The MCO Gets Radial In Berlin

Classical music institutions today seem desperate to reinvent the concert experience.

After-hours concerts, DJ events—any attempt to make the art form cooler and more accessible—have entered as solutions to counter an aging audience and provide orchestras with a healthy future.

With few exceptions, the concepts appear better on paper than in their realization.

On November 5th, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) joined with the alternative arts space Radialsystem for its first "Radiale Nacht," a rotating program of 20^th century repertoire featuring choreography by house icon Sasha Waltz and an after party with Klezmer arrangements and DJ grooves.

The event was sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Aventis, affording the MCO the first opportunity in five years to perform in Berlin.

Founded in 1997 as a touring ensemble with offices in the German capital, the MCO, akin to its namesake Gustav Mahler, has not settled down in one city. It was recently named Cultural Ambassador to the EU for its cross-border mobility, although the composer's famous line that he was "three times homeless" has yet to serve as a motto.

The warehouse space of the Radialsystem was packed with a mix of classical fans and a conspicuously hip, Kreuzberg-based representation. Radialsystem Intendant Jochen Sandig appeared in a shiny red suit on the main hall's stage and enthusiastically addressed the audience through a microphone.

"Are you ready for Radial night? OK, here you go!"

The 39 year-old conductor, Teodor Currentzis, opened the program with Benjamin Britten's "Phaedra," a late chamber cantata for mezzo-soprano (Maria Forsström), string ensemble, percussion, and harpsichord, whose austere textures evoke the mythological figure's fatal resignation.

Currentzis' spritely reading of the score could have plunged deeper into the underlying tragedy. Forsström's burnished tone conveyed the character's emotional burden, yet her English diction was muddled.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with progressive concert formats, the program did not include the text to Britten's songs. His "Sinfonietta," another mature work for chamber orchestra, received a more convincing performance by the young, unflinchingly energetic MCO, with a clean, taut reading of the finale based on a Tarantella dance.

The crowd was then invited to take a pause in Radialsystem's lounge, yet there wasn't quite enough time to enjoy a drink and make it to the next concert of choice. (I missed the last elevator up to the top-floor studio for Philip Glass' Fifth String Quartet.)

In the main hall, mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman gave a flashy interpretation of Luciano Berio's "Folk Songs" that included raising her eyebrows suggestively at the audience and breaking out into a belly dance-like shimmy during the final Azerbaijan love song. Her warm tone effectively suited the impassioned, direct music, yet phrasing, intonation, and diction were often left by the wayside.

Currentzis, nearly breaking out into dance himself, weaved his way through furiously-paced tempi, and the MCO remained characteristically on point.

Events in the hall were also broadcast live onto a screen in the lounge, where I watched a performance of Györgi Ligeti's First String Quartet to choreography by Sasha Waltz. Her aesthetic catered to a Cunningham-esque lack of synchrony with the music, which proved more distracting than illuminating, with fluid classical gestures that broke down into languishing, aimless movements.

The piece reined in more interest as the dancers displaced the quartet by carrying their music stands across the stage, but as they proceeded to collapse around the musicians and lift their legs hesitantly for an extended period of time, one couldn't help but question what Waltz hoped to communicate. At best, the dancers' passive presence served to mirror Ligeti's emotional turbulence and lucid introspection.

Sergei Prokofiev's "Symphonie Classique" provided an upbeat close to the official program and met with cheers from the audience, although the MCO's reading under Currentzis was a bit too bright and eager for this listener.

As the party continued outside with Klezmer numbers such as "Dance with the Rabbi" (perhaps the sign of a new pseudo-Jewish community in Berlin) and generic techno beats by DJ Konkubina, much of the younger audience trickled off.

Still, the first "Radiale Nacht" succeeded at getting many fresh faces through the door, which may be a coup for the future of classical music—at least for presenters.