Alexander Shelley, the new music director of the Pacific Symphony, in the several times this listener has heard and witnessed him, is a conductor not given to exaggeration. He is an honest musician, straightforward, perceptive and intelligent. He knows that if you allow a great masterpiece to make its own case, it will.
And so it was a pleasure, Thursday night in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, to hear him and the orchestra take on Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony (the Symphony No. 2). Mahler is the go-to guy for big occasions in classical music these days, and Mahler’s “Resurrection” is as big as they get. This was Shelley’s first subscription concert in his new position.
Mahler is a life and death composer. That is, his music is always about living and dying, the sufferings (especially) and joys, the trials, tragedies and exhilarations of being a human being in a messed up world. (He begins symphonies with funeral marches! What other composer would write a song cycle like “Kindertotenlieder,” “Songs on the Death of Children”?)
Conductors, therefore, love Mahler like an actor loves a juicy part — he allows them to chew the scenery, as it were.
Alexander Shelley conducts the Pacific Symphony. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
Timpanists of the Pacific Symphony play during Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
Bass players Doug Basye, left, and Richard Cassarino play during a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” with the Pacific Symphony. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
French horn player Keith Popejoy performs with the Pacific Symphony during Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
Alexander Shelley conducting the Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
The Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
Alexander Shelley conducts the Pacific Symphony. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford
Except that Shelley is not a scenery chewer. He attends to the printed score (though he didn’t use one Thursday), makes sure its execution is shipshape, doesn’t dawdle unnecessarily, nor swoon theatrically. Mahler without exaggeration might seem like an oxymoron, but Shelley showed that it can be done.
Not that he just threw his hands up, did nothing. No, he controlled pacing carefully, accounted for details knowingly, applied rubato advisedly. Rhythms were ever alert, even in slow passages, articulations were clear and purposeful. The orchestra was meticulously prepared too — there wasn’t a shrill fortissimo all evening — and responded to Shelley’s signals readily and comfortably. These musicians are in good hands, and they seem to know it.
So what does Mahler sound like when performed this way? Succinct and dramatic. The 84 minutes (Thursday) went by in a swoop, sans longeurs. One noticed how good the orchestration is. (The woodwinds, especially, made some remarkable blended sounds.) And since Shelley had attended to pace so consistently, the extended finale, instead of sagging, snapped right into place. It was a glorious roof-raiser. I wish I could believe the words that the choir sings at the end — “I shall die so that I may live!” — but Mahler almost convinced me.
Soloists Sarah Connolly, seated, and Miah Persson performed amongst the musicians of the Pacific Symphony during the performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
Soprano Dame Miah Persson sings during Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” alongside the Pacific Symphony. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly sings during Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” while Alexander Shelley conducts the Pacific Symphony. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford 
The Pacific Chorale performs with the Pacific Symphony during the performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford
The Pacific Chorale sounded wonderful, like smoothest fur at pianissimo, like a million singers at fortissimo. (When the choir makes its first soft entrance, Mahler underlines them with almost imperceptible cellos and double basses, a magical sonority.) Soprano Miah Persson and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly were the excellent soloists, elegant and eloquent.
Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 1-3
Where: Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
Tickets: $59-$252
More Info: pacificsymphony.org
Incidentally, Orange County will have another chance to hear Mahler’s “Resurrection” later this season. A little group called the Vienna Philharmonic will be playing it. The choir? The Pacific Chorale. It might be interesting to compare performances, and odds are even on who’d come out on top.
Related Stories
Shelley Debuts as Pacific Symphony’s Music Director
‘Wild Child’ Has Some Growing Up to Do
A Red-Carpet Welcome for Arturo O’Farrill at Segerstrom Center
David Benoit Celebrates His Return to Health with MusicRecent Stories
What It Takes to Train Monsters into Action at Knott’s Scary Farm
‘Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ at Ophelia’s Jump Productions
‘Ride the Cyclone’ at The Phantom Projects Theatre
‘The Addams Family’ at Cabrillo Playhouse
At Culture OC, our mission is to engage with a diverse range of Orange County’s artistic and cultural communities at every level by publishing news and critical analysis to encourage interest, participation, fellowship and dialogue.