Weather Tonight: 4°c Partly Cloudy Night Morning: 8°c Cloudy

Music

London,

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Philharmonia Chorus

Description: Grzegorz Nowak conducts Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No 2 and Ryu's Sinfonia Da Requiem 'Ju-Yung Chung', with violinist Chloe Hanslip and Korean soprano In-Hye Kim.



Rating: 3 out of 5 Barry Millington's rating
Rating: 5 out of 5

Reader rating

Your rating

one star two star three star four star five star

Click on a star to rate

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre The South Bank Centre,Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX

Phone: 0871663 2500

Website: www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Extra info: Telephones, Air Conditioning, Food, Pub

Mahler's dance of death misses the heartstrings

RPO
First time: Daniele Gatti

By Barry Millington
15 Jan 2009


Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, the last he completed, is unequivocally about death. By the time it was finished, in 1911, he had had four years to come to terms with the diagnosis of his terminal heart condition. He died the same year.

A result of the Ninth’s prolonged gestation (it was begun in 1908, composed mostly in 1909 and completed too late to be performed before Mahler’s death) is that it became a vehicle for contradictory feelings about mortality. The first movement in particular speaks eloquently of his angry despair. Other sections, especially the nobly elegiac finale, express a sense of calm resignation, opening the way for the wide variety of interpretations.

In the first movement of his performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniele Gatti established a measured tread, reasonably enough in a movement whose opening section is marked “leisurely”. Whether the continuation of the movement, an emotional struggle of epic proportions, quite emerged in those terms is less certain.

There was a palpable lack of bite in the orchestral playing, despite some very decent solo and ensemble work. Doubts continued in the second-movement Ländler, a clod-hopping peasant dance, coarse in manner. Or so it is marked, though Gatti’s deliberate phrasing and articulation did not quite catch the sense of hollow vulgarity that Mahler intended. Later in the movement he projected a character that was almost playful rather than uncouth, surely a novel interpretation.

Mahler’s third movement, a Rondo-Burleske of a quite strident nature, similarly failed to come across with the necessary vehemence. The cartoonish passages were neatly realised, even eliciting a faint chuckle in the attentive audience but the coda, impressively delivered by the RPO, emerged as a virtuoso orchestral showpiece rather than the outburst of savage, world-weary mockery that Mahler actually wrote.

And so to that profoundly moving slow finale, the high point of Gatti’s reading, even if it left nagging doubts. As the consoling music of the main, hymn-like theme returned again and again, he raised the emotional temperature, reaching a peak of intensity at the central climax.

But the noble hymn turned into a celebration of life. Valid as that might seem in the circumstances, it lacked a sense of pathos. The interludes had a celestial air and the coda was drawn out expressively but ultimately this reading failed to tug sufficiently at the heartstrings. You don’t have to be a devotee of Bernstein’s self-lacerating approach to feel that something was missing.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

Reader views (1)

 Add your view

Really not sure which concert Mr Millington was at, as I found it the most grippingly moving and convincing performance I've ever heard of Mahler's 9th. It was an evening of truly inspired music-making, which held the audience in rapt attention. If a critic isn't in the mood for a transformational experience, then he should hang up his pen for the night.

- Binyamin, London, UK, 23/01/2009 00:02
Report abuse


Add your comment

 

Terms and conditions Make text area bigger You have  characters left.

We welcome your opinions. This is a public forum. Libellous and abusive comments are not allowed. Please read our House Rules.

For information about privacy and cookies please read our Privacy Policy.


 

Music top five
Cher Lloyd
Cher Lloyd

IndigO2
SE10
Apr 8, 7pm

Chris Rea

HMV Apollo
W6
Apr 5, 6.30pm

Miles Kane

HMV Forum
NW5
Apr 28, 7.30pm

Example

The O2 Arena
SE10
Apr 27, 6.30pm

Lightning Seeds

02 Shepherd's Bush Empire
W12
Feb 18, 7pm