MUSIC REVIEW : Mahler Work Falls Just Shy of Compelling

Gustav Mahler’s valedictory “Das Lied von der Erde” is fullof contradictions.

In this singular orchestral song cycle, torrents of poetic sighs of resignation alternate with lush depictions of nature and the blush of youth. Its heavy German text is a 19th-Century adaptation of delicate 8th-Century Chinese poetry. And the score’s massive orchestral forces frequently reduce to transparent chamber music textures of sinuous counterpoint.

Though the San Diego Symphony has rarely undertaken this complex work, under the sympathetic direction of music director Yoav Talmi, the orchestra acquitted itself laudably in its Thursday night performance at Copley Symphony Hall. Talmi coaxed from the players a shimmering tapestry of bright hues and luminous surfaces, without neglecting the score’s intermittent dramatic episodes. The brasses snarled on cue, and the oboes mourned plaintively.

Talmi, an ardent advocate of Bruckner and Mahler, knows how to shape a limpid Mahler melody and let it float gracefully in midair. And under his meticulous baton, the third movement danced with gallant simplicity.

Overall, however, this well-paced “Lied von der Erde” fell short of compelling.

It was more pastorale than poignant, more pastel than philosophical. The final movement’s orchestral postlude, for example, wandered to the point of seeming to overstay its welcome. Talmi did not always sustain the work’s inner tension, and when the emotional palette turned complex, he did not dig deeply enough.

Radiating a serene assurance, mezzo-soprano Donna Bruno proved an ideal choice. Her generous, beautifully focused voice floated over the orchestra without the slightest strain, and her eloquent phrasing completely captured the tone of Hans Bethge’s Angst -filled poetry. Tenor Maurice Stern, a late replacement for George Gray, was Bruno’s antithesis: hyper-dramatic, forced and uncomfortable with the idiom.

Schubert’s Eighth Symphony (“Unfinished”) opened the concert. (Talmi likes to balance his Mahler and Bruckner programs with works by earlier Viennese composers.) Working without a score, the conductor threaded Schubert’s myriad lyrical themes into a coherent single fabric. He made the familiar symphony sound fresh and vibrant. Except for an occasional gruff forte, the orchestra played with unusual refinement and fervor.