Tonight I went to Grant Park at the Harris Theater to take advantage of the free concerts the City of Chicago puts out every summer. It was the Symphony No. 9 in D Major of Gustav Mahler conducted by Carlos Kalmar. Unlike the William Tell Overture (lone ranger) and Orpheus in the Underworld (bugs bunny), I must confess I am not familiar with this symphony. The Symphony was named by Gustav "The Song of the Earth" at that time since he was superstitious that he would die soon after writing it just like Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner and Dvorak who all died without getting past the 9th symphony they wrote. The Symphony is made up of 4 movements. The middle two movements were lively and for me, it conjured an image of the 3 good fairies in Sleeping Beauty sneaking into the lair of Maleficent. Or sometimes it reminded me of medieval prince and knights riding back to the castle from after slaying the dragons. The first movement conjured the image of 1940s old fashion love story movies when the guy finally kisses the girl. At certain segments it conjured am image of Dracula and the damsel running off fleeing from the vampire. And the last movement was just so slow and it almost made me sleep. It also seemed like never ending. At certain points I thought it was over just to keep on going.Definitely a very rewarding way to spend an evening. I learned something new and became more cultured. Best of all, it was free.
2 comments:
Just so you know, and not to nitpick, The Song of the Earth is a different piece than the Ninth Symphony.
The Song of the Earth is technically the ninth, and this work, the "Ninth Symphony" is, in fact, Mahler's tenth.
It's said Mahler thought he cheated death by doing this, but he didn't live to complete his tenth.
If you enjoyed it, I have to say it's probably one of the more "difficult" Mahler symphonies - if the first is ever being played, you should really check it out. The Civic Orchestra of Chicago does free concerts throughout the year, you should check 'em out.
thanks for clarifying it. i evidently misunderstood what i read in the program.
gotta check that civic orchestra free concerts. thanks
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