Haitink/CSO Mahler 9: A Great First Mahler Concert
In February 2010, I read that Bernard Haitink would be conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in four performances of Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony in June 2011. As soon as I found out, I knew one thing for certain: I had to go—no questions asked. I have had (and still have) a deep connection to Mahler’s Ninth, and the idea of seeing it live was too good to pass up. Add to that the fact that I would be graduating from high school later that week, and the importance—and irresistibility—of attending one of those concerts increased dramatically. So that is how I found myself in Orchestra Hall for the first time on Sunday, June 5, 2011 for a 3:00 PM performance of Mahler’s last completed work.
The opening of the first movement was quicker than I was used to—more detached—but that fit into the context of the performance overall. That is not to say that Haitink’s reading of the first movement was completely void of emotion—far from it—but there was definitely a sense of impersonality about the movement and the entire work overall. The climaxes were raucous and powerful, helped by the excellent percussion and screaming brass. The closing pages of the movement were gentle and tender, just as they should be.
I really liked Haitink’s approach to the second movement. The Landler was lively, but there was definitely an amount of awkwardness in the playing. Haitink took the dance at a moderate tempo, but there was a difference between the landler and the quicker tempo of the waltz material that followed. I especially liked the harsh quality of the horns’ playing right the way through the movement, which for me added a real sense of harsh nostalgia to the playing.
The Rondo-Burleske was a bit on the slower side. This movement is very heavy on brass, and the legendary CSO brass did not disappoint. The interlude was appropriately slow and fit into the context of the movement very nicely. When the main material returned, though, there was no sense of any accelerando until the very end, when the timpanist hammered out his three-note pattern (E-A-E) with tremendous ferocity. The ending of the Rondo was explosive, be sure. And, perhaps when all is said and done, Haitink’s not speeding up was a function of his overall detachment in the work; I will leave that one to those who know the score better.
The Finale—where all bitterness subsides—was where Haitink and the orchestra played with the most emotion. The strings were warmer than in the first three movements, and the playing of the whole orchestra was, overall, more tender. The C-sharp minor passage just before the climax was particularly gorgeous, helped partly by Haitink’s slightly slower tempo. The climax was eloquent and powerful, but not over the top. The closing pages were slow and tender, and the work ended in sweet resolution.
In a couple of newspaper reviews I read that the horn playing was not all that great at the Thursday night performance. And while I did notice a few wrong notes over the course of the work (in the first movement especially), the inaccuracies I did hear were not detrimental to the quality of the performance.
This Mahler Ninth was my first time seeing a professional orchestra and my first Mahler concert. While I did not agree with Haitink’s interpretation one hundred percent of the time, I really enjoyed the experience. The playing was excellent; I only wish I had been closer up so as to enjoy the string textures more. Next time, alas.
Topic: Haitink/CSO M9: My Reactions (Read 9223 times)