Somebody once asked me what I like in Bruckner and I said that because it is not Mahler. I do not remember if I invented the concept or took it from somebody else but it is very much how I feel. I do not hate Mahler but he does annoy me sometimes. The main annoyance is in the nakedness of expressed intentions. The expression are bombastic not only in form but in the fact that everything is expressed and there is not a lot of room for own listening of interpretation of expressions. The explicitness of Mahler phraseology is for sure stimulating but also it is a way predictable in own intend and way to accomplish the intend. I find it a bit abusive. A good musicals play super sophisticated sequences of notes and a good conductors make the expressions and the whole flow of presentation to be meaningful and powerful. This is a great Mahler experience but of you have reached that plato then there is not a lot of room to climb up higher.
I think music is not able composers but about ourselves, about our own interaction between our inner-world and the external experiences. Mahler set a level with his symphonies but it was his level not my level. Listening Mahler I get a finite, predetermined level of greenness, hugely described by the imagination of performers but never go beyond what I would imagine. Mahler plays exactly as much, or much more of what he intend to express. With Bruckner however nit is very different – he always underplay own intend, he gives a strong scene of direction and let YOU to invent what might be next. Bruckner kicks off the ball rolling and they with very soft and gentle touches he navigate the ball to where it has to be, letting you to be in driver sit and what you arrive to what you have to arrive then he feel that it was your own accomplishment. Mahler drives you like a maniac and what you reach somewhere then you see laughing Mahler face who tells you: “You see, you were afraid”…
So, what Jansons and Concertgebouw showed up another day? They play Mahler as if it was Bruckner or Brahms. It was atypical very thick sound with very subdued expressions. In fact the expressions were so bad that very soon you stop listen what they play – it was disgusting. Then however something else opined up. As I stopped to listen the Concertgebouw I begin to listen how I react to the very non-specific layout of music that Concertgebouw was presenting. So, the Concertgebouw was playing the Resurrection blueprint, the outline and I was presenting a much needed opportunity for me to imagine anything I would like to imagine within those blueprints. I had a lot of pleasure to do it and Concertgebouw played so much contra-expressive that I was not affected by the Mahler’s ego. It was VERY rare Resurrection.
The Cat
Topic: A great Mahler for Mahler haters? (Read 9220 times)