Glorious Music

There is nothing small about Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony. Perhaps in emulation of one of his musical idols, Richard Wagner, who had already written the longest operatic work, the Ring Cycle, this symphony runs about ninety-five minutes and is composed of not only music from an enlarged orchestra, but two choruses and an alto soloist, all stretched over six movements. It also requires a conductor who can walk the line between delicacy and over-confidence. Maestro Franz Welser-Möst has been thought of as being 'unemotional' in his style, but not on this opening night of the orchestra's ninety-fourth season [20 September 2012, Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio, USA]...