Last night I heard DLvDE with James Conlon and the CSO, with soloists Stephen Gould and Sarah Connolly. Haitink was scheduled to conduct but canceled due to a stomach virus. A CSO functionary appeared on stage to beg the indulgence of the audience because Mr. Gould also had a bug but agreed to sing anyway.
I'm not a big Conlon fan, and had not heard any of his Mahler apart from the Cologne M5 recording, which I found underwhelming. (He's been conducting quite a bit of Mahler at Ravinia in recent years.) I wouldn't say that last night's performance was bad, but my mind kept drifting to numerous recordings as I thought they would be better.
Conlon's conducting was mannered, with a tendency to break forward momentum with ritards and pauses. For example, in the funeral march section of Der Abschied, four bars before rehearsal number 47 (in the UE score), Conlon inserted a pause at the beginning of the bar. Mahler calls for one at the end of the bar, but having both made for an unwelcome start-stop effect, repeated at #47.
Mr. Gould, perhaps because of his virus, often did not project well in the louder passages, but despite that, I thought he sang idiomatically, and that his voice is a good fit for the character of his songs. Ms. Connolly had some lovely moments, but at times did not blend well with the orchestra. For me, one of the glories of Mahler's vocal writing is how a voice integrates with the orchestral texture.
As is my habit, now that I heard the concert, I will listen to some CDs. After I got home last night I played King/Baker/Haitink RCO, which is really quite fine, especially Ms. Baker.
