June is here, and that means that many of the major performing groups will be going on vacation. However, just as that happens, we have the Washington Early Music Festival most of this month, about which I’ll write more next week. This week, both of the area’s major symphonies are presenting major transcendant symphonies by Gustav Mahler, some of the most extravagant musical statements ever made. These works are not performed all that often, because of the demands on the musicians, so you should hear them now when you can.
MAHLERFEST:
>> First, the National Symphony Orchestra will perform what may be the biggest choral/orchestral work of all time, Mahler’s eighth symphony, nicknamed the Symphony of a Thousand, a title the composer did not favor but that has stuck, because the total number of performers taking part in the first performance was over a thousand. It is one-half visionary setting of the Veni creator spiritus plainsong text and one-half a quasi-operatic setting of the sublime final scene of Goethe’s Faust. Mahler described it as a work in which “there are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.” It requires not only a vast number of choirs — Cathedral Choral Society, Children’s Chorus of Washington, Choral Arts Society of Washington, Master Chorale of Washington, and the Washington Chorus will all take part — but eight major vocal soloists, including in this performance two of the biggest operatic voices performing today, Jane Eaglen and Christine Brewer, as the sinful woman and the penitent. Soprano Christine Brandes will sing as the vision of the Virgin Mary, the Mater Gloriosa. All performances at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall — Thursday (June 8, 7 p.m.), Friday (June 9, 8 p.m.), and Saturday (June 10, 8 p.m.) — were apparently sold out long ago, but you can always call the box office directly to ask about last-minute availability.
>> Not to be outdone, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is performing Mahler’s second symphony (“Resurrection”) for the final set of concerts with conductor Yuri Temirkanov as the group’s music director. The list of soloists is not as star-studded, but it is likely to be an emotional performance and Temirkanov knows and loves the work well. There will be one performance at Strathmore on Saturday (June 10, 8 p.m.). If you cannot make it then, you will have to go up to Baltimore on Thursday, Friday, or Sunday.
