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This weekend's Kansas City Symphony concerts might be said to be all about love.  One piece is about love for a countryman, another about love for one's country and the about the love of a child.

Ravel's La Tambeau de Couperin, which opens the program, is one of several affectionate settings produced by the early 20^th century French master Maurice Ravel based on compositions by his predecessor, Francois Couperin, who predated him by almost exactly two centuries.  The care which Ravel took with his distinguished countryman's pieces allows them to shine, but with a more modern flavor than would have been the case with a mere performance of the original numbers.

In Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Samuel Barber not only produced one of the most tuneful and singable numbers in the soprano repertoire, but also wrote music perfectly evocative of writer James Agee's loving portrait of his native South.  One can easily picture oneself gently coasting back and forth on a lazy porch swing on a mildly muggy summer evening, casually batting away the flies and enjoying the sounds of carriages rolling up and down the street and the noises of distant dogs barking.  It is a peaceful and serene composition, perfectly evocative of Agee's childhood days in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, whose career spans a wide variety of operatic roles as well as concert appearances, will be the Symphony's guest for this weekend's concert, and her lilting soprano should be perfect for this music. To read her KCM profile click here.

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 is a vast, sprawling work, far longer and more involved than either of the introductory pieces, but it too speaks of love.  Although Mahler lived an anguished and fitful life, the symphony is considered his most relaxing and optimistic work, and in the final movement the soprano joins the orchestra in a reading of one of the verses of Das Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn), an anthology of German folk poems, a child's verse about the anticipated joys of Heaven, in which food and beautiful music abound.

Mahler was a composer caught in the crossfire between 19^th century Romanticism and 20^th century modernism.  At the end of the 19^th century when he began his compositional career (it occurred in fits and starts in the rare off periods of his other profession, that of world-famous conductor and opera house manager), young upstarts like Richard Strauss were beginning to rewrite the rules of composition.  Mahler was initially seen as one of these rash youngsters, but eventually retreated back to much more traditional modes of composition such as those employed by his heroes Wagner and Liszt.  Strauss and even more radical composers like Schoenberg and Berg left him behind as they boldly plowed into unchartered territory with atonal music and the like.  Mahler found himself unable to follow them, and thus was considered by most in his own day as a useless relic of a bygone age.

Ultimately, long after his death, Mahler's reputation was considerably raised, particularly by Leonard Bernstein, who was a champion of his music in the 1960s and 1970s.  Now the Fourth Symphony, along with other Mahler works, is considered one of the great works of the turn of the last century (it premiered in 1900).

"The work has as a central idea the expression of a child's view of heaven," says music critic Deryck Cooke, "which is expanded in the last movement by [the vocal part]."  The first movement consists of a group of musical themes which are among the most tuneful Mahler ever penned. They lead to a second movement in the form of a scherzo (dance), using the horn and a fiddler's folk violin. In the third movement the piece is given over to a beautiful and restful melody, ripening into a full-blown climax near the end. The fourth movement, with the soprano, sings the child's announcement that she really is in heaven, and praising the wonderful things to be found there.  In innocent fashion, she sings "Whole platefuls are prepared for us! Fine apples, fine pears and fine grapes - the gardeners let us have them all!"

All in all, a warmer and more comfortable evening at the concert hall could not be found.

Kansas City Symphony
Mahler's Monumental 4^th Symphony
Friday, April 9 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 10 at 8:00 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11^th and Central, Kansas City, MOand
Sunday, April 11 at 2:00 p.m.
Yardley Hall at Carlsen Center, JCCC
12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call 816-471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org

Top photo: Gustav Mahler in 1909.

By Don Dagenais

City Classics Music and Dance Columnist; Classical Contributor

A lifelong classical music fan, Don Dagenais is a frequent preview speaker for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and has taught classical music and opera courses at several Kansas City venues. He has served on the boards of directors of a number of performing arts organizations including the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Lyric Opera Guild, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, Opera Volunteers International, the Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony, Octarium, and the Friends of the Symphony.  He has been the past president of most of these organizations and is current the president of the Friends of the Symphony. 

Dagenais co-authored a history of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, published on the occasion of its 50th anniversary (2007) and has written books on the histories of both the Lyric Opera Guild and Opera Volunteers International, as well as an introductory book for opera novices (Your Passport to the Opera).  He has received several local and national awards for outstanding volunteer work for the arts, including a lifetime achievement award from The Coterie Theatre in 2000, the Kansas City Musical Club's annual award in 2001, a Partners in Excellence Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2002, a Bravo Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2004 and a community service award from the Daughter of the American Revolution in 2008 honoring him for his community service to the arts.

In addition to his music interests, Don is president of the board of directors for the Metropolitan Ensemble Theater and has served on the boards of The Coterie Theatre and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, serving as president of each organization.  He publishes newsletters for seven arts organizations.  When not involved in the performing arts, Don is a senior real estate attorney with Lathrop & Gage LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, where he has practiced law since 1976 after graduating from the Cornell Law School.