Akron Symphony offers majestic Mahler in Severance Hall debut
by Donald Rosenberg / Plain Dealer Music Critic
Monday February 11, 2008, 10:48 AM


What a thrill it must have been for the Akron Symphony Orchestra to make its debut Sunday at Severance Hall. Not only was the ensemble playing on the stage where one of the world's lionized orchestras resides. It also was making splendid music under the baton of one of the finest Mahler conductors of our time, Benjamin Zander.

The British-born music director of the Boston Philharmonic had been invited to spend last week in Northeast Ohio by the Akron Symphony's music director, Christopher Wilkins, who counts Zander as one of his mentors. Since Zander is recording all of the Mahler symphonies with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London for Beachwood-based Telarc Records, it seemed only natural that he would guide the Akron Symphony through one of the works he has yet to preserve for posterity in London, the composer's Symphony No. 2, known as the "Resurrection."

The concert Sunday afternoon at Severance Hall came close on the heels of a performance Zander and forces gave Saturday at Akron's E.J. Thomas Hall. Playing Mahler is tiring, but the Akron Symphony sounded energized, rather than fatigued, in Cleveland less than 24 hours after its hometown appearance.

Much of the inspiration came from Zander, who seems to live and breathe Mahler's music as if he were both disciple and missionary. To the Second Symphony, he brought interpretive specificity that many conductors only suggest.

The tiny Severance audience that braved frigid weather Sunday heard a "Resurrection" of potent drama and exceptional elasticity. In Zander's hands, the vast first movement unfolded as an organic depiction of cataclysmic and ethereal events. Mahler's obsessive expressive markings received caring delineation. The music built to shattering proportions, even as intimacy and fervor were vibrantly contrasted.

Zander followed Mahler's wish to take a five-minute breather after the first movement. He proceeded to apply disarming grace and sudden darkness to the second movement and bold attack and lyrical warmth to the third. Mezzo-soprano Susan Platts, a Mahler singer of penetrating gifts, brought yearning beauty to the fourth movement's "Urlicht."

Then came the finale's sublime evocation of the Day of Judgment and resurrection. Zander held the huge structure together with patient and urgent command. The Akron Symphony Chorus, prepared by Hugh Floyd, was clear and alert. Emerging from the choral fabric, soprano Lyne Fortin made a shining ascent.

Throughout the performance, the orchestra did itself proud, with firm strings, vivid winds, intrepid brasses (including offstage ensembles) and controlled percussion going to the core of Mahler's masterpiece. How could they not, with a conductor as sensitive and electrifying as Zander to lift them upward?

• 7:30 p.m. Sunday Classical Fever — A free concert for newcomers to classical music. The Akron Symphony will be ''deliberately unrehearsed'' for this interactive event. Students are invited to come 30 minutes early to meet with Zander. E.J. Thomas Hall, 198 Hill St., Akron. Free.

• 4 p.m. Tuesday The Art of Possibility — Zander will speak about leadership in the workplace as part of the University of Akron Forum series. E.J. Thomas Hall. Free.

• 8 p.m. Saturday Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (''Resurrection'') — Zander conducts the Akron Symphony Orchestra with soprano Lyne Fortin and mezzo-soprano Susan Platts. Preconcert discussion by Zander at 7 p.m. at E.J. Thomas Hall. Tickets $16-$40. 330-535-8131.

• 3 p.m. Feb. 10 Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (''Resurrection'') — Zander conducts the Akron Symphony Orchestra with soprano Fortin and mezzo-soprano Platts in the orchestra's Severance Hall debut. Severance Hall, 11001 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Tickets $20-$50. 216-231-1111 or 800-686-1141. — Elaine Guregian

On 27th of January Ben will lead the 2,500 world leaders gathered in Davos in a rousing rendition of Beethoven's 9th, before which he will deliver a speech about the Art of Possibility. Rosamund Stone Zander and Ben Zander will also deliver a 2 1/2 hour workshop on music and leadership on January 25th.

The Classical Hall of Fame contains recordings that we critics have judged to be worthy of perpetual enshrinement, and thus it would seem an odd place to air one’s purely personal preferences. That being said, however, it is also true that we first receive sensory experience, and it is through this personal portal that we then extrapolate and objectify, so I begin this induction with some personal observations.

The Mahler Sixth was the symphony which convinced me that this was a composer who spoke to me personally—the relationship was cemented with the Ninth, but it was through the Sixth that contact was made. As a non-musician (in the classical sense, anyway), my relationship with this music began with the CBS LPs conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Later recordings by Rafael Kubelík, Georg Solti, and Herbert von Karajan further deepened my love of the piece. When Simon Rattle’s EMI recording was issued—I hadn’t yet heard the Barbirolli or Mitropoulos recordings—I had the opportunity to explore the vexed issue of the inner movements, a controversy which continues to this day, claims of an “authorized version” notwithstanding.

Benjamin Zander recorded the Sixth with his wonderful Boston Philharmonic, a recording that was praised by the cognoscenti but was hampered by limited availability and has now been deleted (though one can obtain it at Boston Philharmonic concerts). With the release of this recording (and its mates in the vital Telarc series), however, even mainstream media finally awoke to the power of Zander’s deep understanding of Mahler. To make the recording even more appealing, the package includes a full-length discussion disc, containing Zander’s insights in his inimitable style. In addition, this recording contains not one but three performances: with the availability on disc 2 of both versions of the finale—the original version, with three hammer strokes and attendant orchestration, and the revised version—the listener can program the original version with Scherzo-Andante and three hammer strokes, the revised version of Andante-Scherzo and two hammer strokes, or that of the Critical Edition. All of this at a single-SACD price too.

This set might qualify, then, as a merely intriguing package—something like Gilbert Kaplan’s Mahler Second. What elevates this performance into the rarified ranks of the truly exceptional are the insight and commitment to be heard throughout the symphony. In the first movement, Zander has modified his tempo from the BPO version: now we hear a more deliberately paced march, which is grimly implacable but just as menacing—Zander has transcended the simplistic concept of energico as pure speed. “Alma” is imbued with a joyous rush unmatched in any other performance. The “music from far away” in the first movement reaches us from Mahler’s beloved mountains, as does the entire Andante, which has seldom sounded this passionate. Either of the finales will elicit an appreciation for Mahler’s unique ability to combine late-Romanticism with early-Expressionism; more important, Zander communicates the sense of utter despair in the face of overwhelming odds. This is perhaps the most depressing music ever composed, and yet, one comes away exhilarated—that is the definition of great art, and it is the feeling I get from this performance.

Telarc’s SACD production sets this performance apart from many other very good ones—the Eschenbach/Philadelphia on Ondine and Tilson Thomas/San Francisco come to mind. The astoundingly detailed recorded sound gives us all of Mahler’s superb orchestration—the hammer strokes have never sounded quite this good before—but it is the Philharmonia that produces them and Zander’s genius that makes those details available to the engineers. Not since Bernstein has Mahler had such a powerful advocate, and this is his finest performance to date. ~Christopher Abbot

Dear Mr. Zander,

Thank you and thanks to everyone on stage tonight for the concert. I wanted to tell you some of my impressions and some of the feelings the concert invoked for me. The schubert is something that I have played both violin parts, and the viola part many times. And yet, I sat there as if it were the first time I was ever hearing it. I couldn't believe how riveted I was. I was captivated. Moved by the piece as though I were a child again- completely lost in it. Then there was the intermission during which Will and I spoke only of our fascination with the performance we had just heard. The fact that for the first time we heard the Viennese in the piece. The emotional tension in the development. The shock of the dynamics. It was as though the piece had never been heard before.

The Bruckner was the opposite. Although I have never heard that symphony before, it were as if I were coming back to an old friend. I loved all the movements, but will only tell you that by the end of the symphony, I was feeling as only music has ever made me feel. Elated, devastated, aroused, and relieved all at once throughout my entire body.

On a much more personal level, this concert could not have come at a more perfect time. I noticed you dedicated this performance to your father. Well Nov. 18th is my father's birthday. On Feb. 1 it will be 4 years since he died. I'm sure you remember how close I was with him and how closely music and love were in our relationship. You have always spoken about how important it is to play for your audience members even having Will and other members of class last week walk around playing for individuals in the class. Well, I have always done that, but for my entire life I was always secretly playing for my Dad. When he died, part of my musical spirit died too. It has literally taken me years to get it back- and by now I think I have. But seeing you- remembering my childhood, has brought me even closer to the person I am and can be again.

I just wanted to tell you how happy and fortunate I feel to have you reenter my life.

Many thanks, -Beth

The grand piano in the centre of the Old Assembly chamber is a curiosity to members of parliament who are trickling in from 2:50 p.m. Those with a talent for it play a few chords on the ebony and ivory, while others are engaged in friendly collegial banter. The air is already light in anticipation of an out-of-the-ordinary afternoon’s proceedings in the hallowed chambers of parliament.

The ever-gracious speaker, Ms Baleka Mbete, welcomes Ben and Roz to the inner chamber, after which Ben tells the members that he has come to the South African parliament to talk to them about the vision of symphonia: ‘the sounding together of all the voices’. It is a vision, he says, which South Africa has taught the world to embrace. On meeting ex-President Nelson Mandela, Ben once told him: ‘You are the first leader of symphonia. … That’s what a conductor is all about – to enable all the voices of the orchestra to be heard. .. You have taken on the job of being the leader for all the voices.’

I must admit that I’m not one for ‘motivational’ programmes, resisting the parameters of yet another pre-determined framework. I expect to see fists punching the air, and hear the rally cry ‘Say: YEAH! Say: I CAN!’

As it’s the first time I encounter the Zanders, I’d like to share a few impressions.

What makes Ben Zander stand apart is that he doesn’t offer yet another prescriptive framework, no step-by-step programme. He calls his work ‘transformational’, and he repeats that it is a way of living ‘the rest of one’s life’.

When he enters the Old Assembly chamber on this typical rainy winter’s day in Cape Town, it is his eyebrows that first catch my attention. Bushy, and raised in expectation as if to say: ‘What exciting things are going to happen here today?’ The beauty of Ben is that he is such an enthusiastic learner. Ben and Roz Zander are always open to new learning, to new ideas, to new possibility. When she co-signs Ben’s signature in my copy of their book The Art of Possibility half across Ben’s signature, Roz does a double-take and says: ‘We should always sign like that – interlinked.’

Clearly Roz is a brilliant thinker. Ben calls her a frame-maker – she creates new frameworks where existing ones don’t offer any possibility. Roz designs the framework and Ben applies it.

It is an unforgettable experience to see Ben in action. Imitating a six-year old skipping rhythmically across the Old Assembly floor, waving his arms like a windmill, playing a few chords on the piano, rushing up to a member of parliament sitting in the front row, using the speaker’s chair as a ramp to cross the floor from his ‘downward spiral’ flip chart to the chart which illustrates the liberation of ‘radiating possibility’: he is perpetual motion. One could say that Ben is kinetically energised – he seems to generate energy by moving his body. As a conductor Ben may not make a sound, but what he has gained is the ability to use his face muscles, his eyebrows, his shiny eyes, his hands and arms, his shoulders and just about every other part of his body to do the talking. What is impossible to resist is the fact that he seems to be having so much fun!

Ben amuses with a wonderful store of anecdotes, gathered from his genuine interest in the people he meets on his many journeys. He is a real storyteller and recounts each tale with warmth and love. It’s clear that Ben trusts the innocence of children to understand possibility … the possibility for joy, for open communication, for unconditional trust, for meaningful relationship, for harmony.

In the serious inner chamber of parliament the air is electrified, vibrant with spontaneous laughter and absolute abandon as the members gather around their colleague Mr Mansur Kamal – himself standing on a chair – to sing Happy Birthday at the top of their voices, tossing their hands in the air, and giving it their all! We are known for a singing parliament – especially at the opening ceremonies – but I wonder whether it’s ever been this much fun.

Ben and Roz have come to South Africa with a very important message. It is an appeal to South Africa to continue with the transformational work that was begun when we made a peaceful transition to democracy. They are here to strengthen our belief in ‘being a contribution’, which is part of the vision of radiating possibility. And we already have that possibility enshrined in our constitution – it’s called ‘uBuntu’.

From the Ubuntu Peace Project web site I have taken the following definition. ‘uBuntu : “I am because you are.” ‘The word uBuntu could be summed up in the words kindness and humanity. It actually comes from the Nguni language spoken in southern Africa, relating to a Zulu concept, - “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” - which means that a person is only a person through their relationship to others.

’The concept of uBuntu has the potential to transform the world into one of better understanding and respect for every human being. It's about co-operation, compassion, forgiveness, and a sense of togetherness.’ (www.ubuntupeaceproject.co.za) Ben and Ros believe that the understanding of uBuntu is encoded in South Africans’ genes, all we need is to ‘live it’. When they arrived at the South African parliament, Roz wrote the following in the visitor’s book: ‘We are proud to be invited here, and we are in love – in love with the people and spirit of South Africa. UBUNTU. Thank you! We look to you for the future of mankind.’

After a cup of coffee in Room V.2 and a quick informal chat with Ben, Roz and members of parliament I walk past the Old Assembly chamber. Through the double-door which is slightly ajar I see that the piano is being deconstructed. Literally, taken apart! Of course, the doors of the chamber are too narrow to fit a grand piano, so the legs have to be removed. The chamber was never designed to house a piano, but the possibility existed that a 68-year old conductor would conduct members of parliament in a symphonia, to sing Happy Birthday to a colleague. The possibility existed that all the voices would sing together in harmony, and with joy. The possibilities are endless...

350 members of Cape Town’s business fraternity, mostly from management level, attended a session on leadership by Ben Zander at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Friday morning, 3 August.

Using merely a grand piano, 2 flip charts and an unsuspecting cellist, Ben Zander managed to transform a room of demure adults into a room of positively enthusiastic, singing and motivated individuals.

Coming from a classical music and theatre background, I am not in the habit of attending motivational talks on leadership or management, nor am I a creature who necessarily favour group sessions of any kind - but Ben Zander is irresistible! I soon forgot my reservations and found myself perched on the edge of my seat, wanting to hear more about “The Art of Possibility”.

I found the session all the more interesting, entertaining and stimulating as I could relate to the anecdotes from and references to the musical world.

The other attendees seemed to be having just as much fun, despite the fact that some of them might not have had contact with classical music much. They loved the humorous way in which Mr Zander made them aware of how conditioned we are in our behaviour, thinking and listening; how insensitive we sometimes are towards people and our surroundings and how scared we are to face criticism, take risks and change our way of thinking. All of this was illustrated in a most charming and accessible way, engaging all attending through song and music. Obviously this was highly effective, as not once in the 4 hour session did I observe anyone getting fidgeting or writing an sms!!!

As the session progressed, people became more and more involved, offering comments and partaking without any inhibitions and having as much fun as Mr Zander!

After the first part of the session, which pinpointed the essence of “The Art of Possibility”, a cellist, who had not attend the first part of the lecture, joined Mr Zander on stage. She capably performed a wonderful piece of Bach. Mr Zander then set to work to transform her playing, using the points he had illustrated in the first half of the session. It was simply magical and the audience lapped it up. As the musician had not attended the first part of the session, she had no idea how Mr Zander would work with her. The way her playing was transformed from capable, to beautiful and sensitive was quite amazing. The audience was clearly very touched by this part of the session and there was lots of clapping and encouraging shouting.

By the end of this session, the audience had been transformed into an involved crowd, oozing positive energy and clearly reluctant to leave

Die Burger, an Afrikaans-language daily newspaper based in Cape Town, was asked to be the media-partner for Ben and Roz’s visit to Cape Town, South Africa. On Friday afternoon the newspaper invited leaders of community-based organisations – who were all making a contribution in their own communities – to a round table of leadership with Ben and Roz.

About fifty leaders from different communities in the Western Cape gathered on the twenty-sixth floor of the Naspers building on the foreshore in Cape Town. From the all-glass venue on the rooftop we had a 360-degree view of the city, overlooking Table Mountain to the south and Table Bay - with Robben Island in the middle distance - to the north.

There was time for meeting and connecting while we waited for the guest speakers to replenish their resources over a quick lunch. Ben and Roz were going through their paces to a gruelling schedule, and had been whisked off to do an interview on the local classical music radio station called Fine Music Radio (FMR) during their official lunch hour.

Then it was fun-time again! Ben kicked off with a big bear-hug for Murray la Vita, the journalist who had interviewed Ben and Roz in Boston telephonically from South Africa, which Ben related as being ‘the most fun I’ve had during an interview’.

To start off the discussion, Ben gave a brief introduction to ‘the art of possibility’, explaining that it is a simple concept which requires discipline and practice to apply. It is an indication of how easily one is drawn in to their ‘family’ that members of the audience – who might have attended only one previous session – prompted with ‘tell the story about …’, ‘tell them about the “A”’.

Roz and Ben displayed the synergy of their working partnership during this session, intuitively complementing and supporting one another in a medley-presentation, colourfully illustrated by more of Ben’s heart-warming anecdotes. Most enchanting was the story of a young English boy called Anthony conducting Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and how a ‘No’ can be an invitation to possibility.

Although the programme invited the community leaders to talk about specific challenges and opportunities in their daily work, time seemed to run out all too soon and many of the guests stayed for refreshments afterwards and to get a chance to have one-on-one conversations to discuss their issues with Ben and Roz.

I spoke to Ruth and Vuyiswa from Women for Peace, an organisation which endeavours to uplift women who struggle to make ends meet. Their biggest frustration is their lack of resources, which forces even their co-ordinators to work full-time as volunteers. And they are still inspired by possibility!

At the end of yet another busy day the tour organiser suggested a quiet evening for the Zanders, to rest while they can before they resume their crazy weekend schedule, that would reach its crescendo with Ben conducting the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra in front of an audience of 1 300 children on Sunday!

WOW! An occasion where the Art of Possibilities opened up a host of new possibilities for a mainly disadvantaged community, which thorough their church, are very involved in music! The audience of about 800 consisted of the New Apostolic church orchestra and church choir as well as their respective parents, husbands, wives, children and friends.

The excitement and feeling of expectation from this audience was tangible. Ben was at his best. Emanating warmth, compassion and sweeping everybody off their feet, to fly effortlessly with him on a journey of discovering their own power, but always keeping “rule 6” in mind. Laughter and spontaneous applause was part of the morning.

When the orchestra and choir took the stage to perform movements from Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah under the batons of four of their own conductors, with Ben at their sides to guide, encourage, coach and enthuse, the audience was in awe. Ben’s guidance transformed the conductors into true leaders. Encouraging their talents, broadening their understanding and interpretation of the music and above all making them aware of the power they have to get to the desired level of playing and singing by using their bodies, hands and faces.

12 year old Chaeli Mycroft attended the event in her wheelchair. This bright and chirpy girl was introduced by Roz. At the age of ten Chaeli desired a motorized wheelchair to get around. Her family did not have the resources, but this she did not see as an obstacle. With the help of her little friends, all about her age, they started selling muffins and sunshine pots. Within seven weeks, they had collected the necessary R20 000.00 (+- $2 000) for her wheelchair. Today after three years, this initiative has developed into the Chaeli Campaign. The funds are all utilized for buying aids and necessities for children with special needs. Roz, overawed by this young individual who used a possibility of reaching her dream and the audience responded with a standing ovation.

Driving through the streets of Athlone back to the city, I saw several youngsters, jumping, throwing their arms into the air, mimicking Ben’s gestures, eyes shining, laughing, talking, clearly discussing the morning’s experience.

New Apostolic Church Cape presents Music and Possibility Thinking with Ben & Roz Zander by Stewart Young

As I approached Ben to greet him after this exceptionally invigorating, even revelatory session in suburban Athlone, closing with four young conductors, choir and orchestra, I found my words bubbling out, wholly unplanned: "the bringer of joy!"

By the close of the first captivating half, every soul well knew what he was aiming at and hoping for, stimulating us all to re-evaluate so many things on so many levels. I've had a look at the vivid and detailed descriptions of their two previous days on his Page, and this long session seemed, if anything, even more transformational for each of the 400 present.

I was particularly struck by how skilfully and rapidly Ben embraces all levels in his audience with clever but utterly natural techniques, gradually eliminating any sense of threat, and softening with affectionate humour the necessary criticism of how apparent must be the ruts in which so many of us have got stuck for too much of our lives!

After the break, with performers assembled, Ben immediately summed up the potential of each young conductor and nurtured that in loving, enthusiastic support of their gifts.

His timing, his tone of voice, his unerring instinct for when and how much he should urge the performers on as each conductor responded to his suggestions, all had the result graphs rising steeply!

Their initial stiffness soon gave way to more spontaneous freedom, contrasts intensified, previously neat rhythms sprang an inner life and conviction with steadily growing intensity. Above all, the inner meaning of each passage began to be communicated with ever-increasing clarity and power. Visibly relaxing body language and the required 'shining eyes' signalled to everyone that much had indeed changed as new musical possibilities were realised... And the highly attentive and appreciative audience were vociferous in support - all the way!

The excerpts presented, two each from the Mozart Requiem and Handel's Messiah, dealt with widely differing characters, giving Ben ample scope to demonstrate the breadth, richness, and contrast of endless possibilities in the musical vocabulary. Majestic drama, the ultimate in lamentation, vibrant joy at the Lord's glory - in turn these young conductors will each have experienced anew the power of musical transformation, and its potential effect upon every attentive listener. The awesome potency of the crescendo in Mozart's Lacrimosa as eventually realised by these community music-makers in a relatively disadvantaged suburb remains vividly in the memory as truly spine-chilling.

Will Ben's transformative effect on these young musicians last? Will they now be able to achieve this sort of intensity on their own in the coming weeks? Yes, as best they can - and, thanks to their brief time with Ben - they now can never forget how to go about it! And, should their memories fade a little, just call up the amazing last item in Ben's Journal online - A Life Changing Experience - to help remember vividly that happy day...

The members of Mhani Gingi Social Entrepreneurial Networks, comprised mainly of ladies who have started their own small enterprises, experienced the enjoyable positive energy that engulfed the Athlone venue in Cape Town, South Africa, as guests of Ben and Roz.

It was also a memorable day for the orphaned children, who are being partly cared by the ladies, who came along. One remarked as they were moving out of the venue: “Now I know I do not have to be upset if I make a mistake or if things do not happen the way I expected – I will just say ‘how fascinating!’” The ladies concluded that in the face of challenges they will not despair, or get angry but they will choose possibility!

A woman to woman chat with Roz at Rhodes Memorial, while relaxing in the warm Cape winter sun, climaxed in an allegro of transformation – she gave the ladies tools to always tell their stories effectively and with pride. Yes, they told their stories, how they are working with orphans, farming in indigenous orchids, running catering services, starting a bakery and designing unique traditional clothing with beads and leather and looking for USD36,000 to purchase a fully equipped production factory with state of the art sewing and embroidery machines.

The ladies choose the possibility to create employment and sustainable living. Ben and Roz brought this dream of being owners of the factory and being able to employ other ladies closer to reality by donating the first USD10,000! Thank you! Nangomso!: Lillian Masebenza

Siphesihle, an Allan Gray Fellow, describes the impact the teaching of “Art of Possibility” had on her during the final selection camp for the Allan Gray Fellowship at the end of 2006.

“Last year when I was chosen for Allan Gray Orbis Foundation selection Camp I was sure there was some sort of mistake. The whole way from Durban to Johannesburg I was working myself into a state trying to guess at all the achievements of the people with whom I was in the bus.

The first thing we did when we finally got to Maropeng was to watch the Art of Possibility. I had one of those epiphany moments! One of those moments when the penny drops and you realize what you have been doing wrong all along... I was always forgetting rule #6!

My whole life I had always convinced myself that everyone gives me standards to live up to but that day I realized that the person who set me the most impossible standards and critisized me severely whenever I failed to attain them (which was all the time) was actually me! This, for me, marked the end of my self-oppressing attitude.

The moment I stopped worrying about not matching up to everyone else and not making a fool of myself I actually enjoyed the camp and even began to believe that I could handle it. Changing my focus from the probability of not "making the cut" to the possibility of making it made the whole camp experience a much more influential learning experience for me.

Returning from camp, I knew that whatever the outcome of the selection process, I had already gained a great deal from attending the camp. I had already learned a skill that had changed my whole outlook of life.

When I got home from camp I gave myself an A in my matric exams. Throughout my matric exams when I felt like I was getting ahead of myself I kept reminding myself of rule#6. During a particularly intense and emotional study group meeting I shared the rule with some of my friends. They first found it quite offending (I couldn't understand how) and then it became the mantra in our group whenever someone was getting worked up.

This year I have thought about that video so many times (failing a maths test really gave me a hard knock!) and I actually wanted to watch it again. I had already planned to ask for it from the Foundation when I got back from vacation. Then I got the SMS saying Ben Zander is coming to SA and we were going to meet him... I couldn't stop smiling the whole week

The weekend with Ben and Roz was surreal for me! I couldn't believe they were there with us all! I thought Ben was even more amazing in person than he was in the video...

I found him and Roz to be down-to-earth and not at all the divas we have grown to expect from people of their status. I think something that made me think they were even more awesome than I had imagined was the South Africa they see. Alive with possibility!

That's still how I see our beautiful country. They could see past the crime and through the current devastation of AIDS and see a country alive with possibility! They could see SA through my eyes, the way I have seen it throughout my life. They are part of the handful of people in the world who know what MY South Africa looks like.

They renewed the belief that I have always held that SA will rise through the AIDS pandemic, the crime wave and all the social problems we are currently facing all the more stronger. If we all stand together and focus on the opportunities in our country rather than the threats we are currently facing. SA isn't doomed! Its nowhere near that. Like any other 13-year-old, its going through a "phase". After all this we will have ourselves a mature, stable, happy country. A place very different to that which we have now. But a place equally or even more beautiful.”

Allan Gray Orbis Foundation seeks to identify, educate and equip individuals who have the potential to excel and make a significant future impact.  It is the belief of the Foundation that from these ranks will emerge high growth entrepreneurs and change agents in their chosen field who will contribute to lowering the prevalent levels of unemployment through their job creating endeavours.

Momentary disbelief! The Possibility man can't be serious? Over a thousand packed into our magnificent Opera House, mostly teenage learners new to 'Classical Music', are now going to sing the 'Ode to Joy' - and, in German! Ben Zander could just have given the multicultural audience the overall gist of Schiller's 8 lines printed out phonetically on the sheets he now distributed, but No! - if we were to sing, he first made sure we understood the full content, every word of every line.

And if any one had become a little vague about the famous Beethoven tune, 3 full rich statements by the enlarged Cape Philharmonic magically set the scene for us before we did our best.

This brilliant concept was just one of many in this enchanting and imaginatively assembled musical jamboree. For those of us who had lived here for decades, though, singing "All men become brothers..." in this beautiful venue stirred another layer. Once completed - then, named after a minor apartheid functionary - many 'white' music-lovers had to decide between supporting the sumptuous operas and ballets, and actually boycotting them in sympathy with all the other Capetonians denied entrance, and this went on for many years as South Africa neared the transformational possibility we often found it hard back then to believe would ever come. Now that it has, there is still much brotherhood to be cultivated and intensified, and this visit by Ben and Roz takes its proud place among the many wonderful contributions helping the process. Indeed, the worst of those dark days is a steadily receding memory now...

The selections could hardly have been better chosen to illustrate the range and beauty of the Classical repertoire in general, and the aural miracle that the modern orchestra has become. Placing tender and vivacious Mozart straight after the heartbreaking tragedy of Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet' was inspired, and to end with the noble love that Elgar's 'Nimrod' must stir in even the hardest hearts, rather than some 'showpiece', ensured that a deeper perspective would remain. Yes, music entertains and is often enough fun-filled, but its most precious - almost unique - gift is in the expression of the most profound of human emotions. Ben's vivid introductions and the wholehearted, often brilliant playing of our remarkable orchestra will surely have firmly stamped this wide range of impressions in the listeners' minds, and given invaluable guidance for cultivating a deeper understanding in all their future listening.

A distinguished musician's first enthusiastic words about Ben after the show were: "He takes over where Leonard Bernstein left off!" Another quickly added: "... with a dose of Victor Borge as well!" Perhaps not quite the flavour of that inimitable Danish musical humorist? Ben's humour is masterly, but there is always purpose at work beneath the fun - for we are also being taught, on all sorts of layers.

The afternoon also provided food for some thought on the future of Classical orchestras for their audiences. My daughter had ventured: "If they want to sit there like cardboard cutouts, their audiences are going to just get older and smaller. It was so nice to see First Violins smiling!" A balance perhaps needs to be found. A Symphony Concert of great music should certainly remain an event of ceremonial magic, but shouldn't the players somehow show their responsiveness to the content. Conductors usually do, so is it just the 'expected' etiquette that holds them back?

A friend left the event, too, with a new appreciation of the potential inspirational role of the conductor. Yes, in many concerts one has the impression that the orchestra might perhaps be playing just as nicely if the conductor wasn't even there - apart from ensemble issues. But Ben demonstrated brilliantly how it is possible to take them right out of "yet another day at the office." Many conductors do indeed give 'downbeats' - Ben uplifts, rather. The sensation is of "up and on", maintaining a forward-moving pulse with wrist flexibility in a field of light and energy. The music is of course first fully mastered within - all the architecture and balance carefully considered - but the external impression is of spontaneous freedom, on-the-spot creation.

The enthusiasm he elicited from the listeners, many new, makes one long for much more orchestral playing of such inspiration - audiences would surely increase, clamouring to get in. Please visit Cape Town again very soon, and give us some complete pieces - perhaps one thing Ben doesn't appreciate fully is just how awful it is when his so inspired music-making suddenly stops midstream!

There are very few books that startle you with the freshness of their perspective, and the power of their voice, because what they say is so clearly unusual, different and challenging. When such a book is co-written by someone who is a great story-teller and has an obvious love for touching others to make a difference, then you have a profoundly transformative experience.

On Tuesday I attended a talk for teachers and students by Benjamin Zander in the old suburb of Kensington in Johannesburg. I must say that after listening to Benjamin Zander and watching him light up the room with his zest for life and clear message, I felt a powerful surge of deep inspiration and understanding such as I have never experienced before.

After reading the first five chapters of The Art of Possibility, written by Rosamund Zander who is a therapist and a painter, with her co-author Benjamin Zander who is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and a teacher, I realized that here was a book that was setting out on a new path.

I have read so many books that promise so much in the introduction and the blurb, but once I start reading the book in earnest, the author somehow forgets his elegant promises and loses his way. The Art of Posibility maintain its purposefulness and using s many examples it creates a very lucid picture of this world of possibility.

It is of course one thing to read a book that truly captures your imagination, and quite another to wake up the day after you have just finished reading the book knowing that you are going to listen to this author. I had feared that this may be another one of those ‘motivational’ talks, but I need not have feared because Ben Zander takes you to unfamiliar territory but without any of the lack of depth of so much motivational speaking. Instead of providing anwers, it is his instistence on asking questions that prompts a much deeper sense of awareness.

Well, as it turned out Tuesday the 7th of August was no ordinary day, because just when one thought that the chill of winter was finally making way for the incipient warmth of August, a bitterly cold wind brought back the bite of the Johannesburg winter, making Tuesday the 7th of August one of the most unbearably cold days of this year.

Once Ben (as he likes to be called) was in the room after arriving at the Jeppe Girls School to speak to some 150 school teachers and students, the room warmed up considerably. All around there was a palpable sense of excitement as he picked up the mike and began to talk to us. His warmth radiated across top each of us as he shared with us so many of his own experiences that had convinced him that there always more than just way of doing something, The Art of Possibility.

Ben began his presentation by sharing with us how his experiences with students in the United Kingdom had convinced him that classical music was for everyone, and the idea that it was a high-brow art belonging to only a few was just an invention.

Invention is a word that in Ben’s language acquires a wholly new and much more dynamic meaning, because he makes it clear that, as he puts it, ‘it’s all invented’ and I think that once you grasp this, that even the things that we cherish, or in the case of teachers, the students that they heap praise on because they are A students, that all these ‘meaurements’ are ‘invented’ then you begin to realize why Ben urges us to see that ‘No’ is just an invitation to possibility

Image by Roy Blumenthal



In his punchy and animated way, Ben shared with us the story of how he had come to present a programme of classical music to a group of children from the Docklands in London who had been assigned to schools that were called ‘Failing Schools’.

“Can you imagine what it’s like to know you go to a failing school?” he asked us, and I think all of us got he mesasage. After coming up with the idea of hosting a program of classical music for these school children, and despite the misgivings of the teachers, Ben told us how 1200 of these children were able to follow and enjoy the music. What’s more so many of them could recognize up to seven ‘voices’, and so successful was the programme that these schools were renamed.

17 year old Nompumelelo who was celebrating her birthday the next day, will never forget this day because Ben asked her to come to the stage and he led us to an unexpected discovery, that there are other ways of singing “Happy birthday to you”, and once I had realized just how often I make assumptions without even realizing that I’m doing so, I began to understand just how deep the impact of this perspective that in the world of possibility one must always ask, “Is there perhaps another way of doing something?”

I loved especially Ben’s insistence that no one is tone deaf, and he said if you can hear, recognize and even tell the mood of a cellphone caller, then you’re definitely not tone deaf, but so many people are made to believe that they have no ear for music, and this is just not the case.

Using a number of unbelievably effective examples Ben demonstrated just how powerfully we are held to ransom by what he describes as the ‘downward spiral’ world of no, where there is no possibility. This is the world of competitive behaviour in which winning is far more important than contribution.

For me it was the way in which Ben used such simple examples to make such powerful observations, and when he asked the String Quartet to play Mozart’s composition, and they suddenly found a new way of playing a song that they assumed could only be played one way, I really got the message.

Ben is not asking us to improve ourselves because as he says, we already have everything we need, he is asking us to imagine and practice a whole new way, one in which we realize that our concepts of who’s gifted or not are restrictive and that it is when we stop comparing and measuring our performance against those of others that we can truly become A students. It is of course worth noting that Ben is no just a great teacher but also a gifted conductor, and during his presentation , he would often sit at the piano to demonstrate one of his lessons.

Many of us are familiar and admire Beethoven’s 5th, and we have all heard it being played in one way, and Ben started by playing the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth in this familiar way. He then went on to demonstrate to us how orchestras have played Beethoven’s great symphony not as he wrote it, because they were not ready to meet the challenge of his writing. Using the piano Ben then showed us the possibility that there is another way to play and hear this great piece of music, playing it much faster but in a way that is truer to Beethoven’s intentions that were challenging complacency and frozen tradition.

Ben challenged the teachers to believe in their students and he reminded them that we behave differently when we interact with those who we believe are good, and our body language and tone is different when we interact with those who we believe are not good enough. Ben shared with us his belief that it is the job of the leader to dream and trust his people to realize this dream. To emphasize this point, he asked us how we think people would have reacted if Martin Luther King had said, “I have a dream, but I don’t think my people are capable of achieving it”

I have no doubt that many of the teachers who were gathered at Jeppe Girls School on Tuesday will never forget the stories Ben Zander shared with us, and his use of music and the creative process to reinforce his message that ours is a world of immense possibility, and not one of restriction and shortage as we are often led to believe.

I was lucky enough to capture some of the moments of Ben’s presentation through the lens of my camera, and when I look at these photographs, I realize that Ben’s zest for life is a visible reality

01 August 2007 - Wednesday

9:00 Arrive in SA

13:00 – 17:00 MNET management sessions (Wanderers conference centre)

02 August 2007 - Thursday

9:00 – 14:00 P&P session

15:00 – 17:00 Session with SA Parliament

03 August 2007 - Friday

8:30 – 13:00 Session for Business Leaders (Ben & Roz)

14:00 – 17:00 Leadership roundtable hosted by Die Burger (movers & shakers in the Western Cape)

04 August 2007 - Saturday

9:00 – 12:00 Session for Music makers in Athlone (disadvantaged community)

14:00 – 16:00 Conversation with Youth Leaders

05 August 2007 - Sunday

12:00 Lunch with 20 Raymond Acerman academy students + pre-concert talk

14:30 – 17:00 Concert in Artscape Opera House (with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra). Aimed at learners aged 11 – 20 (with their parents + teachers)

06 August 2007 - Monday

9:00 – 13:00 P&P Hyper Region Session

07 August 2007 - Tuesday

9:00 – 13:00 P&P Northern Region Session

14:00 – 17:00 Session with teachers (Jeppe Girls High school)

19:00 Francois Hugo is hosting a conversation with influential people in Gauteng

08 August 2007 - Wednesday

9:00 – 13:00 P&P Gauteng Region Session

09 August 2007 - Thursday

PnP Board Getaway

10 August 2007 - Friday

PnP Board Getaway

11 August 2007 - Saturday

PnP Board Getaway

12 August 2007 - Sunday

PnP Board Getaway

13 August 2007 - Monday

8:30 – 13:00 Session for business leaders in Johannesburg

I made it to the Logan Express shuttle early one morning last month... No wait: that was yesterday morning, a time connected to the present by no more than little scrapes of sleep on the plane (and nodding off once during dinner). At about the 5 hour point of a 13+ hour flight, you begin to feel like you're in some sort of weird dream from which you will never wake. By hour 7 -- an excruciating eon, but barely half-way through the ordeal -- you become convinced of the fact.

Eventually, though, we completed our half revolution of the planet, arriving in Beijing at about 1:45 pm local time (or 1:45 AM in Boston). We stood around in the airport for a couple of hours while baggage and buses were found, and finally rolled through Beijing rush hour and into the hotel by about 5:45. Here, in the parking lot surrounded by the three large buses and two equipment trucks that brought us from the airport, I realized what a sea of people we made collectively: all 122 of us (I couldn't even wedge us all into the frame of one picture).

We had just time to check into our nice, modern rooms, check out the internet connection (works!) and head down to a huge communal dinner. The food, many courses of only marginally recognizable Chinese fare, seemed to throw a lot of the kids off at first: it just wasn't as smooth a production as we are used to at home. But before long healthy appetites took over and a fair inroads was made on the truly moveable feast (everything was arranged on an enormous Lazy Susan in the middle of each table).

So far, not much to report about Beijing in particular, or China in general. More notable where the glimpses of endless Arctic icecap, lush Siberian tiaga, and scorched Chinese desert caught en route from the old Beoing 747 in the few moments between movies (four of them) when the window shades were raised slightly. Otherwise, windowshades remained tightly drawn against the brilliant midday sun that we chased across the sky for the entire flight. We gave it a pretty good run, too: it only gained some two hours over the course of the nearly fourteen.

Now, at 8:50 pm local time, I hear a few voices in the hall of brave young souls getting ready to see the town (or at least the two surrounding blocks that have been approved as appropriate area to explore on this first evening). A French horn has been practicing next door for some time, and a trumpet joined in from farther down the hall for a while. After a day on a plane, these dedicated young musicians just want to get in their practice! Now the horn has stopped, and all is quiet. Time at last for my beauty sleep!

Tomorrow we make an early morning dash the Great Wall, and then rush back into town for a rehearsal with the Beijing Conservatory Middle School Orchestra.

Between June 13 and 30 members of the YPO China Tour will be posting daily blogs with photos and thoughts that hopefully will capture a colorful slice of the tour in progress. The author of the blog will be talking with the wonderful YPO musicians, documenting their interaction with their Chinese counterparts, and reporting on the many concerts and their critical reception.

It's going to be a fabulous trip! Next post: Beijing!

Read About the tour on myspace!

New England Conservatory’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, the senior orchestra of NEC’s Preparatory School, will embark on an 18-day tour of China, June 12. Under the direction of conductor Benjamin Zander, who is celebrating his 40th year on the NEC faculty, the ensemble will perform in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Chungqing and other cities. The young musicians will also take part in exchanges and joint performances with Chinese student musicians at the Beijing, Shenyang and Chongqing Conservatories.

Among highlights of the tour will be a concert in the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, opened in summer 2005 and one of the splashier examples of New China architecture. With an aerial view described as a five-petaled “blossoming butterfly orchid,” the center is one of the country’s most important symbolic cultural projects.

Three members of the YPO will appear as soloists on the tour. They are cellist Sebastian Baverstam in the Dvorak Cello Concerto; clarinetist Amy Chen in the Bassi Fantasy on themes from “Rigoletto” for Clarinet and Orchestra; and oboist Yuga Cohler in Antonio Pascuilli’s Concerto on Themes from Donizetti’s “La Favorita.”

Other ambitious works in the orchestra’s tour repertoire are the Mahler Symphony No. 1; Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6; Richard Strauss Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks; John Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine; and Stravinsky “Firebird” Suite (1919).

Traveling with the orchestra and documenting the tour will be former Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer and Cambridge-based photojournalist Mikki Ansin.

The YPO will perform a China kick-off concert, June 8 at 8 p.m. in NEC’s Jordan Hall. Tickets are $10; $5 for students and seniors; free with NEC i.d. To order, call the Jordan Hall Box Office at 617-585-1260.

A concert to mark the 30th Anniversary of the twinning of Bedford and Bamberg.

In this concert we hear two Russian works that burst with magnificent melodies. Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto contains soaringly beautiful music in abundance; while Shostakovich, writing under Stalin's Communist regime, wrote his Fifth Symphony in accordance with the Politburo's dictum that "all aspects of music should be subordinated to melody and such melody should be clear and singable". However the irony of the optimistic tone of this latter work does not go unnoticed.

Tickets: £27, £22, £18, £15, £9

http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/concerts/1june06bedford/

In each of the 30 years since its inception, the Golden Door Award has celebrated and honored a United States citizen of foreign birth who has made an outstanding contribution to American society through a life of reputation, accomplishment, and character. The award is conferred by the International Institute of Boston at its signal annual fundraising dinner, which attracts remarkable individuals from the sciences and the arts who gather to pay tribute to the recipient and acknowledge the crucial role of the International Institute – not just through their presence, but through their personal testimony. Similarly, sponsors of the event are able to support the Institute’s mission as they celebrate an individual of outstanding merit. Golden Door Award alumni include architect I.M. Pei; musical artists Yo-Yo Ma and Arthur Fiedler; scientists Laszlo Bonis and Arthur Loeb; entrepreneurs Lelio Marino and George Hatsopoulos, and a distinguished host of business leaders, philanthropists, and educators.

The Award takes its name from Emma Lazarus’ words which are inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty declaring, “From her beacon hand glows world-wide welcome…I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

http://www.iiboston.org/about/events.htm

OPEN HOUSE with Rep. Kaufman Giving an A: Thoughts on How we Grade One Another

On Thursday, May 17, Representative Jay Kaufman’s OPEN HOUSE forum welcomes Boston Philharmonic conductor Benjamin Zander and psychotherapist Rosamund Zander for a forum on “Giving an A.” Authors of The Art of Possibility, Rosamund and Benjamin will offer insights on leadership and effecting change, both personally and professionally. The Forum will be held on Thursday, May 17th from 7:30 to 8:30 pm at the historic Depot in Lexington Center.

In their book, The Art of Possibility, Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, challenge the ways that we grade, rank, and evaluate one another. In a chapter called “Giving an ‘A,’” they argue that thinking in terms of the traditional “A to F” or “0 to 100” first poisons our relationships in school, and then goes further, to permeate the ways that we deal with and evaluate one another in the workplace, our families, and our communities. They argue that, by giving each other and ourselves “A’s,” we transport “relationships from the world of measurement into the universe of possibility.” Imagine a world of “A” politics and “A” politicians!

The Zanders propose that, in school, the workplace, our families, communities and, yes, even in politics, we speak in terms of “possibilities.” They would have us ask of ourselves and each other what possibility we can imagine that merits an “A”? They would then have us ask a series of questions. What risks did you take on the path to that “A”? What discomforts and what unknowns did you confront? What new insights have you achieved? What new skills have you mastered? How have you encouraged those around you, and what have you contributed to them? How have you changed your thinking and actions? What has happened to transform what was either barely imaginable or just possible, to a new reality?

Rep. Kaufman launched OPEN HOUSE shortly after taking office in 1995 to provide a forum for discussing the challenges and opportunities facing the community and Commonwealth. OPEN HOUSE has been named the best television series by the Massachusetts Cable Television Commission, and was awarded the cable industry’s Beacon Award as the nation’s best government relations series. OPEN HOUSE is produced in partnership with the Lexington Historical Society and the Woburn Public Media Group, which is filming the forums for broadcast in eastern Massachusetts.

For further information, please visit Rep. Kaufman’s website at www.jaykaufman.com/open-house.shtml or call his State House office at 617-722-2240.

You are invited to attend the 2007 benefit Gala for the Boston Philharmonic. Our 2006 Gala received such rave reviews from our guests for its extraordinary mix of inspiration, entertainment and just plain fun that we have designed this year's festivities as a sequel that builds on last year's program.

Our distinguished conductor and world renowned speaker Benjamin Zander, along with his partner Rosamund Stone Zander, co-authors of The Art of Possibility, have designed a whole new presentation that expands on some of the most loved themes from last year. As a guest at our Gala, you will have the privilege of being the first to experience this inspiring new offering. We haven't been told everything (an element of surprise adds to the fun after all) but here are some highlights we can share with you:

* Ben will focus on the much acclaimed coaching elements of his leadership presentation.

* Instead of a quartet, there will be a full orchestra!

* There will be an opportunity for audience participation.

After the presentation, we will retire of Memorial Hall for cocktails, dinner and an auction featuring guest soloists, followed by a chance to kick your heels up and dance the night away to the sounds of an energetic ensemble.

Tables go early for this great party, so round up your friends and family, invite your colleagues and make your reservation today for another Gala without Boundaries with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.

Georgina Morell, Daniel Weil, 2007 Boston Philharmonic Gala Co-Chairs

For tickets, call 617-236-0999 or visit www.bostonphil.org

At the end of the witches' orgy in Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," so beautifully performed Thursday night at Sanders Theatre by the Boston Philharmonic, I imagined the composer's father muttering: "That's why I wanted him to go to medical school." Berlioz was the original Romantic bad-boy composer, and he was never worse than in this symphony. Or better. It takes enormous skill, after all, to create a nightmare of slithering snakes, dancing skeletons (the violinists turn their bows around and bounce the wood on the strings), and laughing giants, and then, at the last moment, let loose . . . a fugue. There Berlioz seems to be saying, to his dad, professors, and the Catholic Church, I can do it, but it will be my way. No acting-out was more elegantly sculpted. In its 28th-season opener, led by music director Benjamin Zander, the Boston Philharmonic played the symphony with breathtaking skill and concentration. Every now and then, one was reminded that this is a semi professional group: The string ensemble may have had a few loose ends, a woodwind solo may not have been ideally smooth. But basically, this was thrilling playing, from every section, and all held together in Zander's grip. Individual felicities included the pastoral duet by oboist Peggy Pearson (playing offstage) and Ronald Kaye, English horn; the blended string tone in the Ball scene; the cellos's brisk launch of the fugue; the raw edge to the offstage bells in the Sabbath; the splendor of the brass. So much conviction was a bit surprising, frankly, after the opening "Rapsodie espagnole" by Maurice Ravel. Here Zander's tempos seemed a bit too languid, and a sense of anticipation was missing that would bind together a series of atmospheric episodes. The program's centerpiece was Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez," played by its leading interpreter, guitarist Sharon Isbin, with feeling and variety of touch. She received a warm ovation and responded with a subtle, meditative reading of Francisco Tarrega's "Recuerdos de la Alhambra." The Philharmonic's Thursday night "Discovery" concerts are highlighted by Zander's witty, informative, and aptly brief commentary. Before leading the national anthem, the English-born conductor said that next week he will become an American citizen after 42 years in the United States. Without specifying, he said that America's image in the world had been "tarnished," and he wanted "to take a stand" "because I believe we can turn things around." Many in the audience cheered.

Guitar soloist Sharon Isbin, right, performs with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra at Mechanics Hall on Wednesday.

At the Wednesday night orchestral opening of Music Worcester’s 147th season, just before he conducted the Boston Philharmonic in a rousing version of The Star Spangled Banner, Maestro Benjamin Zander announced that “next week I will become an American citizen.” That decision, he noted, had been “42 years in coming” (Zander is a native Brit), and Mechanics Hall was “the perfect, perfect” place to celebrate his new chosen country. The capacity crowd exploded with applause. It was a typically canny Zander gesture that put the audience firmly in the palm of his hand.

A few may have slipped out of his grip during the first piece, a rather fussy rendering of Ravel’s Rhapsodie Espanol that verged on a “and-then, and-then” presentation of the orchestra’s considerable capacities. The Boston Philharmonic is a dynamic mélange of talent — vintage Boston professionals such as Tom Hill (clarinet) and Ronald Kaye (English horn) are paired with relative newcomers like Tyler Shepherd and Joe Ferris fresh out of the BSO bass studios of the legendary Edwin Barker and Todd Seeber. The result, especially when Zander bears down his genius at unpacking complex music, can be sparkling, startling, electrifying, whether it be new tempi for Beethoven or new tension and elation for Mahler. The resulting music-making always commands attention and affection, even when, as in the Ravel, a finished coherence seems absent.

For the second piece Zander brought out an even more celebrated superstar — guitarist Sharon Isbin, who in tuning her acoustic guitar demonstrated just how “perfect, perfect” a place Mechanics Hall is. Isbin’s faultless guitar stroking as she made her way through the most famous of all concerti, Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” permeated everywhere in the hall. And Zander, a man not normally given to the shadows, (he had, for example, rather nastily chastised the pre-concert talk audience for having the audacity to read program notes while Maestro Zander was explicating the music), strove brilliantly to moderate his orchestral accompaniment, letting the magic of Isbin’s playing fill the hall. There was an entirely mesmerizing collaboration between soloist and pared-down orchestra, especially in the mournful second movement, which achieved a kind of goose-bump thrill, edge-of-the-seat envelopment. At the conclusion of the third movement, the audience rushed to stand and wildly applaud. Isbin obliged with a rare, before-the-intermission, encore solo guitar piece.



The second half of the concert consisted entirely of Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique,” which Zander in his pre-concert talk labeled “the first psychedelic symphony.” Zander frenziedly charged into the first movement of Berlioz’s highly programmatic music chronicling the life, love and guillotining of an opium-fried fellow whose mescaline-seared dreams overflow reality. It was an amazing opening, and one that carried over into the second and third movements. The fourth movement march seemed a bit over-deliberate, as if the musicians were squirreling away their energy for the turbo-charged finale. That finale was pure Zander, pouring on explosion after explosion of sound and finishing with arms upright, splayed out in a stunning Y of celebration, frozen against and above the orchestra, as if to say: for citizen Zander the palm is not nearly enough, only a Jacobin full embrace will do.

On May 27, 1906 , Gustav Mahler conducted the first performance of his vast Sixth Symphony. A few days more than a century later, Benjamin Zander led the work with the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic, remarking to the audience that the composer could scarcely have imagined that his symphony would one day be played by ``an orchestra of children."

It would have been interesting to enter the minds of the 120-plus advanced teenage musicians arrayed behind Zander as he said this. Then they tore into a sinister opening march of the symphony with such ferocity and intensity that one wondered how they could possibly keep it up for the next 85 minutes. But they did, flagging only occasionally toward the end of the long technical obstacle course, but never wavering in concentration and commit ment. There were players who seemed to have memorized the entire work, never averting their gaze from Zander.

Like many conductors today, Zander made his own decision about the order of the movements (choosing to play the scherzo before the slow movement) and overruling the composer's wish to eliminate the third hammer terrifying blow in the final movement, the one that fells the hero and may have predicted Mahler's own death. And his experience in Jordan Hall led to an especially effective offstage placement for the atmospheric cow bells. One may feel that Zander's view of the symphony is sometimes too spasmodic and lacks variety, especially of dynamics -- in his hands the piece is almost nonstop climax. But there's no denying how gripping it is, and Zander does hurl bolts of lightning.

This is not a symphony with major solos -- except for the oboe (the eloquent Yuga Cohler ) and principal horn (Lee Wadenpfuhl ), but strings, winds, brass, and percussion sections all need to play with soloistic chops, involvement and individuality, and they did, while maintaining a coherent balance and momentum.

After a prolonged standing ovation, Zander saluted departing manager Rebecca Bogers , and read off the names of the graduating seniors while reporting their college, conservatory, or university destination of choice; all are going to prestigious institutions, some of them in fields other than music. For a moment, one could feel that the future lies in safe hands. And then the orchestra played its traditional gesture of farewell, an emotional performance of the noble ``Nimrod" from Elgar's ``Enigma" Variations.

I've always suspected that Mahler had a secret model for his First Symphony. The Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, written sixty years earlier, also includes reveries and passions, surreal waltzes, a jaunt in the country, a nightmarish march, an evocation of hell, and many sounds that audiences weren't used to hearing from an orchestra. More to the point, Berlioz used a mythologized version of his own life as the program, and intended the symphony as a bold gesture that would "[take] up music where Beethoven had left it." Mahler's liberating decision to base his symphony on his own autobiography follows from Berlioz's example, as does his ambition to scale Olympus. The fourth movement's opening flourish deliberately invokes the finale of Beethoven's Ninth, as if Mahler too meant to boldly explore a sound world that Beethoven, for all his genius, could hardly have imagined. Appropriately, it is Mahler's daring and audacity that Benjamin Zander celebrates in this spectacular new recording. From the sustained pianissimo that begins the work to the brazen tumult that ends it (in which Mahler instructs the horns to drown out the rest of the orchestra, even the trumpets), Zander and the Philharmonia are equal to the symphony's kaleidoscopic range of expression. Though slightly less intense than either Bernstein with the Concertgebouw on DG or Kubelik and the Bavarian Radio Symphony ( the live performance on Audite, not the rougher-sounding studio recording on DG), Zander convincingly emphasizes the youthfulness and freshness of Mahler's inspiration, and does so without any trace of mannerism. Though Zander can be "neurotic" when the score calls for it, overall the tone here is assertive, joyful and energetic. In this performance the final victory is never in doubt. As in his other Mahler recordings, Zander sustains a varied pulse without undue haste or exaggeration. In his hands the first movement seems especially buoyant and spontaneous, and the dance rhythms of the scherzo are given an infectious, exhilarating lilt. It's disappointing how many conductors, even some of the greatest, tend to smooth over the parodistic and grotesque elements of the funeral march, but (very much like Bernstein and Kubelik in this respect) Zander lets us know exactly why contemporary audiences found this movement shocking. In the finale, Zander doesn't find either heaven or hell, but an act of Ein Heldenleben-like self-definition. So maybe it's good to be reminded that Strauss too was a major influence. In this case, Zander's steady tempos help to avoid the episodic lurching of too many other performances. Here for once the entire movement is seamlessly wrought, leading to a sumptuously grand and forceful climax. In brief, this triumphalist Mahler First belongs on the top shelf beside Bernstein, Kubelik, Giulini and Walter. But Zander also has the benefit of Jack Renner's exemplary engineering, which convincingly deploys a hundred or so musicians in your listening space. This is the best-sounding Mahler First I've heard, and audiophiles wanting a demonstration-quality orchestral performance to test their systems need look no further. In this recording, ppp and fff both register with equal conviction. Mahler's genius for orchestration has never been more dramatically exposed. Though there are several Songs of a Wayfarer recordings that I prefer to this one (Thomas Quasthoff with Boulez, for example), Christopher Maltman's lighter baritone suits the character of the music well. His sensitive, intelligent phrasing is well supported by Zander's expressive accompaniment. As for the Philharmonia, let us not forget that they learned their Mahler from Klemperer, who learned it from Mahler himself. Under Zander's leadership they play with rapture and authority. Since Zander, like Bernstein before him, wants us to understand what we're hearing, there's a "pre-concert" lecture on the music that is both informative and entertaining. And like Bruno Walter, the Mahler conductor he most closely resembles, Zander omits the first movement repeat.

The Boston Philharmonic is no stranger to giving programs of larger-than-life fare, and last night’s concert continued this tradition - it even was subtitled “The Heroic Ideal.” Both a highly familiar opus as well as one less frequently heard were encountered. Ask any concertgoer to name someone who wrote pieces of monumental nobility and timelessness and chances are excellent that Ludwig van Beethoven’s name quickly will come up. His Fifth Piano Concerto, subtitled “Emperor,” is a prime example of this composer’s heroic grandiosity in music. But the piece still shows measured classical-period roots beneath its lush foliage. Wisely, piano soloist Jon Kimura Parker and conductor Benjamin Zander made sure these two ways of thinking got equal emphasis. Parker’s exquisite finger work and brisk tempos contrasted with his deliciously sculpted melodic phrasing and big, centered tone. Crackling energy filled the concerto’s jaunty finale, while the warm, slow movement sang with a rich loveliness that never became cloying. Here, the orchestra responded smartly to Zander’s sensitive, yet clear-headed conception of the work, furnishing a backdrop that had personality without upstaging its talented guest. Listeners who only know“The Dream of Gerontius,” the “Pomp and Circumstance” marches and the “Enigma Variations” badly need to delve into the remainder of Edward Elgar’s portfolio of compositions. And part of that exploration must include not only his remarkable chamber music and concertos but also his two completed symphonies. The First Symphony is sizable, nearly an hour’s length. Insensitive conductors often further bloat this big work by playing it too slowly. Zander’s approach was purposeful and true to Elgar’s score markings without sacrificing any of the symphony’s expansive warmth and outgoing passion. The satisfying result was the sort of clean, vivid, colorful playing one finds in world-class ensembles at their best. While the old cliche “bigger is better” does not always apply, here it held true and then some.

Elgar's First Symphony was the first great romantic symphony by an Englishman. It has had worthy successors by Elgar himself, Vaughan Williams, Michael Tippett, Peter Maxwell Davies, and possibly Arnold Bax. But it hasn't ever been surpassed.

When it was new, the First became an international sensation; it was played 82 times in its first season or two, and in eight countries. It has become an iconic work in England; the Boston Symphony performed it under Andre Previn, but not at all recently.

Orchestras like the Boston Philharmonic seldom attempt it because it is technically and stylistically demanding. But there aren't many orchestras ''like" the Boston Philharmonic -- a mixture of amateurs, advanced students, and professionals -- and this is music conductor Benjamin Zander must feel in his bones. Saturday night's performance was intense. Zander was responsive to the breadth and nobility of the work and to the ways in which the composer questions and undermines those Elgarian qualities. The great adagio was consoling, but much of the rest expresses human realities that require consolation. And the orchestra really blazed through it.

The influence of Beethoven is strong in Elgar, so it was an interesting idea to pair the symphony with Beethoven's ''Emperor" Concerto. The Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker gave it a puzzling performance, although one that roused the audience to great enthusiasm. Parker operates at opposite extremes of tempo and of dynamics without exploring much in the significant territory in between; he seems more interested in playing the piano than in playing the music. His work has accuracy, power, stamina, and drive, although there is color only when he is playing quietly and slowly -- and he took the slow movement very slowly, although Michael Steinberg's program note cautioned against this common mistake. He was most convincing in articulating the rhythm and character of the finale, but even there he found moments for vulgar display. Zander and the orchestra suggested other possibilities.

Classical: New Releases: Mahler: Symphony No 1, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen PAUL DRIVER MAHLER Symphony No 1, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Christopher Maltman (baritone), Philharmonia Orchestra, cond Benjamin Zander Telarc 2CD-80628

On the bonus disc accompanying these stirring performances, Zander talks about the two works with a cultivated communicativeness that struck me as positively heroic — a rebuttal of those for whom musical specifics have to be instantly dumbed down. He makes the lovely point that the ethereal seven-octave A that opens the symphony has been there since the beginning of time. “It is the tuning of the universe. It’s as if... God turns up the volume just a tiny bit.” He convincingly explains why he omits the first-movement repeat. His reading of the whole work — and of the associated songs — is simply magnificent. Four stars

Telarc 2-SACD 60628 In a stunning program in DSD and multichannel Surround, Benjamin Zander leads the Philharmonia Orchestra in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D Major and Songs of a Wayfarer. It's a logical pairing, since the symphony, sometimes known as the "Titan," is reminiscent of the Songs in mood and feeling. This is one of the  best recordings I've ever heard of Songs of a Wayfarer, thanks in no small measure to baritone vocalist Christopher Maltman's well-supported voice and his sensitivity to every nuance of the texts.    Mahler's First Symphony is, in many ways, his most problematical, in part due to the fact that he changed his conception several times while composing it. Today we know the First Symphony for the masterwork that it is, though it still takes a conductor with Zander's breadth of vision to present it to us with Mahler's full intention……  Mahler can give the unsuspecting listener the awful feeling of "Omigod, he doesn't know how to end it!" That is precisely the feeling one gets from too many interpretations of this work. Under Zander's baton, the impression of unwarranted length never arises, as he makes it all seem compellingly inevitable.    A nice feature here is the inclusion of a 79-minute bonus disc, in which Benjamin Zander discusses the Symphony and the Songs. As persuasive a lecturer as he is a conductor, Zander makes up for all the bad "music appreciation" lectures you've ever heard.

With more than 50 available recordings of the revised four-movement version of Gustav Mahler's First Symphony, any newcomer had better be special, and this one is on several counts. A beautifully engineered recording conveys every detail with uncommon clarity from the thickest passages to the quietest solos.The orchestra impresses with sweetness as well as power. Benjamin Zander has each note functioning within an expressive whole. The coupling is apt and gorgeously sung. And as has been the case with the previous five installments in this cycle, a bonus CD provides an introduction to both works that has much to say even to listeners long familiar with the music. The only major drawback--several tiny personal touches draw attention to themselves but do not detract from masterly shaping overall--is Zander's omission of the first movement repeat. Listeners who cannot do without it will be satisfied in very different ways by Carlo Maria Giulini (on EMI), Jascha Horenstein (Unicorn), Rafael Kubelik (DGG) or Erich Leinsdorf (RCA), whose accounts are, respectively, raptly poetic, outsized, songfully wide-eyed and fierce. - Alan G. Artner

This year’s honorand is conductor, educator and now Bostonian Benjamin Zander, who was born and raised in England following his parents’ escape from Germany. A protégé of Benjamin Britten, Maestro Zander later trained in Italy with the great cellist Gaspar Cassado. He took his degrees at University College, London, and came to America on a Harkness International Fellowship in 1964. Over the course of his distinguished and multifaceted career, he has been associated with New England Conservatory, the Youth Philharmonic, Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas and the NPR program From the Top. He has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic since its founding in 1979 and travels the world as a guest conductor and presenter on leadership to major organizations. He is the co-author, with leading psychotherapist Rosamund Zander, of the Art of Possibility, a bestselling transformational book, published by Harvard Business School Press and available in 17 languages. In 2002 he was awarded the United Nations Caring Citizen of the Humanities Award and was the recipient of the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos for “outstanding contributions in the Arts and international relations.”
Of Mr Zander’s extraordinary ability to illuminate music for lay audiences High Fidelity wrote: “Music lovers have not had so enthusiastic a guide into the mysterious world of classical music since the glory days of Leonard Bernstein.” And Fanfare Magazine wrote: "He is everything you could want in a teacher; well informed, insightful, humane, moving and genuinely enthusiastic.”

In October 2006 Ben Zander became an American citizen at the Moakley Courthouse in Boston – the site of this year’s Golden Door Award event.

Golden Door Award

The first Golden Door Award event was held in 1971 and has since become a unique IIB tradition to honor a U.S. citizen of foreign birth who has made an outstanding contribution to American society. The Award takes its name from Emma Lazarus’ words which are inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty declaring, “From her beacon hand glows world-wide welcome…I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Benjamin Zander and the Philharmonia's recording of Mahler's "First Symphony" coupled with his "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" sung by baritone Christopher Maltman is not only the best Mahler's First in decades, it is one of the great recorded performances. Yes, sometimes it is almost a little bit too much. The parody woodwinds in the music do get close to vulgarity in the slow movement, and the sweeping strings of the finale's second theme are just this side of movie music. But surely they are defensible in view of the expressive markings in Mahler's score, and, more importantly, they are justified by the wonderfully expressive lyricism of the opening movements and by the incredibly explosive drama of the finale's development and recapitulation. Indeed, sometimes being a little bit too much is the essence of Mahler's irony and tragedy, and one gets the sense that Zander understands this and encourages his musicians to go beyond merely playing the music to flat-out performing it. This is a full-blooded and fully human performance, ardent, impetuous, brave, sometimes a little silly, but it is, above all, a great performance, a performance with the same compulsive, compelling quality of the classic recordings by Walter, Kubelík, and Tennstedt. Certainly, Christopher Maltman grasps the essence of Mahler's irony and tragedy, and his interpretations of Mahler's youthful song cycle is as expressive, as lyrical, as dramatic, and as occasionally just about but not quite over the top as Zander's. Telarc's sound is ideal: detailed but evocative, warm but cool, big but not too close.

Benjamin Zander continues his essential Mahler series for Telarc with this outstanding release. Again, the conductor has put head and heart together to create a recording which practically makes the composer appear before our very eyes, raising him from the dead, as it were. Nothing is left to chance, and yet the illusion of musical spontaneity has been retained. Of Zander’s scholarship there is little doubt, and his ability to translate scholarship into a living performance is clearly displayed here. The symphony’s first movement, after an opening of powerful mystery, unfolds with inevitability. Mahler’s (and Zander’s) love of life and nature are easily felt. The second movement feels rustic and rough, full of hay, good wine, and Gemütlichkeit. Zander does not smooth over the weirdness of the third movement, starting with the double bass and its lugubrious take on “Brüder Martin.” The parodistic elements in this movement are brought out but not exaggerated. Zander plays the Finale as if it were a life-and-death struggle (which it is, of course), and snatches victory - a hard won victory, at that - from the jaws of defeat. The final triumph is the more impressive for not having been easily achieved. Zander’s understanding of this movement;s architecture is very evident. Like Bruno Walter, Zander omits the repeat in the first movement, believing that Mahler’s second-thought addition of a repeat sign in this movement was a mistake born of inexperience and momentary insecurity. The omission didn’t bother me, but some might feel differently. The performance of the Wayfarer Songs, so closely tied to the First Symphony, is similarly excellent, with many finely-judged details creating a compelling whole. Baritone Maltman sounds remarkably like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, but not even Uncle Dietrich got so much mileage out of the exclamation of “Heia!” in “Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld.” Telarc’s recording gives Mahler’s climaxes a real wallop. I did feel, however, that the symphony’s quiet passages sometimes sounded too loud. As usual, there is a bonus disc in which Zander discusses the repertoire. Whether you’re new to Mahler or a longtime admirer of his music, there’s something you can learn from Zander’s recorded lecture. Like Leonard Bernstein, his enthusiasm and knowledge are infectious. There are many fine Mahler Firsts out there. (Kubelik’s on Deutsche Grammophon is the first to come to mind.) Zander doesn’t erase them from memory, but he definitely belongs in their company. Raymond Tuttle

Benjamin Zander, Mahler "Symphony No. 1," "Songs of a Wayfarer" (Telarc) One down, three to go. Conductor Benjamin Zander's recording of Mahler's First Symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra brings him one step closer to completion of his unique cycle of Mahler's symphonies. Many other conductors have recorded them, but Zander stands high above the Alpine clouds. His series includes an explanatory CD in which he unshrouds some of the mysteries behind the tormented composer's revolutionary music. Like recorded walking guides at art museums, Zander's ear-opening commentaries take the listener on a tour. In this recording, Zander couples the symphony with the "Songs of a Wayfarer," whose themes are incorporated into the larger work. The songs, sung by baritone Christopher Maltman with exceptional clarity and great feeling, tell of the composer's failed romance with a singer who was noticed more for her striking blond hair and blue eyes than for her voice. In the first song, for example, the composer laments about the saddest day of his life — the day his beloved married someone else. Despite the wayfarer's despondent themes, the symphony ultimately is a journey of triumph. It starts with the nothing less than the dawn of creation, depicted by an amorphous seven-octave A, the note to which orchestras tune. "It is the tuning of the universe," Zander says. "It's as if at the beginning of the symphony God turns up the volume just a tiny bit." The listener soon encounters the sounds of the forest — a cuckoo, hunting horns — before the cellos play the joyous theme of the second song. Other denizens of the late-19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire later appear — military bands, gypsy bands, klezmer musicians, street musicians. The third movement sets the folk song "Frere Jacques" in a minor key, depicting a funeral. The final movement, Zander says, is a great battle against the status quo. It opens with a dissonant chord that Mahler called "an outcry of a deeply wounded heart," not unlike Beethoven's "cry of terror" that opens that composer's Ninth Symphony, Zander says. Mahler's task, Zander says, "was to tell the truth about himself without compromise, without flinching. And from an abundance of creative energy and a life lived to the full to a degree that probably few people have ever known, he revealed himself as the most human of heroes, struggling relentlessly against the philistinism of the commonplace, transporting all those with the ears to hear into a world of musical beauty, truth and idealism unlike anything that had existed before him." After the CD is released Tuesday, all that's left for Zander's series is the Second, Seventh and the mammoth Eighth. Zander says he may skip Mahler's unfinished 10th, but he does hope to record "Das Lied von der Erde." Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of

WGBH SymphonyCast Sun, April 22, 2pm, WGBH 89.7 FM

Boston Philharmonic Benjamin Zander, conductor

Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole Beethoven: Violin Concerto Stefan Jackiw, violin Sibelius: Symphony No. 5

Relive the beauty of the Boston Philharmonic’s 2006-07 season with three of the most outstanding works performed. First on the broadcast we have the Rapsodie espagnole, Ravel’s intoxicating, pitch-perfect evocation in sound of Spain’s cool nights and sultry days. It’s insinuating and sexy, with a touch of flamenco too. Through the wizardry of his magical harmonies and luminous orchestration Ravel makes our ears believe they can actually smell the delicious scent of jasmine that suffuses the air and feel the caress on our cheek of the night breezes that waft through the music.

On a Saturday afternoon seven years ago, when he was fourteen years old, Stefan Jackiw was sitting in his usual seat at the second stand of the first violins of the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, immersed in the orchestra’s weekly rehearsal under their conductor, Benjamin Zander. Amidst that mass of 100 student players in blue jeans and sneakers probably nobody was paying him much attention. But a week later he was standing on the stage of the London’s Royal Festival Hall in front of the world renowned Philharmonia Orchestra, which Benjamin Zander was also conducting, and he played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. The following day a rave review, comparing him to Yehudi Menuhin, appeared on the front page of the London Times. It was a storybook debut, and history had been made. Since then the young Stefan has become the young Mr. Jackiw. No longer the prodigy, he is now a fully formed artist and in demand the world over. This was his second appearance with the Boston Philharmonic. Followers of the BPO will surely have vivid memories of his gleaming, note-perfect, fearless account of the Sibelius Violin Concerto from six seasons ago. On the broadcast he performs the piece that most violinists regard as the pinnacle of their repertory, Beethoven’s sole, and sublime, Violin Concerto. This is a work that Jackiw seems born to play – the supreme, seemingly effortless elegance and refinement of his playing, his unerring sense of taste and proportion, the inner vitality of his rhythm, the glowing beauty of his sound – one could go on and on describing the attributes that make this performer and this piece such an ideal match.

The program closes with a masterpiece by one of Beethoven’s most individual musical descendants. In his Fifth Symphony Sibelius, the Beethoven of the North, created a craggy, powerful, strangely eloquent paean to nature that conjures up the vastness of the Finnish landscape. Its grandeur seems to echo and resound across vast spaces of mountain, lake, and forest. The indomitable human spirit, towering and majestic in even the most stubbornly forbidding of terrains, breathes from every measure of this mighty symphony, one of the greatest to be written in the twentieth century.

SymphonyCast helps you explore the music even further with engaging and illuminating commentary by Benjamin Zander.

In the Boston area, tune to 89.7FM, or listen live at www.wgbh.org.

I was so inspired by the Mahler 5 concert last week in Toronto! I ordered recordings of your Beethoven 5 and 7. (I had recordings of Mr. Von K and the Berlin. I bought them twenty years ago. You need a cd to put in your new cd player, of course.)

Those recordings arrived today.

Well, I am going to play yours, all the time. I love the tempi! Sometimes my students make what I call a "Duh-Scovery." They get something that you have been saying, over and over, for a very long time. They say something like: "you know, you're right."

Sometimes a personal connection makes a performance come alive.

I also bought a copy of Mahler 9, and TWO copies of Mahler 5, one for my dear friend, Henry Janzen, who drove for three hours only to arrive a sold out Roy Thomson Hall. He conducts the Hart House Orchestra at UofT's Hart House.

You know, I was with friends, in a Tex-Mex restaurant on Simcoe St. and I think I saw you walk past on Saturday night. I had to be restrained from running after you to haul you in for a meal with us. What does one do, after a successful concert? I was thinking that maybe you had to be teaching, the next day, or had a plane to catch.

But you have to know that we wanted to treat you to dinner. Next time, we'd love to have the honor, if possible, to show a Toronto welcome to someone who is PERMANENTLY WELCOME in Toronto.

Thank you for autographing my A of P. book, to a "Leader of Possibility." It meant the world.

Yours, sincerely and I mean it.

J. Fisher

Itinerary for Ben and Roz Zander

01 August 2007 - Wednesday 9:00 Arrive in SA

13:00 – 17:00 MNET management sessions (Wanderers conference centre)

02 August 2007 - Thursday

9:00 – 14:00 P&P session

15:00 – 17:00 Session with SA Parliament

03 August 2007 - Friday

8:30 – 13:00 Session for Business Leaders (Ben & Roz)

14:00 – 17:00 Leadership roundtable hosted by Die Burger (movers & shakers in the Western Cape)

04 August 2007 - Saturday

9:00 – 12:00 Session for Music makers in Athlone (disadvantaged community)

14:00 – 16:00 Conversation with Youth Leaders

05 August 2007 - Sunday

12:00 Lunch with 20 Raymond Acerman academy students + pre-concert talk

14:30 – 17:00 Concert in Artscape Opera House (with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra). Aimed at learners aged 11 – 20 (with their parents + teachers)

06 August 2007 - Monday

9:00 – 13:00 P&P Hyper Region Session

07 August 2007 - Tuesday

9:00 – 13:00 P&P Northern Region Session

14:00 – 17:00 Session with teachers (Jeppe Girls High school)

19:00 Francois Hugo is hosting a conversation with influential people in Gauteng

08 August 2007 - Wednesday

9:00 – 13:00 P&P Gauteng Region Session

09 August 2007 - Thursday

PnP Board Getaway

10 August 2007 - Friday

PnP Board Getaway

11 August 2007 - Saturday

PnP Board Getaway

12 August 2007 - Sunday

PnP Board Getaway

13 August 2007 - Monday

8:30 – 13:00 Session for business leaders in Johannesburg

You are invited to attend the 2007 benefit Gala for the Boston Philharmonic. Our 2006 Gala received such rave reviews from our guests for its extraordinary mix of inspiration, entertainment and just plain fun that we have designed this year's festivities as a sequel that builds on last year's program.

Our distinguished conductor and world renowned speaker Benjamin Zander, along with his partner Rosamund Stone Zander, co-authors of The Art of Possibility, have designed a whole new presentation that expands on some of the most loved themes from last year. As a guest at our Gala, you will have the privilege of being the first to experience this inspiring new offering. We haven't been told everything (an element of surprise adds to the fun after all) but here are some highlights we can share with you:

* Ben will focus on the much acclaimed coaching elements of his leadership presentation.

* Instead of a quartet, there will be a full orchestra!

* There will be an opportunity for audience participation.

After the presentation, we will retire of Memorial Hall for cocktails, dinner and an auction featuring guest soloists, followed by a chance to kick your heels up and dance the night away to the sounds of an energetic ensemble.

Tables go early for this great party, so round up your friends and family, invite your colleagues and make your reservation today for another Gala without Boundaries with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.

Georgina Morell, Daniel Weil, 2007 Boston Philharmonic Gala Co-Chairs

For tickets, call 617-236-0999 or visit www.bostonphil.org

Benjamin Zander is an intelligent conductor with keen musicality who deserves greater recognition than he has received over his long career. He is an exceptional musician, especially when it comes to the German romantic repertoire. His recordings of Gustav Mahler in particular reveal Zander to be an infinitely refined conductor with an innate feeling for and a deep understanding of this music. His interpretations convey the passion, intensity, drama and power of Mahler's music with subtlety and sensitivity. Zander's Mahler recordings for Telarc have been consistently on the highest artistic order, frequently soaring above those by conductors of greater renown. His current release in his series of Mahler CDs features two early works, the "Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen" and the Symphony No. 1, and show Zander to be at the height of his interpretive skills. The "Lieder" are sung by baritone Christopher Maltman. The conductor... saves the day. Zander's readings capture the emotional power of these songs without becoming maudlin. One feels the scorned lover's torment and suffering. The "Lieder" were the thematic basis for several of Mahler's early symphonies, including, of course, his First, so pairing the two together makes musical sense. Zander gives a well-crafted and marvelously delineated reading of the First that captures the intricacies and subtleties of the score. His interpretation goes to the heart of the music and plumbs its emotional depths. The Philharmonia Orchestra plays both works radiantly. And in what is a wonderful collaboration, Zander elicits a nuanced and colorful performance, with the orchestra in turn responding to his direction instinctively and intuitively.

Benjamin Zander conducted a slightly different version of this program with his Boston Philharmonic in October 2003. At those concerts, the discarded “Blumine” movement, played separately from the symphony, was included; I presume it was omitted here due to time constraints. The performance of the Songs of a Wayfarer was marred at the concert I heard by the baritone’s inability to project over Mahler’s orchestra (I won’t blame the splendid acoustics of Jordan Hall). No such problem here. In a recent New York Times profile written by David Mermelstein, Christopher Maltman’s voice was described as an “inherently dramatic but unfailingly lyrical instrument.” That is a perfect characterization of the voice heard in this performance of the Songs of a Wayfarer. I would suggest that this is the freshest-sounding recording of this work since the classic version by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Rafael Kubelík was released nearly 40 years ago on DG, notwithstanding such recent successes as the Quasthoff/Boulez collaboration. Maltman shares with Fischer-Dieskau an unerring ability to invest the songs with just the right balance of technique and feeling (and, I must say, liberal use of vibrato). This is the first time in his series of Mahler recordings that Benjamin Zander appears as accompanist—a role that we haven’t heard on records since the unfortunate demise of his series with the Boston Philharmonic. In the event, he proves an attentive but far from faceless or reticent partner, matching both the intensity and the sensitivity of his soloist. I found that, when collecting performances with which to compare this new one, I have very few favorites. Of the few, there are those that really emphasize (some might say exaggerate) the langsam marking of the opening, among them Michael Tilson Thomas and Eliahu Inbal, and those who get things moving relatively quickly, like Rafael Kubelík, Leonard Bernstein, and Mr. Zander. Both approaches can be equally effective, provided that the sense of wonder, of a new world emerging, is captured. The winds need to sound newly minted, the nobility of the brass has to shine through, and the strings must be almost ethereal. The sound on this new Telarc disc is certainly congenial to presenting this sense of discovery: every instrument is clarity itself, and yet the ensemble has natural balance; the bass sound is the deepest and most satisfying of the recordings that I auditioned (a hybrid SACD is also available). The performance of the first movement is at times impetuous, at others almost tentative: the cellos seem to hesitate as they introduce the principal theme, and one has the sense that the music is indeed feeling its way toward the full light of day. I prefer the opening to be slower and more expansive, but Mr. Zander certainly makes a persuasive case for his equally valid vision. The (ultimately rejected) title “Under full sail” for the second movement aptly characterizes this performance: energetic, almost muscular in its vivacity, yet imbued with the spirit of the dance, as though tossed on waves of sound. The prim little minuet-like second subject is a perfect contrast, foreshadowing Mahler’s dance movements-to-come. The third movement perfectly captures Mahler’s ambivalence: this movement is both a funeral march and a satire of a funeral march: the opening suggests melancholy without being at all maudlin, while the later klezmer-style music is jaunty and seems to negate the feeling of the preceding music; there is also a certain sense of desperation in its eerie energy. The sound clarifies the texture without sounding too dry, the low tones again making their presence felt rather than heard. The lovely, delicate Trio of this movement couldn’t be any more different than both of the styles heard earlier—no wonder Mahler’s first audiences were confused! I may be alone among Mahlerites in finding the finale to be overblown and ultimately unconvincing. That said, Mr. Zander and his orchestra play it for all its worth (abetted once again by the excellent sound), from the thunder-and-lightning opening, to the more thoughtful music of the development, and finally, the triumphant ending. For me, the First Symphony represents an audacious but flawed attempt to shoehorn the elements of the tone poem into the structure of the symphony. This performance is about as good as anyone can hope to hear. If my praise seems muted, it is the music and not the performance to which I’m reacting: only with the magnificent Second did Mahler fully arrive at his own unique synthesis—and that recording by Mr. Zander I await with keen anticipation. Christopher Abbot This article originally appeared in Issue 29:4 (Mar/Apr 2006) of Fanfare Magazine.