Earlier in October, Somtow Sucharitkul informed this reviewer that he was about to conduct Gustav Mahler’s Titan with the Siam Sinfonietta.
“Mahler won’t be too pleased at you calling it that,” I told him. The Thai National Artist and the region’s most prominent Mahler conductor replied: “Oh, I am not doing Mahler’s First Symphony, which is often erroneously known by the nickname Titan. I’m actually going to perform Mahler’s real Titan.”
The “real Titan” was a major composition, a tone poem in five movements whose title was inspired by a very influential novel by Jean Paul — in his time a more well-known artist even than his contemporary Goethe.
Jean Paul was a pseudonym for Johannes Richter and Mahler, at the time, was having a passionate love for a woman, ironically, named Johanna Richter. The work was first performed in Hungary.
The movements had colourful titles and invoked a complex narrative, with elements of childhood, ironic references to Jewish culture and nursery rhymes and a trumpet solo lifted straight out of Mahler’s now lost music for a stage play, The Trumpeter Of Sackingen.
The music of Titan was greatly influenced by and used many themes directly quoted from Songs Of A Wanderer, a song cycle Mahler had written himself that was in turn inspired by a collection of folk poetry The Youth’s Magic Horn.
Mahler’s First Symphony is one of the most influential first symphonies by any composer. It challenges the boundaries of structure, propriety and social convention, and it tears down the idea that symphonies must be “pure music” and on a higher philosophical level than “telling stories”. But before it became that highly influential, it was Titan — a longer and arguably less disciplined work.
Somtow’s idea was to show everything that led up to that first symphony, but not to play the First Symphony in its final form.
The concert began with Songs Of A Wayfarer, dramatically interpreted by rising young mezzo Kridhima Siriwattanakamol. Many performances of this piece are “old artist’s” interpretations, viewing the lyrics about love, longing and bereavement through a nostalgic lens. Kridhima’s was a more immediate reading, full of intense feeling and drama, as youthful in tone as the work itself. It was operatic in tone.
This reviewer has, admittedly a problem with the extra movement, Blumine, which seems like an odd interpolation into the much more well-known first symphony. It is difficult to make it match up with the version one is used to. But there is a case for including it which Somtow makes, citing the fact that it is quoted in the last movement and that there’s no true slow movement in the symphony otherwise. The case is almost persuasive, though I think the first symphony is a lot more perfect as it stands today.
I listened to the 2012 recording by this conductor and this orchestra, made during its tour of Berlin, Dresden and Munich. The recording can be found on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. The Siam Sinfonietta is a youth orchestra, but the 2012 performance is so polished that it’s a very high bar to beat. As a youth orchestra, there’s a complete turnover every seven years, so the performance at the state-of-the-art Great Hall at King’s College International School in Bangkok had no players in common with the 2012 recording.
In many ways it sounded very different. Today’s Sinfonietta was perhaps not quite as technically precise, but it compensated with an abundance of passion and a truly deep understanding of the Mahlerian sensibility. The string section was powerful and committed and the “big sound” needed for late romantic music pours effortlessly from them.
The opening moments, arising out of the sounds of nature, had to battle a little with a loud air conditioning system, but this disjunction was soon forgotten. The off-stage trumpets, playing from an inner room, were suitably eerie.
The opening theme, led by the cellos, showcased deeply musical Pimchanok Ketmee as a section leader mature beyond her years. It was exciting and magical. The rare second movement featured the rich and sensitive trumpet solo from Surachai Audomrak, perhaps the most outstanding trumpet player in his generation. A vigorous rendition of the Ländler movement rounded off part one of Titan — the division into two parts does not occur in the symphonic version.
The next movement was notorious in its time. Starting with Frere Jacques in a minor key, skilfully played by Phumraphi Wong-Anusorn, interrupted by an outburst of beer hall music, the movement is savagely ironic. The plangent oboe of Nattapol Thongra-ar shone in this movement.
Finally, the 20-minute finale was thrilling, from its dark moments to the exaltation of its ending when the seven horns, a trumpet and a trombone are instructed by the composer to stand, lending an extra oomph to the overwhelming last moments.
Somtow’s interpretation of this symphony is noticeably darker and more ironic than that of ten years ago, and the humour of the klezmer music more bitter.
Doing this symphony in this way and pairing it with its source material in Songs Of A Wayfarer was a historic first for Southeast Asia and the audience response was thrilling.
The new “Great Hall” at King’s is perfect for concerts of this scale and Opera Siam has announced a whole season of upcoming events in co-operation with the school, including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in November, two performances of Somtow’s opera The Silent Prince in December, and much more next year.
The Siam Sinfonietta also plans to do Mahler’s monumental Symphony No.6 In A Minor in 2026.