Friday, May 2, 2003 | 9:34 a.m.
Two monumentally different works -- a symphony representing the culmination of Viennese romantic music and a landmark Russian composition of the 20th century -- compose the grand finale of the fourth season of the Las Vegas Philharmonic.
Known for massive, dramatic, symbolic symphonies, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) chose, instead, a child's song about "The Heavenly Life" as the theme of his Fourth Symphony in G-major. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) gained fame for his musically innovative interpretation of a Russian legend about a magical "Firebird," first as a ballet, then as an evocative concert suite.
Music Director Harold Weller will conduct the Philharmonic in both exciting masterworks at 8 p.m. Saturday at Artemus Ham Hall at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Soprano Courtenay Budd will be featured in the Mahler symphony.
Mahler wrote 10 symphonies. The fourth stands out as the exception to his usual heavy style. It is also the shortest, eliminates some of the heavier brass -- trombones and tuba, and some woodwinds, and is the lightest and most carefree. Based on songs written by Mahler, it is highly melodic.
"Mahler was preoccupied with the meaning of life and what happens after death," Weller said. "In his Fourth Symphony, he paints the most idyllic image of life in heaven as seen from a child's perspective. It contains one of the most profound and glorious slow movements in the entire symphonic repertoire."
The text of the song, "The Heavenly Life," in the fourth movement describes a peaceful, merry setting where the "angels bake the bread ... wine costs not a penny," residents "dance and skip ... frisk and sing" and "everyone awakes for joy!"
Although soprano Budd has previously sung Mahler songs, this concert marks her first performance of the Fourth Symphony.
"It's a most welcome experience for me," she said. "I have loved this piece for a long time. When I'm learning something new, I study all aspects of the work -- the vocal line, the orchestration, and especially the text, which breathes life into the music.
"I tend to have strong personal responses to Mahler," Budd continued. "His music is moody one moment, extremely brooding, and the next, angelic, changing from despair to hope and back again in seconds, and with such variation of colors in between. What I sing in this symphony is his most hopeful vision."
A lyric coloratura soprano, Budd became interested in a classical vocal career as a graduate student at Westminster Choir College.
"I had begun studies there more as a way of exploring my newfound obsession -- singing -- with no particular career goal in mind," she said. "My voice teacher worried I might not be able to find happiness in such a competitive career. But after much hard work and persistence, I have found it to be very fulfilling."
Budd acknowledged that building a career is challenging.
"Things are difficult for the young artist who has to work on music and technique while simultaneously trying to start a career," she admitted. "My advice is to practice hard, get lots of expert advice and, at the same time, to learn to trust their own instincts. It is very important in the early stages to audition as much as possible. Regional opera companies in the U.S. offer excellent apprentice programs, and I really benefited from them.
"There is no 'formula' for an opera career," she continued. "The best way for a singer to move forward is probably to find what they do best or most naturally. Many young singers move to New York to pursue a career, and I found that to be a good thing for me, but New York isn't for everyone."
Budd has sung debut recitals in Boston, New York and Washington. She won First Prize in the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. She was a National Finalist in the 1998 Metropolitan Opera Auditions and won the 1996 Liederkranz Foundation Award and the 1996 Center for Contemporary Opera International Competition in New York, as well as the Audience Favorite Award.
Her opera credits encompass Mozart and Gounod to Puccini and Donizetti to Gilbert and Sullivan. She has also performed the Mozart and Brahms "Requiems" and Mozart's Mass in C Minor, as well as Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Handel's "Messiah."
The version of Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite," which the Philharmonic will perform, is the re-orchestration of 1919.
" 'Firebird' is easily listenable and thoroughly enjoyable," Weller said. "It's melodious, rhythmically energized, full of marvelous orchestral colors and effects. It has a finale that is suitably grand for the conclusion of yet another successful Philharmonic season."
Information about the Philharmonic's 2003-2004 Season, its fifth, will be available at the concert.
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