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Florida Orchestra triumphs with Mahler's problem childBy JOHN FLEMING © St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2001 TAMPA -- Unlike some of Mahler's symphonies, the Seventh doesn't have a program as such, but the composer succinctly described his intentions to a Swiss critic: "Three night pieces; the finale, bright day. As foundation for the whole, the first movement." In other words, the five-movement symphony is a journey from darkness to light, one that the Florida Orchestra and music director Jahja Ling made Friday night at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Mahler Seven has been called the composer's problem child, but Ling managed to overcome -- or at least conceal -- its flaws. With a host of extra players, it was one of the most rousing performances of the season. Ling never let the music get quite as dark as it can be. He seemed to shy from plumbing the depths of truly soft playing, and some inner details of the score, like a celestial harp passage in the first movement, got lost in his quest for brilliant overall sound. But he did a good job of holding the whole thing together in more or less persuasive fashion. That's no small thing in a work of ever-changing tempo relationships and abrupt shifts of character. And the effect he achieved in the finale was impressively triumphant, as the audience leapt to its feet to applaud as the last note rung out. Ling took the first movement slower than it usually goes, but his overall time for the symphony, about 81 minutes, was near the average for modern-day conductors. By contrast, when Mahler conducted the premiere of the symphony in 1908, the performance clocked in at a mere 74 minutes. The performance was full of superb individual moments, beginning with principal trombone Dwight Decker's solo tour de force with the tenor horn, or euphonium, in the opening movement. Principal french horn James Wilson was a strong voice throughout the work, and he and another horn player, Carolyn Wahl, negotiated to perfection the exchange of high, exposed notes that begin the second movement. Concertmaster Amy Schwartz had a host of brief, brilliant solos. The second Night Music movement featured mandolin and guitar. At times the middle three movements dragged, or seemed a bit long, and the subtle atmosphere tended to curdle. But there was an inexorable momentum to the performance. When it reached the raucous finale, with its unmistakable quotation -- part parody, part homage -- of Wagner's Die Meistersinger overture, it was impossible not to get caught up in the exciting deployment of brass and percussion. Music reviewThe Florida Orchestra repeats its program at 8 tonight at Mahaffey Theater and 7:30 Sunday night at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Tickets: $20-$38.
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