Last night at the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra’s (SLSO) opening performance of its 130th season, I was struck by the juxtaposition of a contemporary work, Osvaldo Golijov’s “Azul” and Mahler’s 5th Symphony. What struck me was how Mahler’s work was diminished. Imagine that. Diminishing a composer known for being over the top, which only takes away the word “over.” Still on top, if not over, in other words.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love other works of Mahler, particularly the early symphonies one and two (Resurrection). Barring the Adagietto beginning of the last movement (or Part III), the Mahler 5th had little contrast and form compared to “Azul.” Every movement (or section) of the 5th sounded like a finale. Being a writer type, I concluded that Mahler really either needed a good editor to sculpt this work or to file down his ego. It just came off as somewhat muddled, and this I am sure had nothing to do with the Orchestra under David Robertson. Musical fragments struggled to join up into something larger. With the exception, I have to point out, of that Adagietto, in which the aching harp anchors the soul-searching violas for the intro. What an exquisite section.

This “Azul,” though, reminded me of a science experiment in which all you could exclaim at the end is “Eureka!” An experiment gone right. I could best think of the piece as a triple concerto since it had a cello, hyper-accordion (yes, hyper!), and percussion (enough instruments to seat two percussionists). The piece begins with a mournful cello solo but with a promise of something better, more joyous, and, guess what, promise fulfilled! Later (and I don’t remember which movement it was), the cellist sawed into these magnificent arpeggios, the percussion just went freaking crazy, and unconditional joy filled the auditorium. Meanwhile, the hyper-accordion did what I guess it does best, acting really hyper but the sounds emanating are really cool. Apparently, this instrument allows effects like a synthesizer.

But this is life, after all, and joy wants to continue but of course it cannot so a bittersweet section of longing follows. And, yes, there is a trick ending similar to so many of the symphonies of the Romantic Period (when you never quite know when the brash ending chord will sound) but I won’t give it away.

At times, especially early on in the work, the music reminded of a gelatinous mass crawling amorphously throughout the volume of Powell Hall. I mean that in the best of ways. Such an unusual shape to the sound with plenty of interesting things going on at the edges of the mass. It reminded me of Michael Gordon’s music at times (see earlier post).

Thank someone that Conductor David Robertson has a freewheeling imagination regarding contemporary composers and more obscure works of the masters. If you weren’t there, you missed your chance to see the hands of the principal cellist of the SLSO crawl up and down the neck of his instrument like crabs one moment, then as if he was giving a massage the next. Truly a chance of a lifetime to experience the premier of this work in our fair city.