Samuel Barber, "Die Natali, Op. 37"

-- LINER NOTES --

Commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, and dedicated to the memory fo Serge and Natalie Koussevitsky, Die Natali was begun in July 1960 and completed that November. The premiere, by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony, took place on 23rd December. As its title suggests, the piece draws on Christmas carols for its thematic ideas, putting them through a series of ingenious harmonic and contrapuntal devices as it does so. After strings and brass have intoned O come, O come, Emmanuel, individual orchestral groups play variations on Lo, how a rose e'er blooming. An extended treatment of We three kings is followed by animated variations on God rest you merry, gentlemen with a brief appearance from Good King Wenceslas, before Silent Night is heard, there are further variations on O come, O come, Emanuel, then, over an ostinato derived from Adeste fideles, the work reaches a culmination with Joy to the world. Silent Night returns to effect a quiet close. -- Richard Whitehouse

Mahler, Marin & more...

Noah Weber aired his concerns about Marin Alsop's conducting on his blog. His post steers clear of invective, and he's heard her conduct enough times to form an intelligent judgment about her. His conclusion that she doesn't have much insight into the standard repertoire is common enough that it doesn't provoke much controversy, but whoo boy, does he go off the rails when he trys to support his argument:

"I believe that in an attempt to be the leader that people look for in a conductor, she has removed any elements of femininity and tenderness in her music. Everything is meticulous, never becoming overwhelmed with emotion, never losing oneself entirely in the music (there are a few videos of Carlos Kleiber, one of my favorite conductors, where he is so overjoyed that he is literally unable to control himself, and the orchestra feeds off of his joy). She conducts a bit like she is in front of a student ensemble. The area where she really lacks in capability is the core of the orchestral repertoire; the 19th century romantic works. Remember, these composers were effusive, emotional, unstable men. They were often flamboyant and fiery, drunk and reckless. The automaton on stage. who never varies and never lets herself into the minds of these men, can never really capture what they were saying."

A female conductor has no obligation to be 'feminine and tender', and the implication that one cannot lead with either of those characteristics doesn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny. He may have seen her over a dozen times, but Noah certainly has no idea whether or not these elements are absent from her conducting because she threw them overboard in order to lead an orchestra. That's an impossible conclusion for anyone to support.

His notion of how Mahler must be interpreted is also sketchy. Great art stands up to multiple interpretations. 'To be or not to be' is just as effectively delivered by a scruffy Ethan Hawke in a Blockbuster video store as it is by Kenneth Branagh skulking in the great hall of a palace. It is possible to give a reading of Mahler without the effusiveness. A conductor needn't give in to Mahler's histrionics to give an effective performance of his music, and we've all sat through countless shitty performances of his music which suffered from too great an indulgence of this very facet.