Conductor's Pre-Concert Motivational Speech Achieves Opposite of Intended Effect

Maestro Fortissimo's pre-concert address to the Westfield Philharmonic before Saturday's performance of Mahler's Second Symphony has been described by musicians as 'the opposite of motivating' and 'genuinely upsetting in a way that made the Mahler feel personal.' Fortissimo, who intended the speech as an inspirational framing of the work's emotional scope, opened with the words: 'Tonight, we face the abyss.' He then spoke for fourteen minutes about death, resurrection, the futility of human endeavor, and what he called 'the cosmic indifference that Mahler transforms into sound.' 'He told us that Mahler wrote this symphony while contemplating his own mortality,' said French horn player Brenda Bell. 'Then he looked directly at the brass section and said, the weight of human existence rests on your shoulders tonight. I have a mortgage. I don't need that kind of pressure before a concert.' The speech included references to Mahler's funeral, the heat death of the universe, and a personal anecdote about Fortissimo's childhood dog, which he described as 'the first death I truly understood.' 'By the time he finished, three people in the second violins were crying,' said timpanist Marcus Drum. 'Not in a moved-by-art way. In a we-have-to-play-a-90-minute-symphony-while-thinking-about-the-void way.' The performance itself received mixed reviews. Critics praised the emotional intensity but noted that the brass entries in the finale sounded 'hesitant, as though the players were not entirely sure the resurrection was going to work.' Fortissimo has been asked to submit future pre-concert addresses for review by the orchestra manager. He has agreed, though he considers the request 'a limitation on artistic expression that Mahler himself would have found dispiriting.'