Well, I was lucky enough to just stumble upon Dave Robertson and the St. Louis S.O. doing M5 at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley. I had no idea that they were even there. This was a very good performance with only a few minor 'clams' in the brass. Zellerbach has a computerized Meyer Sound system, which is the only thing that makes it possible for major symphony orchestras to play there (otherwise, it's a terrible hall). In the famous Adagietto for strings and harp (4th movement), the single harp was perfectly audible throughout the movement! By the way, the Adagietto was fabulous - the best I've ever heard it live. The St. Louis strings were excellent and Robertson didn't wallow with the tempo (neither did he rush it). The harp also made its presence felt going into the climactic passage of the second movement. There's a spot there, where the harp does several rapid glissandos (mostly ascending, I think). The other highlight was the finale, where Robertson allowed - or coaxed - the orchestra to expand its dynamic range in comparison to the first three movement. The big brass chorale sounded terrific, and Robertson whipped up plenty of excitement at the very end without being ridiculous with the tempo.
In the third movement, the principal horn played his obbligato part from a seat right in front of Robertson. He did a very fine job of it too.
Just to give some examples of how wacky balances can be with the Meyer System, soft triangle 'dings' were perfectly audible, yet the dark sounding Wuhan tam-tam barely registered at all. Zellerbach doesn't have a back wall for the horns to rebound their sound off of, so the horns are usually a bit softer than the trumpets and trombones (the sound system does pick up the horns to some degree). Undoubtedly, the percussionist covering the tam-tam was playing at a dynamic level that would work just fine in Powell Hall. But percussionists often times forget that Wuhans are very dark sounding instruments, so you need to compensate.
All in all, this was a very good Mahler 5. I thought the dynamic range was a tiny tad too small in the first three movements. I felt that soft parts could have been softer, and a lot of that may have had to do with - again - the Meyer Sound system. But it might also have been that Robertson wanted the brass to pace themselves for the finale. If so, that strategy certainly worked. Everything in the finale seemed just perfect to me.
For those who want to know how the strings were set up - going from left to right - 1st vioins; cellos; double basses behind the cellos; violas; 2nd violins (my preferred lay out is violas, 2nd violins, cellos [with basses behind the cellos], 1st violins)
The best M5's I've seen in terms of conducting (in order): D. Gatti (RPO); Robertson (St. Lo); Bernstein (VPO); Ede De Waart (SFSO)
The best M5's I've seen in terms of the orchestras employed (in order) : VPO (Bernstein); St. Louis (Robertson); S.F. Symphony (De Waart); RPO (D. Gatti)
The worst M5 I've ever seen in terms of BOTH conducting and orchestral execution: Solti/Chicago (at Davies Hall). Awful!
More thoughts that have come to mind:
St. Louis must be the only professional symphony orchestra that has had two back-to-back female principal trumpet players (Susan Slaughter's pumps would be a challenge for ANYBODY to fill, man or woman). And with the exception of the double basses, St. Louis is the first orchestra I've seen that has far more women string players than men. Interesting.
In the S.F. bay area, Zellerbach is the only location where one can hear a professional orchestra play Mahler other than MTT/S.F. Symphony at Davies Hall. In other words, guest orchestras visiting Davies Hall are, more or less, banned from playing Mahler. That's how insecure Tilson-Thomas and the management of the S.F.S. are these days.
Topic: D. Robertson/St. Louis S.O. M5 in Berkeley, Ca (Read 7510 times)