Festival Music
London Symphony Orchestra
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Keith Bruce
five stars
IT ALMOST seemed less of a surprise that Sir Simon Rattle should embark on Mahler’s vast Ninth Symphony without a score in front of him on Saturday than it had done that he had the whole of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances in his head the previous evening.
These two concerts saw the return of the conductor to the Festival for the first time since 2006 with the Berlin Phil, and although his is one of those names that will always immediately be associated with the big stuff, these two evenings seemed designed to show the immense range of the man, especially in partnership with this orchestra.
The Mahler was astonishing. At its conclusion, he was indicating every individual note to the players, which did not seem fussy in the least. There, and earlier, the attention-grabbing quietness and concentration they brought to the music was utterly remarkable. Intensity, yes, but also something more spiritual – and that Adagio was just the end of the story. In the second movement, Rattle had asked for, and won, an entirely different style of robust gypsy style of performance, the edge to the playing of the winds including some splendidly rustic bassoon.
The bold shapes of the central movements of the Mahler were entirely of a piece with the performance of the Dvorak and Janacek’s Sinfonietta on Friday. The LSO may be elite musicians but there is also always a crucial element of showbiz there – the line of nine extra trumpets in the organ gallery required for the Janacek is the sort of thing you expect to see from them. The flash of a “Pops” orchestra is in the mix, and was to the fore for the well-loved melodies on that concert’s second half.
The first was in partnership with Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman for Bernstein’s Auden-inspired Symphony No.2 “The Age of Anxiety”, fulfilling the soloist’s promise to the composer that he’d play it for his 100th birthday. From its haunting twin-clarinet opening to the sweeping urban landscape of its conclusion, it is a daunting, vast and complex work for all involved, the audience not excepted.
Zimerman was superb – and never more than on the Art Tatum-like lightning-fingered jazzy section – and Rattle clearly revelled in the challenge of communicating this big, tricky work.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel