Revealing Mahler Symphony no 5 - Daniel Harding

Gustav Mahler's Symphony no 5 makes a welcome addition to the growing series of Mahler recordings with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra on Harmonia Mundi.  Harding has been conducting this symphony for years, with many orchestras, so hearing it with the unique sound of the SRSO offers insights that enhance understanding.  This symphony has long been one of Harding's favourites, often combined in concert with Purcell or Rameau, emphasing its poise and structure.

The first movement is a Trauermarsch,  hence the steady, measured pace. Mahler grew up in Iglau (Jihlava) where there was a military garrison where no doubt he would have been aware of soldiers in procession, even in times of peace.  So this isn't a battlefield funeral so much as a funeral remembered through the prism of time, and as a symbol of the inevitability of death. Thus the trumpet call, trombones, horns and tuba in formation, strings and percussion behind. One of the strengths of this orchestra is that they sound like individuals in ensemble, not too polished, certainly not too rough, but "human". As the pace picks up, the strings, and winds scream, unleashing a torrent of protest, cut short by firm pounding chords. The march returns, more penitent than before, with a note of wistfulness which so often in Mahler means looking backwards on better times. Hushed drum beats and sweeping string lines, signalling change. The first theme returns, but the trumpet calls forwards, a courageous voice all alone.  Harding observes the structure in the first movement so it feels coherent, a procession with a clear start, pause for reflection and return to base.  I don't like listening to single movements out of context, but in this case, it's rewarding.

This brought out the connections between  the second movement, marked Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz and the first.  Both are in minor keys, and the "stormy" nature in the second is  further moderated by the quieter central section, where the "sighing" reflectiveness from the first movement finds greater expression. Again, the mood is propelled forwards by turbulence: a nice tension in this performance between the looking-back (almost waltz-like) and the inexorable pulling ahead.  Trumpets and other brass herald change, as the movement heads to expansive conclusion, though, just as in the first movement, solo voices have the last word.

The third movement marks another change. Now the mood is major and more assertive.  One of the more unusual Mahler 5's I've heard in recent years was Jakub Hrůša and the Philharmonia Orchestra (read more here). That was perceptive, recognizing that Mahler never lost the Wunderhorn impulse : his work is too coherent, too "whole" to compartmentalize in simple terms.  Harding brings out the earthy vigour in the scherzo. The introduction zips along, full of exuberance. There are dances - not just waltzes and Ländler but pas de deux between groups of instruments. On this recording, the dialogue between the solo violin and the other strings is particlarly well defined ; delicacy where it matters. In the middle section, the pace intensifies, with a "swaggering" theme that might suggest rustic dance with its connotations of fertility. But yet again, the trumpet calls forth, ushering in change. For a moment there is stillness, marked by a woodwind, before a brief final flourish.

In the adagietto, the strings creating textures that were mysterious, yet also warm.  This is another dialogue, this time between the strings, caressing the harp, in tender embrace. as if in embrace.  Willem Mengelberg described it as a "declaration of love for Alma" which is no doubt true, especially when the movement is done as a stand alone. But on a deeper level it connects to the love of life itself which pervades Mahler's work from beginning to end,  Alma being  muse and symbol of creative renewal.  This wider interpretation links the adagietto to the rest of the symphony, following as it does the scherzo with its images of vitality, and the Trauermarsch and its companion,  the second movement, with their images of death and forced change.  These concepts are drawn together in the Rondo-finale where themes that have gone before re-surface, regenerated.  While the symphony began with a march, it ends with a rondo, a lively dance, intertwning different elements in contrapunctual patterns.  Horns, trumpets and woodwinds introduce the full-throated first theme. The boisterous spirit continues throughout.  While this symphony was in the early stages of gestation, Mahler nearly died of a rupture.  Thus it's perfectly reasonable to interpret it as a  celebration of life itself : the vigour of the scherzo and the "love theme" of the adagietto both consistent with the concepts of renewal which run through all  Mahler's other symphonies.

When Harding, aged 19, was hired by Claudio Abbado as his personal assistant,  Abbado made him work on what would have been Mahler's Tenth symphony, which at the time, few others conducted. It was wise training because it taught Harding from the start to approach Mahler's work as a whole, from beginning  to end.  Harding's Mahler 10 (especially with Berlin) is outstanding. From that, and from his understanding of the grand span it grew from, we have this Mahler 5th with its keen appreciation of structure and form.

Mahler Symphony no 9, Daniel Harding Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Mahler Symphony no 9 in D major, with Daniel Harding conducting the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, new from Harmonia Mundi. A rewarding performance on many levels, not least because it's thoughtfully sculpted, connecting structure to meaning. 

A graceful first movement, respecting the marking  andante comodo "comfortable pace". The harp and strings here have a mellow richness which enhances the gentle rhythmic pulse.  For "pulse" this is, suggesting the human body at rest, calmly breathing.  Gradually the palpitations build up towards expansive outbursts, as if invigorated by the flow of life.  When silence descends, marked by timpani ans strident brass, the effect is chilling.  The harp ruminates, and the steady pace resumes.  The music flares up again : tension, alarm and a spiralling descent into darkness, and a wall  of mournful winds and brasses. Yet again, though, steadiness prevails.  Celli and bassoons lead the way ahead. Harding shapes the flow by highlighting the fanfares, so the undertow can be heard without undue exaggeration.  Now, when relative silence returns, the mood is pure and calm: the  high, clear pitch of the woodwinds is exquisite, evoking, perhaps, memories of summer, a typical Mahler touch.

Thus we are prepared for the second movement, marked "Etwas täppisch und sehr derb".(rustic, simple, earthy). Why Ländler in a symphony some still associate with death ? Ländler are danced by peasants who till the soil, who know that seasons change and that harvests return after fallow times. This movement is much more than folklore : it connects to the theme of change and rebirth that runs through so much of Mahler's work. The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra plays with gusto, Harding gauging their strengths.  There's humour here and impish high jinks. The spirit of Pan awakes !  Thus the lively leaps ans swirls, the flow of the first movement returning in exuberant form. The pace whips up, propelled along with force, yet once again, the dance returns, for dance, like Nature, moves in rhythmic cycles. The movement ends with a smile - a deft, piping little figure.

The Rondo in the third movement was vigorously animated. The pace is now near-frenzy, strings and winds flying free, though steady beat can still be heard in the lower voices.  Nonetheless, though the spirit may be wild, Harding doesn't lose shape. We hear the violin emerge, its way lit by harp.  In the tumult, the swaying palpitations of the first movement revive in burlesque parody.  Indeed, much of this symphony is like dance, motifs returning in guises. Two slow movements at each end, taken slow, encasing two fast-moving inner movements.

If the first movement was comodo, the last is stately, even majestic in its sweep. The strings take charge, lifting above and away from the orchestra, much in the way that birds take flight above the earth.  Their line shimmers, undimmed, though the sound is rich.  Bassoons moan,  suggesting depth, which intensifies the heights the strings are striving towards. The leader plays a keening, soaring line at a tessitura so high it's almost ethereal. The "pulse" of the first movement is back, now transfigured, no longer bodily but spiritual.  At the end, sounds  become so pure that they dissolve, as if beyond human hearing.

Although this was the last symphony Mahler completed, there is no evidence that he was contemplating his own death. From what we now know about his life, from the events of his life, and also from what we have of what was to be his Tenth Symphony, he wasn't just looking backward any more than in so many other of his works where death is vanquished by new life.  It is significant that when Harding, aged 20, was Claudio Abbado's chosen assistant in Berlin, he was given the Tenth to study, at a period when many conductors were still performing only the first movement.  Learning a composer back to front is not a bad thing, especially a composer like Mahler whose work forms  a huge trajectory from beginning to  to end, where an understanding of overall structure makes a huge difference.

Mahler 8 Harding Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berwaldhallen

From the Berwaldhallen, Stockholm, a very interesting Mahler Symphony no 8 with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (livestream archived here).  The title "Symphony of a Thousand" was dreamed up by promoters trying to sell tickets, creating the myth that quantity matters more than quality.  For many listeners, Mahler 8 is still a hard nut to crack, for many reasons, and the myth is part of the problem.  Mahler 8 is so original that it defies easy categories.  To understand it, we need to listen in terms of Mahler himself, ditching the baggage of preconception that's piled up, blocking closer evaluation.  What is M8 about, and how does it fit in the context of Mahler's work as a whole ?  "Veni Creator spiritus !" and  "Accende lumen sensibus". Come, spirit of creation,  arise, light of sensibility.  Mahler makes it pretty clear that these ideas matter for they are embedded in the music as well as the text.  Throughout Mahler's entire oeuvre, he develops ideas of transformation and creative renewal.  Ignore that and ignore the whole point of his music.  We need to ditch the idea of Mahler as Party Rally bombast. Sure, the orchestra's big, and there are five soloists and four choirs, but that's the irony. As so often in Mahler, it's the quiet moments that are most personal and significant : the moment when the individual comes to terms with the cosmos.

Structurally, Mahler's Symphony no 8  throws conventional listening off-balance.  Conceptually, the symphony is radical because it contradicts straightforward assumptions.  The two  parts don't seem to connect, there's no narrative and the voices do not represent "roles" but function as much more abstract extensions of the music and the ideas within it.  And that silence at the beginning of the Second Part gets misunderstood because it is silence, which minds attuned to blast and noise cannot comprehend.  Though I'm a voice person, over the years I've come to realize that the silence,and the quiet introduction that follows, is the true soul of the symphony.  Like the Consecration in a Catholic Mass, the most important part of the ceremony comes when the singing and praying stop, and the mystery of transubstantiation takes place. You don't need to believe that God becomes one with mankind, or even in God, but the idea of miraculous transfiguration is so powerful that it is a metaphor for Creation itself.  "Veni, creator spiritus".

Daniel Harding's Mahler 8 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is immensely rewarding, particularly if you know Mahler well.   It is also an ideal performance for those who don't "get" Mahler 8 otherwise. Because the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm isn't a great monster of a hall, it favours a much more intimate atmosphere.  Everyone is up close together : it feels as if everyone knows everyone, which is important since music is meant to be heard in the company of other people   On the video, the cameraman pans over the chorus which is annoying if you're following the soloists, but that makes  sense, when you think of the performance as an expression of the community In so many ways, the Eighth is Mahler's secular Mass where a multitude come together for a communal purpose which is fundamentally private.  Thus the significance of the silvery  chord in the beginning of the second part, which almost exactly replicates the bell which announces the beginning of the miracle of Consecration.  As so often in Mahler, details count, like the piccolos, the triangle, the glockenspeil, the celesta and the mandolin, which as in Mahler Symphony no 7 may represent the lute of a solo musician serenading unseen and unknown.  Here they can be heard clearly, instead of being overwhelmed by big blasts of sound.  The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra has a lovely, mellow sound which suits the idea of "light". The warm glow of benevolence, rather than the blinding glare of, say, searchlights and interrogation.

The soloists were Hanna Husahr, Lise Lindstrom,Susanne Bernhard, Karen Cargill, Marie Nicole Lemieux, (one of my favourites), Simon O’Neill, George Humphreys,and ShenYang. They always get listed because they are soloists, but what matters most is the ensemble and the way they interact with the orchestra and each other. Like the anchorites in the painting that apparently inspired Goethe's vision, they are embedded in the landscape.  The choirs were Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericsons Kammarkör, Mikaeli Kammarkör, St Jacobs Kammarkör and the Barnkör. I liked their singing a lot because it felt spontaneous, rather than over-polished: very much a coming-together of good, ordinary people who care about what they do.  The children's choir  were delightful : so nice to see kids behaving naturally, as kids should, their eyes shining with wonder.

Orchestre de Paris 50th Birthday Party - Berio Sinfonia flows free

The Orchestre de Paris, with Daniel Harding, click to enlarge -it's worth  it

Hugely ambitious concert marking the 50th anniversary of the Orchestre de Paris. The finest concert hall in the world,  and one of the finest orchestras too,  with new Chief Conductor Daniel Harding, and a programme showcasing the connections between sound and space.  Berio's Sinfonia, "a symphony that contains the world"  created so it constantly renews and adapts whenever it's performed anew.  A metaphor for the creative force that is music !  The concepts that make Berio's Sinfonia so innovative apply too to György Ligeti's Poème symphonique pour 100 métronomes, to Jörg Widmann's Fantasie, to Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and to Debussy La Mer.   To assess this vast programme in conventional terms would be to miss its very purpose.  The Orchestre de Paris and the Philharmonie are astute, not stupid.  These works are hardly obscure.  Music doesn't have to be locked into straitjackets of form. Like the river that flows through Berio's Sinfonia, it flows onwards, absorbing many influences, fertilizing new areas, bringing renewal and rebirth.  As Berio explained, "One of my aims was to use the orchestration as a respectful and loving instrument of investigation and transformation". 

It's no accident that Berio references Mahler's Symphony no 2, with its themes of death and resurrection, and specifically to the movement in which the song  Des Antonius von Paduas Fischpredikt  resurfaces wordlessly, in orchestral guise.  Numerous other references, too, such as to Don, the first movement of Boulez's Pli selon Pli ( which means fold upon fold, ie, endless layers and permutations). (Read more HERE)  "Don" means gift, so this is like a gift  from one composer to another. What has gone before shapes what is to come, but absolutely central is the idea that music never ends.  Numerous other references, some musical, some cultural, some explicit, some so cryptic that they only reveal themselves on careful listening.  "For the unexpected is always with us!" a phrase that acts like a signpost in the vocal parts. Berio also experiments with levels of time, blending references to the past to the present and future.  "Keep going, keep going" and later "Stop!" but the music propels ever forward.

Thunderbolt ostinato, screams of protest.  London Voices supplied the archly Anglo tones that appealed to Berio's quirky sense of humour. So what if some audiences don't get everything, all at once ?  St. Anthony kept preaching to the fish, though they didn't listen and kept scrapping. 

 Berio also wrote music that would grow to fit each performance space. In the Philharmonie, the Sinfonia swelled to fit the vast space, where the acoustic  is so fine that it doesn't dampen fine detail. This time the whispers in the voice parts could be heard, imperceptibly, and tiny figures in the orchestration weren't lost  Though Berio uses a large orchestra, big blast is not the way to do this piece.  Harding builds up the layers of colour and texture so they shine . Much in the way Impressionist painters kept their brush strokes clear.  Thus the elegant symmetry of the programme, balancing Berio's Sinfonia with Debussy La Mer. Both pieces are impressionistic in the way details are built up without being muddied, individual cells kept clean and vibrant. La Mer was revolutionary because it marked a sea change in style. It thrives best when conducted like this, where the energy flows freely.  For French orchestras La Mer is a signature piece : the symbol of modern French style.  

In Sinfonia, Berio also makes references to Ligeti and specifically to Atmosphères.  Perfectly logical then to follow Sinfonia with Ligeti's Poème symphonique where 100 metronomes tick, each in slightly different ways. Ligeti's playing with time, and measures of time : the principles of music, where his "players" are usually the means by which music is regulated. More quirky humour ! In a long concert like this, it gave the regular orchestra a rest while the audience worked. If they understood, which they probably did since it's quite a well known piece. Again, proof that music exists in many forms ! Thus Widmann's Fantasie for solo clarinet, heard in March this year at the opening concert at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. The Paris Philharmonie is a much bigger space, but the piece adapted well,  as if the sound of the clarinet were moving around the hall, reaching out into its distances. If anything, I much preferred this new spatial dimension. It makes the piece intriguing, as if the instrument were exploring and responding to its environment.  Like shepherds of Ancient Greece, playing flutes whose sound carries over vast spaces.  Another connection to the themes in Berio's Sinfonia.  

Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, another hybrid form, blending the form of ritual religious music to orchestral style, at once ancient and modern.  It also combines orchestra with choir (the Choir of the Orchestre de Paris, Choirmaster Lionel Sow).  The ideas in Berio's Sinfonia again, but with the unmistakable austerity that would mark Stravinsky's later style. Huge blocks of sound, hewn as if from a rockface, yet moving forward with slow but monumental pace.  Stravinsky, Berio and Debussy, three very different composers but each creating new form.   In contrast,  Jörg Widmann's  Au cœur de Paris written for the orchestra's 50th birthday. It's a party piece,  tumbling different clichés of Paris together in merry profusion.  Yet another nod to Berio and his sense of humour ! 

Listen to the concert here (available for the next six months)

 

Shattering power - Mahler 6 Prom Daniel Harding, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Prom 72, Mahler Symphony no 6 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Harding conducting - an incandescent experience, igniting with such force that it seemed to sear itself into the soul.  Mahler himself said that the symphony "would pose riddles only to be solved by a generation which has assimilated and digested my first five symphonies". What might these riddles be?  This symphony causes controversy, much of it supposition and hearsay. Why the tag "Tragic"? Was Mahler really so superstitious that he thought a hammer blow might end his life. And the movement order - even if you know nothing else about the symphony you can sound smart screaming SA/AS.   So all the more reason we need to approach Mahler's Sixth on musical terms and value genuine insight.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra are outstanding, and their playing on this occasion seemed truly inspired.  Daniel Harding's Mahler credentials go back to his teens, when he was appointed by Claudio Abbado as his assistant and gave him Mahler's symphony no 10 to work on. A very wise move. Harding digested more than the first five symphonies. He assimiliated Mahler's output from beginning to end.  Moreover, with the Tenth there was then no received performance tradition: Harding had to find his own, original way. The Tenth is also a good way to start because it's unfinished: thinking in terms of open-ended possibility often stimulates insight.   Abbado was more than a great musician : he understood life. 

Harding has worked with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for many years.  He conducted the Tenth with the orchestra, a recording that still stands as a benchmark (though I rate even higher his later version with the Berliner Philharmoniker).   He's conducted Mahler's 6th several times, including with Berlin, but this performance with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was even better still: free spirited and seemingly spontaneous, often a sign that conductor and orchestra spark the best in each other.   They repeat their Mahler Symphony no 6 at KKL Lucerne later  this week in a hall whose acoustic picks up more detail than the Royal Albert Hall ever could.

The first movement, marked Allegro energetico, blazed from the start. Harding's attack was bracing, for the energyn here represents a battle, a battle for life against the inevitable march of time. Decisiveness matters on a battlefield: trust your instincts and don't flaff about.   The March rhythms were clearly defined, drum rolls and timpani done not so much with military precision as with a passionate sense of elation. The orchestra, like the protagonist,  relishes challenge.  Thus the flow between ferociousness and warmth.  Bright, lively textures in the strings livening the golden richness this orchestra does so well, contrasting well with the chill that creeps into the strings as the symphony progresses.  As so often in Mahler. the quiet moments are the most telling. The woodwind melody rose seductively, suggesting confident self-awareness. The cowbells connect to this theme because they're meant to be heard from a distance. They're elusive, the way that ideals are elusive. They may evoke memories of summers past, but quite possibly they are more than that. Cowbells reassure a farmer that his cows are not lost, even when they're beyond sight.  Interpretively, very significant.  When the march returned, the beat was quieter but with more frenzy in the strings and brass, the sense of impending horror felt almost overwhelming. But Mahler's little hints already indicate that something positive may survive after annihilation.

The Andante was exquisite: the benefits of an orchestra as good as the Viennese where every section is strong. The melody in the strings was so beautifully done it felt almost painful, but it should, for loss means more when what is lost was worth having. Yet the faint suggestion of dance implies circular movement - cycles of change. Consider the Auferstehn in Symphony no 2 and the Abschied in Das Lied von der Erde.  Whatever the "Alma" motif represents, it embodies the idea of an entity finding its own path.  Trombones and bassoons created a grotesque parody of dance, marking the return of the march.   Striking decelerating diminuendo and the woodwind line, escaping as if on tip toe.  A Scherzo that was magnificently wild - demonic by turns, yet spookiest when hushed, the brass muffled and sinister. When the Scherzo precedes the Andante, the effect is exhausting and works well with interpretations that place the symphony as a precursor of the agony of the 20th century, and so on. Andante first places more on the personal and on the connections with Mahler's metaphysics of life and rebirth.  If the answer was easy, there wouldn't be a debate. The current edition, sponsoreed by Reinhold Kubik of the Internationale Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft states Andante first, the way Mahler performed it. 

Perhaps the clue to Mahler's "riddle" lies in the Finale?  The tuba broods ominously, bassoons call, but trumpets, as ever, lead forward, and harps create an image of heaven , either angels or the last movement of Symphony no 4.  The March resumes, Harding leading his forces full forward.  But the strings of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra glowed  and the celesta added magic. The sound swelled, as expansive as the peaks of the Salzkammergut.  The size and variety in the orchestra is relevant, since large forces can melt into chaos unless purposefully managed.  To paraphrase Mahler, "an orchestra encompasses the world". Good minds, and good conductors, lead us ahead. 

Perhaps what Mahler is depicting here is a universal horizon, a panorama so great that it transcends the world.  So often I've written about what mountains symbolize in Mahler - journeys made in struggle, rewarded by peaks from which one might imagine heaven, or the glory of life itself.  In Mahler's Symphony no 3 the  craggy terrain becomes spiritual, the Finale ending with a glorious vision of endless possibilities.  In Harding's Mahler 6 with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Finale was exhilarating - wildness and ecstasy alternating, masterfully defined. The mood grew ominous, even cold, But does the hammer blow mean death or is it a way of saying "No! " to something ? From what we know of Mahler the man, he was rational not superstitious, though some of those around him were pretty gullible.  That final, catastrophic crash - with no hammer blow - was so powerful that  it knocked the audience breathless.  In many ways, it's more terrifying "not" to have simple solutions. Whatever happens next, we cannot know, but Mahler (via Harding and the VPO) made us pay attention.  Six thousand people clapped and stamped their feet in applause..

Photos: Roger Thomas

Schumann, dramatist : Das Paradies und die Peri, Harding, Paris

Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri (Op 59) with Daniel Harding and the Orchestre de Paris from the Philharmonie de Paris, with Christiane Karg, Kate Royal, Gerhild Romberger, Andrew Staples, Allan Clayton and Matthias Goerne last week in Paris, now on arte.tv.  This is an exceptionally interesting performance, because it reveals insight into Schumann's distinctive ideas on musical drama, eclipsed by the revolution Wagner wrought in operatic form. Das Paradies und die Peri premiered in Leipzig in December 1843, but  Die fliegende Holländer had premiered in Dresden in January the same year. Schumann might seem eclipsed, but he represents an alternative but perfectly valid approach to music as theatre with roots in Germanic traditions like oratorio and Singspiele. Harding's firmly assured yet refined perspective helps us appreciate Schumann on his own terms. This perceptive  Das Paradies und die Peri follows on from Harding's groundbreaking  Szenen aus Goethes Faust  and from his work on Schumann's symphonies. Eventually, the world will value Schumann as Schumann, not as Wagner manqué.  

Das Paradies und die Peri is also seminal because it shows the depth of Schumann's engagement with literary sources. Even for the son of a Leipzig bookseller, Schumann was exceptionally well read and up to date on the latest literary trends. Moore's Lalla Rookh developed the fashion for orientalist fantasy, which intrigued the Romantiker imagination, opening up new horizons  and  alternatives to  western European constraints. The Generic East implied unparalleled extremes, and emotions too wild for Christian convention.  Lalla Rookh is One Thousand and One Arabian Nights on acid. Moore was an opium addict, like Thomas De Quincey and, later, Charles Baudelaire. Nothing like a bit of dope to break inhibitions.  Nonetheless, the literary style of Lalla Rookh is itself utterly relevant. It is written in an exaggerated, verbose style so highly perfumed that it's almost unreadable now, but that was part of its original appeal. Exotic names and words pour forth in hallucinatory frenzy, creating a haze of soporific delights.  How thrilling these references to strange, obscure places, people and objects to readers who had no idea of the real East, or Asia or Africa for that matter.  It was enough that the words sounded wonderful, and, significantly, musical on their own terms."Lalla Rookh", incidentally,  means "Tulip Face" which  was a compliment in times when tulips were prized imports from distant lands. The very context is inherently theatrical, the drama living in the imagination of the audience. Perhaps these days we're too used to passive entertainment, like reality TV, to comprehend.

If anything, Schumann plays down the text so it flowers in his music.  The peri flits freely  between Egypt, Africa,  Syria "the land of roses", "Cashmere (Kashmir) and other places including "Peristan" (the land of Peris?) and ends up by the throne of "Alla" surrounded by lotus blooms.  but Schumann's music is thoroughly German. Some figures, especially in the choruses, evoke the sturdy rhythms of Der Freischütz or even Der Vampyr, but the general style is distinctively Schumann. The narrative develops not through "characters", as in opera, but through commentary, as in oratorio.  The story, as such, is more allegory than plot.  To achieve her goal, the peri must produce three miracles, each episode more symbolic than stageable. Thus the florid text is depicted in indirect speech and in abstract sound. The young hero, for example, in a fanfare followed by tenor (Andrew Staples) and choir, the flow caught in its tracks by the dour tyrant (Matthias Goerne, sounding more bass than usual)  The women's choir weeps : the tyrant lives, the hero dies.  The "action" proceeds through choir ("Sacred is the blood")  and orchestra, surging forwards.  The second Part opens with a depiction of the Nile, (tenor, mezzo, female voices) , the horns inn the orchestra piping out a theme which could come straight from Mendelssohn. Think magic, not historical Eygpt.  The horns add  melancholy gloom. The peri weeps tears for the suffering of humankind, evoked by the interplay of all four soloists.  Kate Royal sings of healing balms, and Christiane Karg of repose, cushioned in (possibly) narcotic perfumes : exquisite songs, separated by delicately muted trumpets, like extended Lieder - one thinks ahead to Schumann's Requiem.

The chorus "Schmucket die Stufen zu Allahs Thron" is glorious, the voices sparkling brightly: but still, the peri cannot enter Eden.  Thus the burnished darkness of "Jetzt sankt des Abends gold'ner Schei" (Goerne), broken briefly by the piercing brightness of the female voices. A haunting flute melody rises out of low cello murmurs, and Goerne returns: a quiet bass voice, singing of flowers, summer and the banks of the Jordan. Yet again, dramatic contrasts in sound. "Peri ! Oeri!" the chorus calls, shrilly, morphing yet again to bass baritone tenderness.  Yet again, resolution comes from the structure of the piece itself and its musical expression. The soloists interact, joined by chorus and orchestra, and the Angel emerges. Divine intervention! This is a part Bernarda Fink has done so memorably, that she's hard to forget, but Christiane Karg does admirably.  With a flourish, Das Paradies und die Peri ends with joyous tumult.  An uplifting performance, idiomatically refined and true to the spirit of Schumann and to the tradition that inspired him.  More to my taste than the several Rattle performances I've heard, yet also more "modern" than Gardiner and Harnoncourt, though I couldn't live without those.  Modern? Yes, for Schumann is modern, and timeless, even if the texts he uses might be alien to modern ears.  

photo Frédéric Désaphi

Musikfest Berlin 2016 Wolfgang Rihm Tutuguri

As the BBC Proms at last flicker into life, in Germany the Musikfest Berlin gets under way.. Over 19 days, 27 events featuring 70 works of around 35 composers, performed by 20 orchestras, instrumental and vocal ensembles and soloists. Full programme here, reflecting the concept that audiences are mature enough to handle real music, as Sir Henry Wood believed a hundred years ago, instead of the Potato Fudge the Proms have descended into this year (bar a few outstanding performances). But those of us who can't get to Berlin (largely sold out, in any case), some concerts will be broadcast via the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall (List here) 

Listen live, because the broadcasts may be available for only 24 hours. On Saturday I caught Wolfgang Rihm's  Tutuguri with Daniel Harding and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.  This piece is legend, but not easy to pull off because it requires a huge orchestra, a whole row of percussion desks and elaborate off-stage effects   Rihm's  model for Tutuguri was a piece by  by Antonin Artaud, the actor and theatre theorist whose ideas have great influence on modern theatre, film, dance and music. Artaud believed that communication could exist on multiple levels.  Texts don't have to be spoken, nor even rational.  In Tutuguri, the soloist and invisible choir (on tape)  utter sounds in single syllable bursts of staccato, which don't have meaning in themselves: it's up to the audience to intuit the connections themselves.  If, of course, there "is" any meaning we can deduce. Artaud was fascinated by primal states of experience that cannot be articulated - hence the animalistic grunts and piercing screams. Orchestra and singers all on the same communal level.  Rihm's use of percussion is absolutely deliberate. because percussion reflects the rhythms of the human body, heartbeats, breathing, movement. This performance was exceptionally  muscular and physical, yet mesmerizing just as the rite it (sort of) describes would have been.  Savage as the subject may be, performance needs to be accurate and extremely tightly focussed or the whole point is missed.  This performance was so powerful that it far eclipsed Kent Nagano and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at  the Barbican last year (read my piece here).  The narrator,  Graham Forbes Valentine, who bore a disconcerting resemblance to Artaud, was so forceful that he seemed possessed, the tightness of his articulation like an elemental force oif nature. Luckily I was able to watch it through before Digital Concert Hall pulled it.  Explains why I'm too tired to write about Rossini Semiramide at the Proms, which I loved. 

So don't miss the next livestream on Tuesday 6/9 when Valery Gergiev conducts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in Shostakovich Symphony no 4 and Galina Ustvolskaya's Symphony no 3  "Jesus Messiah, save us", which I wrote about  in July HERE.  A striking piece I can't wait to hear again. 

Ivan Fischer and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin on 8/9 with Hans Werner Henze I vitalino raddoppiato for violin (Julia Fischer) and chamber orchestra. A beautifully expressive piece which could easily stand up to Bruckner 7, which I heard last week with Haitink and RCOA livestreamed from Amsterdam.

Andris Nelsons conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker on  Saturday 10th in Debussy Prélude à lʼaprès-midi dʼun faune,  Edgard Varèse Arcana and Berlioz Symphonie fantastique. An intelligent programme presented, no doubt, with flair and extremely high musical standards.

More Varèse (Déserts) and Ligeti (Violin Concerto, Pekka Kuuisto) the next day with Jonathan Nott and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie , followed by Beethoven 3 Eroica. 

Then Dudamel Messiaen Turangalîla-Symphonie.  I heard this a few months back, but it's really for fans of the conductor rather than fans of the music.

Kirill Petrenko conducts the Bayerisches Staatsorchester on 14/9 in Ligeti Lontano, Bartók Violin Concero no 1 (Frank Peter Zimmermann)  and Richard Strauss Sinfonia domestica.  Good combination, should be good.  

Then John Adams conducts an all John Adams concert on 17/9.

Mahler 2 Harding LSO Barbican

Mahler Symphony no 2 with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Harding, at the Barbican, London, with soloists Miah Persson and Anna Larsson.  Harding has been Principal Guest Conductor with the LSO since 2007, alongside Valery Gergiev as Chief Conductor. Both men have done almost complete Mahler cycles with the LSO, though their approaches to Mahler are very different indeed, which can be a good thing, since that stimulus keeps an orchestra on its toes.  Gergiev's Mahler was loud, extremely effective in the bombast of Mahler's First Symphony  There's loudness in Mahler's Second too, but the composer is fast maturing.  I've heard many Mahler 2 performances fall apart when conductors assume that noise is an end in itself.  Fortunately, Harding understands context.

Extreme dynamics are a feature of Mahler 2  and must be observed. In the Barbican Hall, however, allowances must be made for the acoustic of a hall where horizontal space is greater than depth, at least in the stalls. (I was in row P by aisle, optimal position).  Harding and the LSO know the Barbican well enough that they don't need volume for effect. The first crashing chords exploded vigorously, but swiftly moved on.  Mahler's markings state"mit durchaus ernstem und feierlichem Ausdruck", with serious and solemn expression". Mahler was musing on the funeral of Hans von Bülow. This first movement is a funeral rite, a formal procession which progresses in stages towards an inevitable conclusion. In this performance, what came over well was a sense of dignity. If some of the playing, particularly in the brass, was somewhat awry, it didn't greatly detract, when some great person passes away, there "is" something wrong. When Harding conducted this symphony with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra where he's Chief, in 2014,  I wrote that "he emphasized the inherent tension between forward-reaching  lines and tight staccato, suggesting  that a powerful transformation is underway even in the presence of annihilation.... The pastoral woodwinds might suggest happy memories of the past.  Quiet, purposeful pizzicato, like footsteps, lead into savage brass climaxes, creating the sense of hard-won stages on a difficult ascent. Perhaps we can already hear the 'mountains' in Mahler's Third Symphony, rising ever upwards."  The Swedes were playing a mega high profile gig at the Proms. the LSO doing yet another concert at the end of a long season. There's no real comparison, but enough was still in place that we could appreciate what Harding was doing.

Last week, Harding conducted Mahler Symphony no 4 with the Orchestre de Paris at the Philharmonie (please read my review here); he demonstrated the way that symphony fits in with the wider traverse of Mahler's symphonies as a whole. The LSO and the Orchestre de Paris are very different orchestras, but we could hear the underlying concept unfold.   The Luftpause marks a transition, after which we move to the freedom of the next movements. The Ländler passages, which seem to look back on a happy Wunderhorn past while also looking forward to the open vistas of the Third Symphony.  The Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt section here was energetic. The forces of Nature don't change and carry on in their contrary ways, whatever  mankind might dictate.  And from this wayward rebellion thus the sudden contrast thatb happens with the song O Mensch, and the cataclysmic fanfare that followed, driving away doubt in a blinding glare of light and sound.   In the Barbican, the offstage trumpets are very effective, because they are relatively close to the main orchestra, into which they faded.  Well poised pizzicato "footsteps" moved forward, no longer in funereal procession but with sprightly verve. Then "funeral" sounds return in low brass, basses and strings, for we're still proceeding, hurriedly, towards the big climax, almost literally the "last trumpet" from above the stage, and to the flute which might represent the pipes of Pan.   Raptly reverential singing from  the London Symphony Chorus (Leader Simon Halsey), Anna Larsson and Miah Persson who are a regular team in this Symphony.  Once, they rescued a particularly formless performance (not Harding and LSO), because they knew what they were doing and the rest of the crew followed them. 

Bottom photo: Roger Thomas

Interpreting Mahler 4 Harding Orchestre de Paris

Daniel Harding and the Orchestre de Paris, a match made in heaven?   Harding's characteristic intelligence suits this orchestra's finesse.  And now they have a home in the Philharmonie de Paris, which is fast proving to be the finest auditorium in Europe. Berlin is challenged. London will drop far behind unless the British public realizes the importance of excellence.   Performance "is" education, the arts are part of the economy, and a global market means keeping ahead of the competition.  And excellence is what we can look forward to when Harding officially becomes Music Director in Paris from September this year. Listen to their Mahler Symphony no 4 from last week on this link. The concert began with Alban Berg Violin Concerto with Isabelle Faust . No prizes for guessing why the two,pieces fit together so well. 

Mahler's songs, symphonies and song symphonies have often been described as "one big symphony" since together they form a remarkably clear trajectory,  It is significant that Harding's Mahler credentials were built upon  the Tenth Symphony. Picked, aged 19, by Claudio Abbado as his assistant, Harding learned from one of the greatest Mahler conductors ever.  Abbado  had exceptional foresight. By giving Harding the Tenth to make his own, he helped Harding develop a unique perspective.  Harding's two recordings of Mahler 10 are benchmarks because they  infuse the Cooke III edition with such imagination that the piece seems like the beginning of a whole new phase in Mahler's work. We shall never know where Mahler might have been heading, but we can perceive from Harding's approach how the Tenth grows from from the past and heads forward into the unknown : (Please read my analysis here)   Mahler's life was at a turning point when he died. Perhaps the Tenth would have been the pivot from which a new phase might have emerged.   Listening to Mahler's Symphony no 4 with Harding and the Orchestre de Paris reaffirms the idea that  the Fourth is, like the Tenth, a pivotal turning point.  Up to this point, Mahler was immersed in ideas arising from the world of Des Knaben Wunderhorn.  These ideas were crucial to his development, much in the way a cocoon protects the insect within.   But in order to fly, a butterfly must break out of its chrysalis.  


Mahler's Fourth Symphony is by no means mindlessly cheerful.  "Wir genießen die himmlischen Freuden" sings the soloist. But the child is dead.  But almost immediately, something darker creeps in. "Kein weltlich' Getümmel Hört man nicht im Himmel!" : the turmoil of worldly cares can't be heard in Heaven.  Der Metzer Herode lies in wait, but the patient lamb gets killed byt St Luke, the physician, the patron saint of Healing.  In the context of Des Knaben Wunderhorn, the song operates as a source of comfort for grieving parents, reassuring them that their dead children are safe in Heaven. Perhaps that's why the kid doesn't sing about missing its parents: that would be too heartbreaking and defeat the purpose.  Wunderkind readers, well versed in the Bible, would have understood that man cannot live by bread alone, but through God. In other words by spiritual sustenance.  Das himmlische Leben connects directly to Das irdische Leben. No doubt children were - as they are still - deliberately starved, but famine was a fact of life for many, especially in the past. Des Knaben Wunderrhorn seems to glamorize for those who don't appreciate the harsh realities of European history. Without an inner spiritual life,  is there any point to life at all ? 

Thus in Symphony no 4, Mahler is saying goodbye to Wunderhorn. Harding's Fourth with the Orchestre de Paris is so sensitively shaped that it reminds us that life is fragile, and that being vulnerable is in fact a much greater source of inner strength than the need to dominate at all costs.  Like the liebliches Lämmlein, the roebuck and the hare let themselves be slaughtered.  Why? It's not passivity. The pure in heart attain heaven,  while those who need violence end up like Herod, eternally thwarted.  Symphony no 4 reaffirms the idea of resurrection implicit in Symphony no 2  This time, however, the person being resurrected is closer in focus, more personal, and the  very idea of death defeated. Wunderhorn readers would have had no problem at all with the idea of the humble inheriting the earth, or rather, the afterlife.  The phrase "it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven" simply means that worldly vanities are a bar to spiritual salvation. Hence, the image of little children, without artifice, prejudice  and false values   So the child in this symphony sings about food?  That's how children think.  The soloist on this occasion was Christina Landshammer, her singing illuminated by the rapturous glow of the orchestral playing around her.

In this performance, the first movement is brisk, the Schnellkappe attractive, the bells not too dominant – "their time will come" - and the overall effect is of a delicately purposeful dance. This is no clumsy Ländler, but more like a minuet danced by putti, a reference to the vision of Heaven to come.  Yet again, the passage from death to life isn't easy.  Like in many Haitink performances,  (read more ) this Freund Hein scordatura isn't distorting because he has no hold over the pure in heart. Thus the significance of the remarkably poised playing, whose very luminosity expresses  the absolute power of positive transcendance.  Freund Hein would never get it. The third movement marks a transition, a kind of purgatory in which the issues of the past are resolved.  Please read my piece, Mahler, Silence and Holy Saturday. Particularly fine string playing, its very refinement reminding us how precious and beautiful life can be.  The pace picks up, suggesting sprightly dance - another suggestion that Freund Hein isn't the tune to follow.   When the crescendi come, they feel glorious, like the blaze of a new dawn, preparing us for the existential Seligkeit which is to come.  "Seligkeit" is more than happiness: the word carries connotations of otherworldly rapture. Mahler  told Bruno Walter that the Ruhevoll reminded him of the statues of medieval saints, their hands solemnly folded across their chests. They are strong, and carved from stone, but their faces smile with blissful calm. The photo shows carved angels in the Cathedral at Bamberg.

Mahler may have "buried" Wunderhorn, though its spirit lives on in the works to come, if you listen to stillness.  In the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, he can deal with more abstract ideas returning, in the Seventh,  to a wonderfully original mix of fun and devilry,  through to the complex spirituality of the Eighth.  At one period, it was fashionable to interpret the Ninth symphony as death wish, though from what we now know of Mahler the man and the thinker, he was no maudlin neurotic.  In any case, we have Das Lied von der Erde, where the ideas of Wunderhorn reappear, so beautifully  sublimated that they can be missed.  The message there, like the message in the last movement of the Fourth, is that physical death is a door not an end in itself.  And thus through to the Tenth, where the ideas are further sublimated. The key to the Tenth lies in understanding the whole traverse of Mahler's work and the ideas within, and that key may well lie in the usually misunderstood Fourth.

And back again to Harding. In the intelligence and humility of his approach, we have echoes of Abbado, though of course the two conductors don't sound the same. What comes over for me is the basic humanity, and the respect for underlying conceptual ideas. The Orchestre de Paris isn't ancient, it was founded only 49 years ago.  Its Mahler credentials were established by Christoph Eschenbach, who headed it for ten years, when they did the whole Mahler cycle perceptively.  Paavo Järvi. who followed Eschenbach, had many specialities, but Mahler wasn't his forte.   So  with Harding, this superb orchestra will give us a lot to look forward to. 

Daniel Harding's life-affirming Mahler 6 (video)

From BR Klassik, a concert given earlier this year in Munich. Watch here. Daniel Harding conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Henry Purcell Funeral Music for Queen Mary and Mahler Symphonie no 6. What I love about this performance is its vivacity. This wasn't a "special occasion" concert, just part of theBRSO's normal series, yet the orchestra are playing their souls out, taking risks, engaging with the music. Harding has done this programme before (eg in Berlin) because it works surprisingly well. Purcell was writing for a formal State funeral, yet his music seems more a celebration of life than a meditation on death. This Queen Mary and her husband William represented an important stage in the re-establishment of the British monarchy. Mahler's Symphony no 6 is often associated with death too, but is it necessarily gloomy? So many moments that suggest a passionate love of life, which makes the finality of death so painful.  The "Alpine" moments are so beautiful that taking leave of them feels almost physically painful. Harding's vigorous interpretation is very perceptive, and in line with how we now understand Mahler's personality. Although the BRSO is not a period instrument orchestra, its Purcell sounds right because Harding approaches the music with the energetic spirit of the baroque. "Historically informed" means exactly that, not some notion of what history "should" be like,  but an appreciation that human beings, in whatever era they might be, tend to embrace not death but life. Please read my other posts on Mahler 6, on mountains and Mahler usw.

Triumphant Mahler 2 Harding Prom 57

Triumphant! An exceptionally stimulating Mahler Symphony No 2 from Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Prom 57 at the Royal Albert Hall.  Harding's Mahler Tenth performances (especially with the Berliner Philharmoniker, read more HERE) are pretty much the benchmark by which all other performances are assessed.  Harding's Mahler Second is informed by such an intuitive insight into the whole traverse of the composer's work that, should he get around to doing all ten together, he'll fulfil the long-held dream of "One Grand Symphony", all ten symphonies understood as a coherent progression of developing ideas.

Pierre Boulez used to speak about the importance of trajectory, that is, the sense of direction that drives a symphony. Even the first bars zinged with purpose: Harding setting the trajectory in motion right from the start. When Bernard Haitink conducted this symphony at the Proms in 2006, he chose tempi so slow that it was hard for his orchestra to sustain the line, suggesting the approach of death.  Harding's tempi are less extreme, but equally purposeful.  He emphasized the inherent  tension between forward-reaching  lines and tight staccato, suggesting  that a powerful transformation is underway even in the presence of annihilation. Harding showed how Mahler's themes of transcendance and renewal were in place even at this point in his career.  The tension Harding creates suggests the power of what is to come, even when it's curtailed, temporarily, by death. If this is a funeral procession, it operates on many levels. The pastoral woodwinds might suggest happy memories of the past.  Quiet, purposeful pizzicato, like footsteps, lead into savage brass climaxes, creating the sense of hard-won stages on a difficult ascent. Perhaps we can already hear the "mountains" in Mahler's Third Symphony, rising ever upwards.

 Then the sudden, anguished descent into silence. The Luftpause which follows is very much part of meaning, "inaudible music" during which one might contemplate the finality of death. Harding sat on a chair, head bowed. Instead, the Royal Albert Hall ushers let in dozens of latecomers, totally destroying the moment of reverence. Someone needs to tell the staff that Luftpauses are not intervals.

The second movement  began with gleeful energy, leading into lyrical Ländler themes, which will recur again through many symphonies to come. Although this movement is marked "Nicht eilen", it should be leisurely rather than slow, for something positive is stirring. Perhaps we begin to hear the Pan theme for Mahler's Third, as summer marches in. Harding took particular care to bring out the life force in the third movement, Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt, an illustration of which stands in Mahler's composer hut.  Like Dionysius, St Anthony is drunk. Perhaps the song is used to indicate the futility of words, which is rather droll, since in this symphony Mahler begins to use voice as part of his orchestral toolbox.  Harding might be more taken with the inherent energy in the leaping figures which suggest the movement of fish, leaping upwards, and swimming away. Exuberant playing here, the passages undertaken with great agility.

Perhaps it's included to illustrate the futility of words, but the liveliness of the writing suggests energy and escape from the sombre mood of the first movement. Harding led his orchestra into a glorious climax: summer is marching in, underlined yet again by the exuberant Fischpredigt allusion to leaping fish. 

 Excellent use of offstage trumpets and trombones, even if some sounds went slightly awry. These sections aren't merely for show, since they illustrate cosmological meaning. Harding's musicians may have to run up and down a lot, but by doing so they literally connect earthly reality with the promise of Heaven. This isn't the "Resurrection" symphony for nothing.  Angels blow horns and trumpets, as do Alpine herdsmen and farmers. Mahler's making connections on all levels. Very possibly, we might think ahead to Mahler's Fourth with its cataclysmic burst of energy. What thrust Harding got from his players, trumpets leading! Processional footseps yet again, this time confident and assured. Having shown us how near we are to the summit, Harding and his orchestra descended once more into quiet reverence. The trumpet solo, calling from the highest reaches oif the Royal Albert Hall, seemed to glow forever, like a sunset. The hushed voices of the Swedish Radio Choir and the Philharmonia Chorus were so well blended that their impact was enhanced: an image of vast panoramas and repose, from which Christianne Stotijn's voice rose with dignity. 

Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du, Mein Staub, nach kurzer Ruh!  Stotijn, Kate Royal, the choruses and orchestra united in a blaze of glorious sound. Crashing cymbals, the klang of metal on metal and a thunderous timpani roll cut short much too soon by an audience too excited to hold back any longer.

Please see my other posts on Mahler, especially Mahler 3 and also my many posts on the BBC Proms

Luminous Mahler 10 Berliner Philharmoniker Harding

New in the Berliner Philharmoniker archive is Saturday's concert, Mahler's Symphony no 10. (Cooke III performing version). Six years ago, Harding made a ground-breaking recording of this symphony with the Wiener Philharmoniker. This performance with the Berliner Philharmoniker is even more stimulating. The Berliners, some of whom have worked with Harding for nearly 20 years, have a different, more muscular sound, supporting an even more intense interpretation.. Read my review of Harding's Mahler 2 at the Proms here)

Mahler's sketches for the Tenth may have been written towards the end of his life, but they represent a new beginning, not an end. As Professor Henri-Louis de la Grange showed in the fourth volume of his monumental biography, Mahler had undergone traumatic changes personally and professionally. Harding's clear, intelligent approach suggests  Mahler on the verge of a visionary creative breakthrough.

The Adagio begins with exquisite refinement : gossamer textures float, enhanced by the entry of a deeper, more resonant theme. The horns break away, as if they're leading us further into the mountains, into the realms of Mahler's creative imagination. This performance is tinged with more sadness than the Vienna recording. Finer pianissimo, so when the expansive theme returns, it surges like a heartfelt cry of regret. But, as in the Third Symphony, a panoramic vista opens. There are further, and higher peaks to climb.  Flutes and woodwinds whip forwards, like the winds on mountains. The dialogues in this movement are well defined. Perhaps they are a reference to Mahler and Alma, his "ewiger weiblicher" Muse.  But what do those chilling “scream” chords”suggest?  Harding observes the moments of near silence, hovering on the brink, so to speak, before those cataclysmic chords explode. The line seems to last forever, an almost electronic blast of near dissonance. Gone now are the allusions to summer and open horizons..Now very high flutes and harp suggest the "alpine" mood transformed into other-worldly stillness.

The Berliners are especially good at creating the swaggering Weltlauf  in the wild first Scherzo, brutally mocking the refinement of the Adagio. Harding deftly juggled the rapid changes of meter, tempo. Harding brings out the manic energy so it contrasts with the softer, more melodic theme. This time the dichotomy between themes feels dangerous, the throwing down of a creative gauntlet?  Small trumpets herald forward progress: the movement ends with glorious, exuberant vigour, tautly defined and energetic.

The Purgatorio is a small movement bridging the first and second scherzos but it's significant in that the duality that runs through the beginning of the symphony changes into a series of individual voices, much as will happen later.

On the title page of the second Scherzo, Mahler writes “The Devil is dancing it with me! Madness, seize me … destroy me! Let me forget that I exist, so that I cease to be.” But a careful observer will note that Mahler then adds “dass ich ver ….” (so that I ….) and trails off without completing the idea. It’s a preposition, but this whole work is a kind of preposition, open ended because it isn't complete.   A delicate yet quirky waltz circulates through this movement, in counterpoise to the demonic tensions. Listen to Daishin Hashimoto, the Leader, play a bittersweet melody: a lone voice distinct from the forces around him.  Then other voices join him : Jonathan Kelly the Principal Oboe, Andreas Blau, the Principal Flute and Daniele Damiano, Principal Bassoon.

Absolute silence, acutely observed to emphasize the transition to the Finale. This is supposed to depict the funeral march of a fireman, which Mahler and Alma watched from their hotel room in New York. The tempi are slow, even for a funeral. It's more symbolic than literal. Very muffled percussion, as if heard in a dream. Bassoons moan, trumpets and horn cry out. Harding's tempi suggest that sound and time hover suspended in some strange limbo. Uncommonly moving.

Then the orchestra springs to life again, revitalized and reanimated. The "soaring" expansive theme of the Adagio returns, this time firmer and more confident. When it builds to a climax, we can hear an echo of the "scream" chord, again held for what seems like eternity. This time the "scream" is not so much raw anguish as paralyzing numbness. Then the oboe reintroduces the "warm" theme. Perhaps it's meant to suggest balm or transcendence. We don't know, but for me that is part of the fascination.  It's much more difficult to play legato finely balanced and as sustained like this, but Harding and the Berliners can do it so well that the music seems to stretch into infinity, dissolving into something so pure and stratospheric that our ears can't hear it. Absolutely true to context.

This is astounding. It might not appeal to those who prefer "easy listening" Mahler or flashy showman conductors, but for me, it's incredibly profound. Harding shows that the sketchy nature of this piece can be an asset, reminding us that we'll never know what Mahler might have done if he'd revised it. The spare, gossamer orchestration reminds us that there are mysteries in life we're never meant to solve.