Philadelphia Orchestra

by Peter Burwasser

Classical

Gustav Mahler was nothing if not an extremist. In his own time, he was renown as an opera and symphonic conductor, and only secondarily as a composer. And so he wrote only nine complete symphonies, several song cycles and virtually no chamber music. But this output alone is so massive that the Philadelphia Orchestra, presenting its first-ever Mahler cycle, will take four seasons to complete it. The festival will be crowned in 2008 with his Eighth Symphony, the "Symphony of a Thousand," which, as its familiar title suggests, is one of the largest pieces of music ever written. The festival begins this week with another Mahlerian superlative, one of the longest symphonies ever written, his Third. The first movement alone is longer than any Mozart symphony.

The Philadelphia Orchestra would seem to be an ideal Mahler orchestra, and yet, with the exception of the crowd-pleasing First Symphony, his music is seldom performed here. This is ironic, because it was in Philadelphia in 1916 that Mahler received his first major American presentation, when Stokowski crammed the stage of the Academy of Music to present the spectacular American premiere of "Symphony of a Thousand." All that is changed with the advent of the directorship of Christoph Eschenbach. "I personally feel a close affinity to Mahler's work," he says. "And I believe his music is right for our time." Be on the lookout for Mahler-related activities from the orchestra, with this year's Mahler's World festival continuing through March 13 with recitals, symposiums and many pre-concert conversations.

Mahler’s World, Feb. 18-March 13, various venues, 215-893-1999, www.philorch.org/mahler.

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