BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Welcome to our series, What the Fact?!
Throughout 2018, we’re teaming up with talent at the Australian National Academy of Music to bring you informed answers to real questions and topics about your music career.
Ever wondered why you feel performance anxiety? What the deal is with tuning to 440Hz – or not? How to lead an orchestra? We’re here to tell you all about it.
In this What the Fact?! we chat with United Kingdom-based Australian conductor Matthew Coorey about Mahler Symphony no. 9. (Specifically, how such a substantial work can be reduced to the size of a little chamber orchestra.)
This week, Matthew will conduct ANAM talent through K Simon’s arrangement of the work. With a background leading the musicians of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Melbourne and Sydney symphony orchestras among others, we have no doubt Matthew will be able to shed light on what we’re missing (or not) from this scaled-down Mahler.
Hacking Mahler for chamber orchestra
Matthew, tell us when you first remember listening to Mahler 9.
I had started playing the French Horn and was gradually becoming more interested in classical music, and so I then started listening to more and more Mahler. I became a little obsessed, and I really knew all the Mahler symphonies before I know much other repertoire. I’m pretty sure my first experience of Mahler 9 was a Bernstein recording with the New York Philharmonic.
What have been your most memorable conducting experiences of Mahler in the past?
My first Mahler 9 was with the London Philharmonic, and that was quite an event for me. Yannick Nézet-Séguin was supposed to conduct it but he fell ill at the very last minute. I took over and learnt the work overnight. It was a strange experience waiting to go on stage at the Royal Festival Hall; two days ago I was thinking I’d quite like to come to this concert – I’m glad I hadn’t already bought a ticket! I’m delighted to be doing the symphony again with them next season.
What, to you, are some of the defining characteristics of a Mahler symphony?
Mahler said that a symphony must embrace the world and that is certainly true of his own works. In Mahler, you hear all sorts of influences from the composers he loved (Schubert, Beethoven, Wagner, Bruckner and others) plus influences from salon music, dance music, folk music, military music, marches, church music, Jewish music and, in his later works, Oriental music. It’s easy to see why we hear these works as a sort of self-portrait, but it could also be a reflection of cosmopolitan Vienna and Mahler’s broader world as well.
So…why do you like the idea of having all this stripped right back and conducting the work for chamber orchestra?
This arrangement is part of a fascinating tradition begun by Schoenberg and his circle, the Society for Private Musical Performances. This was a sort of club of very serious concertgoers who were interested in the latest developments in new music. Critics were forbidden, and it must be remembered that there were members of the public that would come to concerts expressly to boo and hiss at the works they didn’t like! Fortunately, manners have improved, although it’s still difficult to hear performances or second performances of large orchestral works so the society would arrange these big works for a sort of mini-orchestra.
This is the tradition this version of Mahler 9 comes from, and I think was one of the reasons that the ‘sinfonietta’ became such a staple for 20th Century composers; much cheaper, and easier to get works for 12 players performed than 112!
As a conductor, how do you approach the work? What are some of the differences you keep in mind when bringing out the same music but for different instrumentation?
Approaching these reduced versions, I always try to replicate the original sound as much as possible. But sometimes, certain effects that rely on a mass of players aren’t totally convincing in a small group, and so then we compromise to make a musical effect. For instance, Mahler often writes lots of down bows in the string parts, which give a lot of bite and clarity in a full orchestra. With only single strings, it doesn’t have the same effect, so we often change these details to help the strings create something a bit more cantabile.
You’ve worked with so many orchestras in the past. What do you prefer about working with a chamber orchestra, even on such a substantial work?
I think the big difference between doing this version [and] the full orchestra version is: the original has certain things that can be very awkward, but with a whole section playing can still sound very convincing. That isn’t always the case with a small section. Everyone is much more exposed, and so I try to accommodate individual players much more so they can make a really make the best impression. The sound of 20 players slightly glossing a passage is very different from one player doing the same! Much orchestral music is created with a bit of fudge in it! Strauss especially wrote with these sorts of effects in mind.
How do you work to avoid the feeling that there are any ‘missing’ elements, or that the body of sound is ‘less’, when the group is smaller?
Provided the sound is musical and the music makes sense, then we have to embrace that the sound will be different and hearing the work in a different light can be fascinating.
How do you feel this arrangement might surprise audiences?
This arrangement includes either harmonium or accordion (we’re using accordion). These instruments are rather rare in the concert hall, but are great at blending with the normal orchestra instruments as well as filling out the sound.
I think the accordion is interesting. When you do hear it separate to the texture, it’s more suggestive of a busker or a café musician. But, as Mahler was obviously inspired by much popular music, it seems fitting that the sound of these instruments is heard in his music.
See Matthew conduct Mahler 9: for Chamber Orchestra at 7.30pm November 29, Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre.
READ NEXT: Piano accompaniment vs playing with orchestra with recent ANAM Concerto Competition winner Caleb Wong.
We’re partnering with ANAM to hook up with some of the strongest talent in the world in our new educational series! Check back in soon for our next What the Fact?! with professionals in the music industry.
