Performing any Mahler symphony is a great challenge to musicians and conductor, however, the Third possesses particular issues of interpretation and endurance. Overall, the symphony is conceived as a set of tone poems or musical pictures. Summer, flowers in the meadow, animals in the forest, night, morning bells, and love provide the inspiration for each of the separate movements, although–in the Mahler manner –each movement reflects elements from all of the tonal pictures.

A consummate conductor and interpreter himself, Mahler created a very detailed score, dictating almost obsessively every possible nuance in every measure and every phrase. But he omitted one factor of vital importance: there are no metronome markings for the tempos! Therefore, he grants to the conductor and players a limited artistic license to evoke our own musicianship and character.

As a young boy, Mahler composed a polka to which he added a funeral march as an introduction. These contradictory traits evolved as the mature Mahler was able to juggle all at once music that is sometimes comic, sometimes painful, sometimes heroic–at times hushed and mournful, at times robust and jubilant–or perhaps pastoral, childlike and angelic. Mahler’s unique achievement was to fuse these elements into magnificent symphonic statements. In the process, he created one of the most distinctive, instantly recognizable sounds in the orchestral repertory.

Undoubtedly, Mahler remains one of the most fascinating composers in classical history and his biography and style remain topics for compelling discussion today. In recognition of the 100th anniversary of Mahler’s death, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra concludes its 2010-11 season with the epic Third Symphony. Melody Racine, U-M professor and chair of voice will join the UMS Choral Union Women’s Chorus and the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale in this rare presentation of expanded orchestration.

Arie Lipsky is the conductor/music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.