Mahler's Third makes for stirring season finale

The end of an orchestra's main subscription season is an occasion that calls for something special, and Mahler's massive Symphony No. 3 certainly fills that bill. It's a thrill looking around the stage and seeing all the extra players assembled for the mighty forces required by Mahler's paean to nature.

Performed without intermission, the Third lasts nearly the length of a regular program. Gerard Schwarz led the supersized orchestra and the additional choral voices (the Northwest Boychoir and the women of the Seattle Symphony Chorale, both in vigorous form) in a performance that realized the grandeur of the Third without losing track of the details. It's a tremendous workout for everyone involved, not the least the horn section, whose principal (John Cerminaro) and section members had prominent solo passages at every turn of the score.

Exceptional solo work also came from the principal trombonist Ko-ichiro Yamamoto, among many others. Frank Almond, concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony, was the guest concertmaster for this series (he has declined to be a candidate for the permanent post here), and his solos were eloquently played. Intonation issues marred what would otherwise have been a fine extended posthorn solo by principal trumpet David Gordon.

The logistics of the performance, which saw the arrivals and exits of several forces (notably the women's choir and boys' choir), were sometimes a bit bumpy. But when contralto soloist Ewa Podles´ strode onto the stage for her brief but telling solo, the audience's attention was riveted. For Podles´, there was none of this pallid stuff about reading the music from a stand: She had it memorized, and she threw herself into the performance in a way that made everyone sit up a little straighter. What a voice; what an artist.

As Mahler's hymnlike finale rose to its final crescendo, it was a reminder that nothing can duplicate the thrill of a great work in live performance. Don't miss a chance to hear the Third. The Symphony, by the way, has one more program left, a July 12-14 production of Orff's "Carmina Burana" led by Carolyn Kuan, recently named associate conductor of the Symphony. The final program is on the "Popular Culture/Special Performances" series.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com