“After a break came the nightcap, “Electric Liederland” or Hendrix meets Mahler. Few regular festival attendees were likely aware that in addition to his conducting and cello prowess, Woods is also an amazing electric guitar player. Fronting a rock quartet (which included composer Biller), he led a set of his own arrangements, reimagining two of Mahler’s late symphonic movements in the style of Jimi Hendrix (who was known to admire Mahler). He also included a similar reworking of the Cello Concerto by Edward Elgar (to whom another festival Woods directs, in the U.K., is devoted), along with one of his own pieces and songs by Hendrix himself.The Mahler arrangements, from the Ninth Symphony and the symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde, were genuinely moving and profound, and while the Hendrix songs (which Woods also sang) were played with exuberant brilliance, the volume and style of “Machine Gun” might have been a little much for some of the MahlerFest regulars in attendance. It may have been a “crazy” concept, but artistically, it was very sound indeed.” Kelly Dean Hanson, Boulder Weekly
