By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Southern California News Group
Das Lied von der Erde is the most enigmatic of Gustav Mahler’s symphonic works. Worried about the fact that Beethoven died after completing his ninth symphony and Bruckner died while writing his ninth, Mahler instead called this work “A Symphony for Contralto, Tenor (or Baritone) and Orchestra” and gave it a title — which in English translates into The Song of the Earth.
Of course, after finishing the work in 1908 and not dying, he went on to write a work he labeled his Symphony No. 9 and, for good measure, fragments of a 10th symphony, as well before he died in 1911.
Das Lied von der Erde is permeated with death due to several tragic occurrences in Mahler’s life at the time, including death of his elder daughter, Anna Maria. It is also, if you believe Yuval Sharon — who is in the midst of a three-year residency creating stage works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic — the opera that Mahler never wrote.
Sharon and Juan Carlos Zagal, founder and director of the Chilean ensemble Teatro Cinema, have set about to rectify that oversight with a fascinating staging of Das Lied as this weekend’s L.A. Phil concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Using a giant scrim above and behind the orchestra that integrates mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford and tenor Russell Thomas, Sharon and Zagal have fashioned the sort of opera that might have worked well for any of several Wagner operas.
Whether it was necessary or even desirable for Das Lied is another matter. The “glass half full” guy (which normally includes me) says the visuals ranged from interesting to fascinating. The “glass half empty” guy would note that the scrim muffled the two soloists, although Mumford overcame that hurdle more successfully than did Thomas.
When Dudamel and the Phil performed their “Mahler Project” six years ago, the one symphonic work that wasn’t included was Das Lied. In fact, these were Dudamel’s first attempts at this complicated score and, unusual for him, he used a score. Nonetheless, this was a gripping performance and those who attended on Sunday (when the visuals weren’t used) may well have had the best experience.
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(c) Copyright 2018, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.