Amateur group performs Mahler piece like pros

That's what the Northwest Mahler Festival achieved at Meany Hall for a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, the "Symphony of a Thousand," plus Richard Strauss' seldom heard "Festliches Präludium."

Begun five years ago by a handful of committed amateur performers to enable themselves, and as many others as would like, to perform some of the big, romantic orchestral works, the festival has grown by leaps and bounds until it is almost a second full-time job for Dan Weiss, who had the original idea.

"Because there are so many avocational players here, we knew we'd be able to recruit a huge orchestra. Most of them don't have the chance to play these big works because they play in small orchestras," says Weiss, a string bass player, and a physician and research scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

For Sunday's performance, the 130-plus singers (coached by Thalia Symphony's Eric Hanson) came from more than 60 choirs from Portland to Canada, plus the Northwest Boychoir. The orchestra players represented some 75 ensembles. The stage -- expanded to its maximum -- barely held them all, plus eight vocal soloists and conductor Geoffrey Simon.

Simon, an Australian-born conductor who has conducted all of England's and Australia's major orchestras, is based in Sacramento and has been the festival's major conductor since 1996.

Much of the verve and excitement of the performance can be attributed to him, the rest to the freshness and enjoyment of the performers, none of whom is paid, and many of whom were performing the works for the first time.

MUSIC REVIEW
NORTHWEST MAHLER FESTIVAL 2000
CONDUCTOR: Geoffrey Simon
WHEN: July 16
WHERE: Meany Hall

The festival only ends with this performance, which takes place in the summer to avoid scheduling conflicts. It begins a month or so earlier with four to six reading sessions for any competent, interested musician, conducted by invited local conductors, Weiss says.

"We've attracted the cream of the crop of non-profit players," he says. "We just read through, enjoy and experience music not normally performed by these groups."

The result was a rousing performance of Mahler's huge symphony, which lasts 75 minutes. No one's energy flagged, not even the boy in the second violins whose feet scarcely touched the floor.

With so many performers, there were times when the soloists opened and could not rise over the orchestra. There were others when Meany was just not large enough to contain the sound, and still others when a lovely, quieter sound emerged.

It's clear the Northwest Mahler Festival is here to stay. After all the Mahler symphonies, "we've targeted the Strauss tone poems, and other large romantic works, like those of Messiaen," Weiss says.