FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO
August 1, 2005

Kurt Masur commands Mahler with enthusiasm

by Irineu Franco Perpetuo

With the final chord of "Symphony no. 1" by Mahler, which ended his presentation on Friday at the Winter Festival of Campos do Jordão, Kurt Masur actually shed tears.

It cannot be said that the maestro's life has been devoid of emotions. At the age of 78 years old, he already has his place warranted for posterity, with more than one hundred recordings, a curriculum enriched with the leadership of such important orchestras as Gewandhaus of Leipzig and the Philharmonic Orchestras of London and New York, and with even an outstanding role in the political transition of the old Eastern Germany.

Even so, Masur cried. And it was not his most impeccable concert. Problems of balance and tuning showed us here and there that the Academic Orchestra, comprising the students of the festival, had young people of undeniable talent, but who had only played together once and they still had a lot to learn.

In the piercing "Adagio" by Barber, that opened the program (final theme of the movie "Platoon", by Oliver Stone), the strings were close to being perfect, due to the excellence of the festival teachers that reinforced them, such as the first violin Davi Graton and the cellist Raïff Dantas Barreto.

Placed at the right of the conductor, in a position inverted with the cellos, the violas - in charge of another teacher, Alexandre Razera - lavishly distributed excellence throughout the entire presentation, showing that it has already been a long time since it was inconceivable to praise Brazilian violas, even in the professional orchestras.

With the "Academic Festival Overture" by Brahms, the wind instruments came into action and with it, the unbalance. Masur conducts the work by memory and with thorough knowledge of each of the student songs that comprise the Brahms medley.

But the transparent texture of the work ends up by exposing the limitations of the young instrumentalists.

In the second part, the greatest challenge: Mahler. If Kurt Masur had come to Brazil only to "perform his duties", he would have decided for "secure" movements and dynamics - a boring interpretation, without passion or risks.

Luckily, this was not the case. Conducting without a score, the maestro looked for the contrasts in "Symphony no. 1" and demanded from the orchestra pianissimos that proved to be difficult even for the teachers of the festival that led the woodwinds and brass groups during the interpretation of the work.

In this Mahler, without a security net, falls seemed nearly inevitable, both in the very delicate introduction of the first movement and in the wild interplay of the third.

In compensation, the dance character of the second movement of the symphony, exhaled a "joie de vivre", not always present in the interpretation of adult orchestras.

The luck of a symphony such as the first by Mahler is definitely decided at the end, long and emotionally intense that synthesizes the music of the previous movements.

It is difficult to say whether it was Masur that excited the Academic Orchestra or whether it was the enthusiasm of its members that contaminated the maestro.

Music is not only performed through correct notes and the presentation of Campos do Jordão eloquently witnessed that an enthusiastic performance, even with errors, is a thousand times preferable to the coldness of the symphonic bureaucrats that interpret all the notes with precision while they are merely thinking of their monthly income. It was an exhilarated and exhilarating Mahler.

With his didactic qualities suitable for his condition of teacher at the festival, Masur explained the esthetic and geographical affinities that led him to select one of the "Slavic Dances" by Dvorak as encore. There were vehement and insistent requests for further encores. However, the maestro preferred to bring it to an end.

Although he denied an extra encore, the maestro announced another more important one: it is said that he enjoyed the festival so much that he promised to come back once every two years. Let's hope it's true.