6th September 2024
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom
MAHLER Symphony No. 6
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Simon Rattle (conductor)
The annual Simon Rattle love fest, this time with his new band Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, playing Mahler 6 (Andante-Scherzo tonight). IT WAS PERFECT. The BRSO sound is considerably coarser than the BPO and the LSO, and I turned up fully expecting Rattle to milk every phrase to the last drop. He didn't, and the less rounded sound (especially in the brass, even the harps were a bit rough) actually worked to the advantage of M6. It is incredibly hard, even on paper, to pace this symphony because you don't want to make a 90 min solid wall of sound, but you need to keep the momentum and volume and keep pushing it just to make everything cataclysmically collapse at the end. Aesthetically difficult too - is it a happy or sad work? A mixture of both? Or neither because it is "nihilistic"? I found the perfect Andante tonight where beauty was neither happy nor sad. The singing contrapuntal lines just blossomed gloriously at an excellent speed - to nothing, it just existed. The Scherzo was rough and ironic in the best possible way. The march in the first movement never felt forced (though could probably benefit from a faster tempo), but it's the shaping of the finale that was astonishing. Every time I listen to M6, I always wonder, what do you do after each hammer blow? The mastery of Rattle was on full display here where he demonstrated it was possible to release the tension while keeping the momentum going in order to build another climax in quick succession. It must have taken a lifetime of experience to be able to pull this off. The hammer blows were also actually on time for once. It was thrilling and touching in equal measures, the nice and the ugly were perfectly balanced and the playing was incredible. Of the many M6s I have heard live or on recording, this was one of the very best. I did wonder if the LSO would be too nice for this symphony, and conversely if the BRSO would be too rough for M2. That comparison exercise would be very interesting. Meanwhile, M6 has remained my favourite Mahler symphony. Once again, IT WAS PERFECT.
No comments:
Post a Comment