What: Goodyear and Mahler at Victoria Symphony
When: Sept. 18, 8 p.m.
Where: Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St.
Tickets: $32 to $82; $13 for ages 15 to 35;
Maestro Christian Kluxen will make his debut as the music director of the Victoria Symphony on Monday with a titan of classical music 鈥� Gustav Mahler鈥檚 Symphony No.1.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a monumental piece that set a new standard for how to perform symphonies,鈥� said Kluxen, 35, who arrived in Victoria from his home in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week.
He plans to spend a week or two at a time here during the symphony season, leaving Victoria Tuesday and then coming back later this month to conduct violinist James Ehnes in a Britten concerto.
Kluxen gets excited talking about the Mahler symphony, which went through a bit of an identity crisis at its inception.
Originally titled a Symphonic Poem in Two Parts in 1889, the symphony was later dubbed Titan in reference to the hero of the novel that inspired it, then Symphony in D for a larger orchestra and, finally, Symphony No. 1 鈥� with one less movement than the original piece.
鈥淚t incorporates so many things, starting with no real theme or motif, just a state of being, and then develops,鈥� Kluxen said.
The extensive piece borrows from klezmer and folk music, including the nursery rhyme Fr猫re Jacques. While pop culture sampling and genre mixing might be common in music today, a century or so ago it was pretty wild.
鈥淩ight from the first movement, you sense that it鈥檚 the beginning of something, which this is for me and for the orchestra,鈥� Kluxen said.
The entire opening season concert is set to be high in energy. It begins with the premi猫re of Buzzer Beater from former composer-in-residence Jared Miller 鈥� a聽two-minute homage to the Canadian game of basketball.
Symphony favourite Stewart Goodyear is back to perform Maurice Ravel鈥檚 Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The piece was commissioned by pianist Paul Wittgenstein in the late 1920s after he lost his right arm in the First World War.
鈥淭his led to a lot of commissions for left-hand pieces,鈥� Kluxen said. Wittgenstein wanted a six-year exclusive performance clause for the work and to tweak a few things, but Ravel wouldn鈥檛 have it.
鈥淚 understand both of them,鈥� said Kluxen, who is also a flutist and got his start conducting a marching band at an amusement park when he was 15.
This will be his first collaboration with Goodyear, of whom he鈥檚 heard great things.
鈥淵ou need to be fun to play that concertos,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t has a lot of jazzy elements.鈥�
The piece is notoriously hard 鈥� but, luckily, Goodyear is a lefty.
Kluxen said he is looking forward to working with his new orchestra, which he described as in very good shape.
鈥淭hey are wonderful personalities playing together and as individuals. That鈥檚 what you want,鈥� said Kluxen, who has no big plans to change anything.
鈥淢y goal is to leave them in the standard I took over.鈥�
Kluxen was last here in August to conduct Symphony Splash and has previously been a guest conductor with the symphony.
Making a commute across the globe to work has its challenges, but Kluxen said many conductors do it. He has a partner with children and a house in Copenhagen, so it made more sense to keep a stable home there.
He said he uses the long flights to study scores. With the bits of spare time he鈥檚 had to explore Victoria, Kluxen has gone running along Dallas Road, picked up records at Ditch and checked out the caf茅s and shops around downtown.
