Tulsa Symphony Orchestra: Mahler’s Fifth
Tulsa Performing Arts Center
May 11, 2024
Since I moved to Tulsa last year, I’ve paired up with one of this city’s fine gentlemen. We have a lot in common, but — as you might remember from my review of the Horszowski Trio — I’m a classical music nerd and he’s Mr. Outdoors. I’ve taken him to some Chamber Music Tulsa concerts, where the drink/food situation lured him in and the short program length kept him interested.
Mahler, though? Mahler’s works are not only intense, coming from the late romantic era right before composers ditched traditional harmonies and rhythms; they are also emotionally complex and incredibly long. The fifth symphony clocks in at 70 minutes, a challenging length even for a dork like me. For the Tulsa Symphony’s May 11 performance of Mahler’s Fifth, I prepped Mr. Outdoors as well as I could, playing him the symphony in our leisure time and giving him a few scintillating details of Mahler’s tumultuous life for cultural context.
It was the first time hearing the TSO for both of us. We pulled up at the PAC in his gigantic pickup, looking fancy. The hall was almost full, and the crowd was enthusiastic.
The program began with the presentation of the Ron Wheeler Music Educator of the Year Award to Jana and David Gorham, the Owasso High School band directors from 1989 until their retirements in 2014 and 2018. This caught Mr. Outdoors’ attention. “They were my daughter’s band directors!” he whispered to me. “They’re terrific!” It was wonderful to see an organization of the TSO’s professional caliber recognizing local public school teachers. That helped the audience connect with the TSO before the music even began.
The evening opened with Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, whose classical harmonies and lovely melodies were the perfect palate cleanser between whatever your Saturday had sounded like up to then and the Mahler main course. TSO’s concertmaster, Rossitza Goza, played the violin solos with a pure, radiant sound, and the crowd applauded her enthusiastically at the conclusion of the piece.
During intermission, we took a lap around the halls of the PAC, stretching our legs and discussed the transition from the optimistic, cheerful Haydn to the upcoming challenge of Mahler. As we settled into our seats for the second half of the program, I wondered if I should have gotten Mr. Outdoors a cocktail, but it was too late.
Mahler veers between two extremes — “life is beautiful” and “we’re all going to die”— without spending much time in the calm center, and the TSO portrayed all the complexities of those emotions.
The first movement, after a dramatic trumpet fanfare, turns whimsical with its oom-pah rhythms and lilting melodies, careening like a clown car on a cliff road. The second movement, devoted pretty much to “we’re all going to die,” was devastating, and the third (“life is beautiful” plus “also I’m very upset about that”) led to the respite that is the divine fourth movement, Mahler’s strings-and-harp love song to his new wife, Alma. The fifth and final movement is a free-for-all of disparate themes (out-of-control trains on the brink of disaster, the abyss of existential dread, butterflies) rounded out by a rollicking march that somehow ties it all together in one of those “I am the king of the world!” moments that Mahler is so good at.
The crowd favorite was principal French horn, Rebekah Lorenz, who had about a dozen solos, all poignant and arresting, played with flawless technique and a honey-warm tone.
We surged to our feet in a standing ovation after the last crashing notes, alive and thrilled and satisfied. Mr. Outdoors said the concert flew by, and that he had a pleasant snooze during the fourth movement, but came alive for the toe-tapping finish.
It was the perfect season finale, one that prepared us for more high drama coming in the fall. TSO’s 2024 – 2025 season features heavy hitters like Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Bartok, Wagner, Strauss, Elgar, and Rachmaninoff, plus an “unplugged” series at 101 Archer — and even a program called “Mariachi Christmas.” We’ll be back.
