BWW Blog: Peter Stafford Wilson - Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places

One of the artistic high points of my season is approaching, a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with the Springfield Symphony. I have put off programming Mahler with this orchestra for a myriad of artistic, financial, and political reasons, but I finally put the first symphony on the docket for this season. I love Mahler. His music deals with every imaginable aspect of life, the joys and sorrows, in such vivid and human terms. I think his music gets a little too personal sometimes, and for that reason, audiences sometimes find it hard to embrace. This will be my fourth trip through the score, and every time I approach it, like any work, I find new and intriguing things.

To balance the work, I programmed the Mozart Eb Major piano concerto with Cleveland International Piano Competition winner Alexander Schimpf. We have had great success with winners from this Competition, and I know we are in for an exciting time.

The Mozart is also a piece I have performed several times, but not in the last decade. It was popular when the film Amadeus was in vogue as the last movement was the final credits music. In programming, I knew that I wanted a Mozart concerto (Mozart balances quite well with Mahler), and this was one that that the artist offered which seemed to work from a key and length standpoint.

Anyway, I have been astonished at what a remarkable gem this concerto is! I had forgotten the extraordinary role that the Orchestra plays. The middle movement is truly a duet between the piano and the wind section, with writing that rivals the amazing Gran Partita Serenade. I just can't put it down! Here I was looking forward to immersing myself in Mahler, and it is the concerto that is captivating my imagination.

Throughout my career, I have come to realize that the most treasured musical experiences may come from the most unlikely of places. As a young conductor, I dreamed to conducting the New York Philharmonic or the Cleveland Orchestra. And I have been blessed to have done so. But some of my most gratifying musical experiences have come at the helm of youth orchestras, discovering Tchaikovsky for the first time, or a community orchestra rising above its individual talents to create a truly sublime bit of Brahms. I've learned to treasure every time I step to the podium, for I never know when that next golden moment may come.