By YVONNE HUDSON

A strong pairing of beautiful works mesmerized the Pittsburgh Symphony’s audience this weekend. On Friday evening, Heinz Hall was alternately quiet and filled with sound as the PSO under Manfred Honeck delivered what a world-class orchestra does. The concert’s two pieces are a full experience of contemporary and classical music: Yizkor by Boris Pigovat and Symphony No. 2 in C minor by Gustav Mahler.

Commissioned by the PSO to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood on October 27, 2018. Premiered in 2023, Yizkor is titled after the Jewish prayer traditionally said on Yom Kippur and three other holidays observed in synagogues. Associated with the profound loss of a loved one, the Yizkor is expressed musically beautifully through Pigovat’s weaving of traditional motifs, building to the closing theme taken from the El male rachamin (God full of mercy) prayer, which closes the traditional Yizkor service.

Introduced by the composer as “rooted in Jewish tradition” in a short video, the 20-minute performance fills the first half of this PSO program. Appropriately, it stands alone before intermission, providing thoughtful focus and response. Certainly, many musicians and audience members knew some of the 11 victims, their families, and the greater community affected by the attack at Tree of Life, making this a personal and profound performance.

Pigovat calls on the strings so associated with folk melodies, Klezmer music, and works heard during Jewish festivals and High Holidays, such as the Kol Nidre melody, often performed by a cellist on Yom Kippur. The composer says he aimed to musically express “a wide range of feelings caused by this tragedy: pain, grief, anger, inner emptiness, confusion, deep sadness.”

Yizkor moves through these myriad emotions, from opening moments of silent violas to fuller dramatic passages with all strings, woodwinds, and brass. Discordant accents warn us of the circumstances, with percussion assisting in the first swirling passage surging through the hall with greater volume. Lovely lyrical passages are accented with more haunting moments. The strings, including the basses, call us back to reflection with more moving lines. A sweet bell is heard, almost counting the lives we are asked to recall. Clarinet essentially beckons as the viola ensemble presents the closing Yizhor prayers.

This powerfully intimate piece employs virtually every section of the orchestra. There’s power in this unity, and Honeck’s soulful conducting moves everyone in the hall through this musical prayer and many to tears. The audience catches its breath before applause.  

The parallels of Yizkor with Mahler’s life-affirming Second Symphony are sublime. This unforgettable concert featured a prologue by an Israeli composer born in Ukraine and a second half by another Jewish composer who poured the realm of human emotion into his works.

Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony” was the second of his nine symphonic works. Conceived to ask life’s “dreadful questions”, Resurrection mines the deepest emotions of love and loss while offering the hope of eternal life through five movements that also showcase the orchestra’s virtuosity. The PSO supports the performance with movement titles on several screens. The translation of the short lyrics heard in the vocal solos and choral lines by the Mendelssohn Choir in the last movement is practical (and is also in the program book), but, more importantly, it emphasizes the major themes heard in the preceding music.  

Soprano Ying Fang and mezzo-soprano Kate Linsey (in her PSO debut) rise to the challenge of conveying a lot with few notes and words. Likewise, the Mendelssohn Choir is a still and patient presence throughout all the first movements. Mahler said he was only able to complete his six-year journey of composing after hearing children’s voices in church. He then completed the final movement, Scherzo, the only movement with singers. 

Resurrection conjures what we may know about grief, how we question our faith, and why we reach for reassurance about life’s purpose and possible afterlife.

Simply put, this symphony confronts the deepest journeys of life expressed through music in about 77 minutes. In a listener’s first live experience of Resurrection, an audience member might have no idea (as in life) where the journey ends. It can be an emotional evening, especially for anyone with a recent loss. 

In Heinz Hall, a collective breath and resounding ovations echoed during long applause. Certainly, the audience immediately stood. They might not have been able to express their feelings except by applauding as long as possible, in gratitude and emotion. It was an artistic conversation to cherish. One that will be recreated in Heinz Hall tonight at 7:30 pm and again on Sunday at 2:30 pm. 

Note: Followers of Leonard Bernstein will recall his conducting Mahler’s Resurrection Ely Cathedral  (recorded in 1973 and remastered in 2024, available on YouTube) and the recreation of the performance in the film Maestro (2023). Friday’s concert was recorded capturing the quiet audience and almost silent orchestral passages–a timely meditation for these days. The recording is for eventual release on the PSO’s label, Reference Recordings.

TICKETS AND DETAILS

Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra’s Remembrance and Resurrection concert at Heinz Hall has remaining performances tonite at 7:30 pm and again on Sunday at 2:30 pm.  Tickets are available at: https://pittsburghsymphony.org/production/99027/mahlers-resurrection

Categories: Arts and Ideas