To me, the Mahler symphonies that are best tailored to the Los Angelses Phil. and Disney Hall are the 4th and 7th. Tonight's broadcast on KUSC confirmed that thought in my mind. I've been wanting to hear the LAPO play M7 for a very long time. This was truly a super-virtuoso, 'concerto for orchestra' type performance. Robertson's 'interpretation' (i.e. tempo relationships) were straight forward and 'non interventionist' to almost a fault. However, THAT SAID, he did make the final peroration in the finale about as protracted as you could possibly hope for. A bit more of deep bells and cowbells would have done the trick, but I think that that was partly a function of the broadcast recording. The finale, in particular, was nearly stupendous. Both Nachtmusik movements were very good. I also appreciated that Robertson did not rush the quiet passage in the second movement (1st Nachtmusik), where the two horns do a 'call and response' number, while the cowbells are quietly bonging away offstage. That was nicely atmospheric. The middle section of the first movement was really well done also. I'm glad I listened to this.
I just discovered that KUSC does keep these up online for a week or so. Soooo, if you missed it and still want to hear it, here you go. Just ignore the exaggerated and ridiculous read-off program notes at the start. They still wrongly have Semyon Bychkov listed as the conductor. Robertson subbed for Bychkov.
https://www.kusc.org/radio/on-demand/socal-sunday-night-on-demand/
Topic: online broadcast of M7: D. Robertson/Los Angeles Phil. on Sunday 6/19, 7pm (pst) (Read 7021 times)