Category: Music

Above: contralto Gerhild Romberger

~ Author: Oberon

Monday February 24th, 2020 – The Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Iván Fischer, offering Mahler’s 5th symphony, preceded by the Kindertotenlieder, sung by Gerhild Romberger, contralto, in her New York debut. The program was part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series.

Ms. Romberger – previously unknown to me – was revelatory. This was my third experience of hearing the Kindertotenlieder (Songs of the Dead Children) in live performance: previously, the grand Polish contralto Ewa Podles and the inimitable Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky had given enthralling interpretations of these evocative songs, each taking a rather operatic point of view. Ms. Romberger, more intimate and poetic in her approach, was deeply moving…and the voice fascinated me.

Handsomely coiffed, and clad in black, the contralto took up the opening song, “Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n” (Now Will the Sun Rise as Brightly) following its haunting introduction from the winds. Her sound is rich yet contained, projecting a sense of calm despite the bleakness of the knowledge that the sunrise can no longer bring comfort. The horn and harp add to the wistful atmosphere, and the singer’s dreamy softening of the upper notes at “…die sonne..” is indeed magical. Ambiguously, the music shifts between minor and major.

In “Nun seh’ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen” (Now I See Well Why Such Dark Flames) with its gorgeously expressive start, Ms. Romberger’s beauteous palette of soft colours was at play as she described the eyes of the children, and the premonition of their death. There is a sense of consolation in the orchestral writing, but it’s the desolate feelings that of loss permeates in the singer’s touching turns of phrase. Her hands, meanwhile, communicated her emotions in gracefully-shaped gestures.

“Wenn dein Mütterlein” (When Your Dear Mother) commences with oboe and bassoon, sounding rather doleful in a motif of intervals. Here Ms. Romberger’s gifts as a storyteller are to the fore, and her sense of gentle restraint in the upper reaches of the voice is endlessly evocative. The deep, rich sound of the Budapest’s basses sustaining the final note sent a chill thru me.

In “Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen” (Often I Think They Have Only Gone Out). Mahler again allows the music to wander between major and minor, underscoring the illusion that the children have only gone out for a walk. With sweet lyricism in her upper range, the singer seeks to reassure herself – and us – that all is well. Her singing here is simply sublime. But at last comes acceptance that the children have gone to another place, wherein there is the hope of one day be reunited with their parents.

“In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus” (In This Weather, in This Torrent) tells of the stormy weather on the day of the funeral: restless, aggressive music. In resignation, Ms. Romberger sings that the children have found rest, and her vocal control and the somber yet luminous expressiveness of her singing here reached me at the depths of my soul: so hauntingly and gently she sang as the harp sounded. A horn chorale seemed like a benediction.

Ms. Romberger was given very warm and sustained applause following her poignant performance: returning for a solo bow, the entire orchestra joined in a moving tribute to this remarkable artist. She and Maestro Fischer were called out yet again, and while I cannot imagine an encore following the Kindertotenlieder, we can surely hope that she and the Maestro will return to New York City soon, bringing us the Rückert–Lieder…or the Wesendonck. I can only imagine what that would be like!

During the interval, I remained under a sort of spell from this cherishable performance: I even thought of leaving, and taking my memories of it with me to some solitary place where I could continue to meditate on what I had heard.

Of his 5th symphony, Gustav Mahler famously said: “…a symphony must be like the world; it must embrace everything.” Mahler composed this sprawling work during the summers of 1901 and 1902, while on holiday from his job as director of the Vienna Court Opera. Prior to beginning his fifth symphony, Mahler had met the beauteous Alma Schindler, daughter of a famous landscape painter. The composer proposed to her in the Autumn of 1901, and the symphony seems to mirror Mahler’s journey from sorrow thru the dreamworld of the Adagietto to a triumphant state of happiness with his beloved.

The symphony’s brilliant opening trumpet fanfare, played with summoning clarity and force by Tamás Pálfalvi, gave notice that a sonically vivid performance lay ahead of us. As the first two movements of this very long symphony progressed, Maestro Fischer drew inspired – and inspiring – playing from the artists of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

In the Scherzo, Horn soloist Zoltán Szöke came forward and was seated next to the podium. He played splendidly, sometimes raising the horn’s bell to project the music with sumptuous power. But I must admit that during this movement – with its endlessly repeated 6 note motif, played as a fugue – Mahler fatigue started to set in. It began to have the feeling of the music being too much of a good thing.  

The classic Adagietto, sometimes considered Mahler’s “greatest hit”, features strings and harp. The conductor summoned luminous textures from the musicians, creating a depth of beauty in which we could – for a few minutes – forget the dark dangers of living in today’s uncertain world.

In the symphony’s concluding Rondo-Finale, the Maestro and his musicians swept the celebratory feeling forward, pausing only for a couple of rather gratuitous detours, and on to its epic conclusion. The audience’s response was tumultuous.

For all the 5th symphony’s marvels, it was – for me – the Kindertotenlieder that gave this evening its particular glow. 

~ Oberon