Spine Tinglers: Thomas Dausgaard
It’s that time again. This week’s Spine Tinglers installment comes courtesy of conductor Thomas Dausgaard. He’s the man in charge of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra as well a principal conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. His disc of short works by Nielsen was nominated for a 2007 Grammy. Enough blathering from Miss Mussel. Here’s Mr Dausgaard:
“Some years ago the wonderful violist Steven Dann introduced me to a recording on which he played the 2nd violin in Mahler symphony no 4 - well, 2nd violin solo, as this was a recording of the chamber version of the symphony by Erwin Stein done in 1921. It was made for the circle of musicians in and around the 2nd Viennese school of composers in Vienna, and it was scored for just string quintet, flute, oboe, clarinet, piano, harmonium, percussion, and soprano.
Although I consider myself a curious and open-minded musician/human being I had rather low hopes for this: a symphony with a very prominent solo-horn, now without horn ! - and how would the intensity of the slow movement be able to build up in such a thin-layered setting?
As so often, low - or no - expectations can be the most rewarding: intensity was exactly what this scoring and performance had! With every musician shaping his/her line individually, with beautifully varied use of vibrato and portamenti, a kind of intensity arose which was truly chamber musical; a musical dialogue between them evolved in a way presenting the essence of Mahler, where every line has a story to tell, a particular role in the overall expression.
No more so than in the slow movement, where the sonority of a full symphony orchestra was replaced by the very personal expression of each musician in turn taking the lead, adding their characterful individuality to the gradual and tremendous build-up of tension. It blew my ears and my mind off: powerful (in a particular way which doesn’t necessarily happen in an orchestral performance), thought-provoking (is this really possible?!) - and spine-tingling!
For everyone of these masterpieces it is good to be reminded that there are several ways of approaching them, and through our own curiosity we might be able to discover new and spine-tingling insights and truths every time we perform them.
(photo credit Marianne Grondhal)
