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By Marin Alsop
/
, and putting their
First Symphonies together
seemed like a match made in
heaven. Bernstein was the one
that brought Mahler back to
Vienna, and his commitment
to Mahler was so extraordi-
nary—he was the rst con-
ductor to record the complete
cycle of Mahler’s symphonies.
But his relationship went
much further than this. I think
he really felt a connection
to Mahler because of their
similar trajectories. Both were
composers and conductors,
both men were huge “rock
stars,” people may not realize
it today, but if there had been
paparazzi or YouTube, Mahler
would have been all over it.
People followed Mahler ev-
erywhere—he was a superstar.
And I think Mahler struggled
with many of the things Bern-
stein struggled with, in terms
of this isolation of being a
composer versus the adulation
of being the center of attention
on the podium, trying to come
to terms with that, as well as
trying to nd enough time to
compose. I think also they are
connected through their heri-
tage, both being Jewish, having
to confront some severe preju-
dice. Putting speci cally these
symphonies together brings
us closer to all these di erent
points of contact, but ultimate-
ly they are both exploring the
fundamental issues that they
each have. For Mahler, in his
First Symphony, he’s a young
man looking out and trying to
nd his way. And Bernstein’s
First Symphony is the same
thing, looking at the world
through the perspective of the
prophet Jeremiah; both are just
starting to nd their way.
is rst symphony was a little
bit of a struggle for Bernstein
to compose because he was
on a deadline, but ultimately
I think it was a breakthrough
piece for him in terms of
writing music for an orchestra
in the concert hall. But it’s
interesting that he still has
this sung text, like in so many
of Mahler’s symphonies. e
last movement is a depiction
of Jeremiah’s words as sung by
a mezzo-soprano, a beautiful
vocal color. Jeremiah was this
prophet that lived many, many
decades. He was always saying,
“Come on people, you have to
come back to God,” and the
people were like, “Oh come
on, let’s have a party instead!”
His story is all about strug-
gling to get these people who
are misbehaving—lots of vices,
doing all the bad stu —to
turn back to what their faith
teaches them. But everything
just goes into complete
chaos and the city collaps-
es. Everything falls apart.
And Jeremiah is standing
there, not really saying
I
told you so
, but telling his
people, “How could we
let this happen? Didn’t
you hear my words? is
city that we all love
so much, now look
at it, it’s just rubble.”
So we’re hearing these
words sung, but they’re not
reprimanding in the way that
you would think; they are
much more about empathy
and sympathy. e move-
ment before it,
Profanation
,
it really goes wild—sort of
jazz-meets-orgy, what the
people were doing before
the fall—so this nale, I
nd it a very comforting
piece in a way.
Transcribed and abridged from
video interviews with Marin
Alsop by Ravinia
ADRIENNE WHITE
AUGUST 6 – AUGUST 19, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
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