- - - Mahler Symphony No. 3 - - - / Wednesday July 21, 2010. / Mahisorn Hall, SCB Parkl. + + +

Two Orchestras and Three Choirs
in Thai premiere of Mahler’s Third Symphony

     Two symphony orchestras and three choirs from two continents will meet on July 21 for the Thai premiere of a symphony that is in the Guiness Book of Records as the “longest symphony in the mainstream repertoire” — a piece of music so vast that, in the words of its composer, “it must be like the world — it must encompass everything.”

     Mahler’s Third Symphony is the fourth entry in the Siam Philharmonic’s project to mount all ten of Mahler’s symphonies in Thailand by the year 2013.  The project is the brainchild of Distinguished Silpathorn Artist Somtow Sucharitkul who became infected with Mahler fever as a youth. 

     The work of Gustav Mahler propelled music from the romantic era into the modern age.  His symphonies are of such scale and ambition that their achievement has never been repeated.  The Third Symphony starts with creation and ends with a slow ascent to paradise.  It is truly an entire universe in sound. 

     Mahler wrote for massive forces and no single symphony orchestra in Thailand has enough musicians to perform the Third Symphony.  The Siam Philharmonic will be augmented by musicians from the youthful Siam Sinfonietta.  For the women’s choir in the fifth movement, Somtow has enlisted women from the Orpheus Choir of Bangkok and the Chinese University of Hong Kong Chorus.  For the boy’s choir required in the same movement, the Hanaciboys Choir of 25 boy sopranos and altos from the Czech Republic are flying in.  In an unusual piece of casting, Somtow has asked Thai countertenor Jak Cholvijarn to perform the central mezzo-soprano solo in what will be perhaps the first time this role has been taken by a man.  “The movement, which sets words by Nietszche, asks profound questions about the nature of humanity,” Somtow said.  “Having the aria sung by a man adds another layer of ambiguity.”

     Somtow’s pioneering work in Mahler has the support of the Austrian Embassy and the International Mahler Society, whose representative, Stan Gayuski, presented him with a baton used by Leonard Bernstein to conduct Mahler’s Ninth Symphony when Somtow performed the Thai premiere of that work in February.  Of that performance, Singapore critic Adrian Tan said, “Maestro Sucharitkul’s reading was deeply intimate, in a manner perhaps only possible by a fellow composer, with every phrase shaped with care, true understanding and clearly intended to communicate and not to impress. His strong personal connection to this music can be felt, especially in the last movement - his commitment to his musicians on stage that charged them to play at a level of music-making well beyond what they were used to was an inspiration and a true joy to behold.”  Bruce Gaston called the concert “the best classical music event in Thailand in the entire forty years I have lived here.”