with the California Symphony.