November at Davies Symphony Hall began and ended this year with two world-renowned orchestras bringing performances of two Mahler symphonies to a town already well-acquainted with the epic works of the great composer. The San Francisco Symphony has built its own highly praised Mahler tradition for years, guided most notably by current longtime Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. His profound exploration of the rich canon has already yielded many unforgettable concerts, award-winning recordings and fascinating documentaries.
MTT's journey with Gustav Mahler and the SFS is far from over. This coming January, a semi-staged event featuring the cantata Das klagende Lied (Song of Lamentation) will be performed three times at DSH with visual projections, costumes and lighting adding to the experience.
It might have seemed Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker were bringing coals to Newcastle when we learned the former was devoting a program to the Mahler Ninth and the latter was conducting the less frequently performed, but still relatively familiar Seventh during their guest appearances here. Comparisons between interpretive approaches were unavoidable, but they also provided additional insights to a complicated genius always as enigmatic as he is enthralling.
I grew up in L.A. with the LA Phil during the Zubin Mehta and Carlo Maria Giulini years, so the vigorous orchestra always has a special place in my heart. The magnificent home designed for them by Frank Gehry crowns the Music Center today, but I won't forget those magical times in the old Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. New generations of Southland concertgoers are finding fresh relevance in serious music-making thanks to the charismatic Gustavo Dudamel and his exciting combination of musical intelligence and passionate involvement.
I confess to finding his Mahler performances rather unsubtle in the past �" never less than committed and adventurous, but often willful. The meditative and somber Ninth Symphony has a quality of dark inevitability that one wouldn't usually associate with Dudamel's previously more animated podium technique. He has obviously matured since his first explosion upon the scene, and his recent performance proved it.
The orchestra followed him superbly, with exceptionally strong section-playing that still blended impressively well. The final pages of breathless departure faded less into tranquility than into unfathomable emptiness. At the center of the prolonged silence, Dudamel and his musicians slowly returned with the rest of us to a feeling of shared acceptance. Just what the doctor ordered for these troubled times, and a warm reminder of the abilities of my former home team.
Most recently, Simon Rattle also demonstrated the power of Mahler to engage and inspire, with a magnificent performance of the composer's self-proclaimed journey from darkness to light: the mysterious, tricky and wonderfully unpredictable Symphony No. 7.
Like Dudamel, Sir Simon has been conducting Mahler for years. His recording of the Seventh with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, taken from live performances over 20 years ago, signaled the presence of a real champion and world-class interpreter. The CBSO is fine, but frankly couldn't match the technical superiority Rattle required. Listen to the Seventh with MTT and the SFS to find the unanimity and lushness he was aiming for.
With the Berlin Phil, often called the world's greatest orchestra, the established star conductor has found an ideal partnership for the quirky No. 7. Any problems with the score were nonexistent during the Berliners' visit, and Rattle's vision was triumphant. The mixture of clarity and depth, power and transparency, never lagged. Rattle and the players made every burst of color or sudden shift to darkness feel both spontaneous and sensible. The bizarre, dreamlike qualities of the inner movements were magical.
The boisterous gusto of the Finale can turn to vulgarity in the wrong hands and disjoint the narrative, but we wouldn't want it to be too well-mannered either. If coherent chaos isn't incongruous, Rattle and the virtuoso musicians of the legendary Berlin Phil achieved it beautifully.
Simon Rattle ends his tenure as chief conductor of the orchestra in 2018. He has held the position and served as artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonie since 2002. He becomes Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra in September 2017. As Principal Guest Conductor of the LSO, Michael Tilson Thomas continues to lead the orchestra in concerts in London and on tour. Wouldn't you love to hear MTT and Sir Simon share their thoughts on Mahler and the Brits? We certainly marvel at their results here.