I just got back from hearing the orchestra perform the Mahler 9th, and it was an excellent experience. My only other time hearing the Ninth live was under Slatkin in 1993, so I was psyched to hear this again. One oddity, at least in my book, was the inclusion of Mozart's Piano Concerto #19. Nicely done with Jeremy Denk, but it made for an awfully long night.
Here's some thoughts...some a little verbose... on the concert.
I'm hacked at myself. I went to the trouble of setting my cell phone to stopwatch mode to time the movements, but I erased them before I could copy them down. The total timing, with pauses between movements included was approx 82 mins.
What struck me as most impressive was the handling of the inner movements. As much as I love Mahler, when poorly done, these can be two of my least favorite movements in all of Mahler. However, Robertson kept things very sharp in the second movement.
The Rondo Burleske was even better. The central interlude was the perfect foil for the wildness that led up to it. The movement closed with enough smokin' playing that I wondered if people would applaud the way the sometimes do (cluelessly) after the third movement of the Tchaik Pathetique.
The opening movement is probably my favorite of the four, and things were well handled (around 28 mins). Fanfares were superb. Fairly devastating climax to the movement, and simple, effective bells during the funeral march. Good interplay between instruments in the closing minutes of the first movement. I kinda forget how many great solos are in there. I might've wished for more end-of-the world power like in Bernstein's renditions, but it's hard to complain. Low brass were very effective. Sometimes, I'd stack the SLSO low brass vs. any in the world.
The last movement was very good with some very nice string playing and more good horn playing. However, with it being a unusually frigid St. Louis November night, there was an abnormal amount of coughing, so I was kinda ticked at not being able to appreciate this more. Timing was around 23 mins. I might've hoped for more "time standing still" stuff with the closing minutes. But then I'd have to use shove something over people's mouths who were coughing up a lung. Bummer. Still, a very nice concert. The SLSO offers a cool deal called Encore, where you can hear the concert again for free as long as there's a seat available next concert. I'd be tempted to go, but I haven't been feeling well, and time has been too damn short. Having said that, the Rondo-Burlesque would be worth hearing again if I could simply "beam" myself down to Powell Hall.
The orchestra has released a couple of live downloads, and I went into the concert wondering if this would make the cut. I hate to say it, but I would vote against it. While the inner movements blew me away, the bar is soooooo high for this work, that while I'd probably buy it out of loyalty to the orchestra, I'd need a bargain to rationalize it. However, I worried about the recent Vonk Mahler 4th, and it surpassed my memory of the event.
Topic: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra & David Robertson--Mahler 9th concert review (Read 7010 times)