Mahler Symphony no.7/Philharmonia/Gustavo Dudamel/RFH/live/R3/14 Nov 2013/19:30hrs

[jayne lee wilson]

Roll up roll up for one of the hottest events of the musical winter as the young Venezuelan takes London's most virtuoso orchestra through Mahler's most concerto-for-orchestral symphony, the Song of the Night which finishes with a burst of brilliant sunshine - which we all need more than ever in November, GB's most meteorologically predictable month.

Mahler Symphony No.7

Philharmonia Orchestra/Gustavo Dudamel

Already a sell-out, unless you've got tickets there's only one place to be... so it's time to spool out that ten-meter length of ethernet Cat 6 across the lounge carpet and log on to HDs....

[Colonel Danby]

Jayne, as any fule kno, I am and always have been since I were a nipper in short trousers, an out and out Uncle Simes groupie, and have Rattle's wonderful Seventh with the CBSO recorded live at Snape Maltings. Very often the piece doesn't hold together as it does in other works, but Rattle makes a very good case for it. I haven't got tickets, but as he rates Dudamel very highly, I shall certainly be tuning in, especially as the orchestra will be the Philharmonia (managing director my old music teacher).

[amateur51]

Thanks for flagging this up. I was mightily cheesed off at myself for not noticing this concert in sufficient time to get a ticket.

[pastoralguy]

I listened to a Japanese edition of Tennstedt's No. 7 a couple of nights ago. Probably my favourite Mahler symphony by far.

I shall try to mini-disc the Dude's performance.

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks for flagging this up. I was mightily cheesed off at myself for not noticing this concert in sufficient time to get a ticket.

You and me both

Thank heavens for Radio 3!

Hurrah \0/

[teamsaint]

You and me both

Thank heavens for Radio 3!

Hurrah \0/

to make it worse, there were tickets available in the last couple of weeks.

[marvin]

The sound on R3 sounds pretty ropey at the moment - congested but a sense of a live concert I suppose.

[Alison]

Perfect synthesis of aural imagination and symphonic cohesion. Satisfying in every respect. Exceptional.

[Alison]

Oh Skellers, you came in far too early.

[Barbirollians]

Oh Skellers, you came in far too early.

I suspect a director was telling him to !

I have been working late so only caught the finale - which struck me as excellent.

[EdgeleyRob]

Sounded pretty damn good to me.
Listening on my little personal DAB radio as I walked the dogs was maybe not and ideal way to listen,and yet it was,by the river,in the dark,somehow.

[jayne lee wilson]

Did Maestro Dudamel leave anything out tonight, d'you think?

Well, no... About as perfectly conceived, executed and expressed a Mahler 7 as you could hope to hear, a performance of breathtaking brilliance and subtlety, with just a barely perceptible slip or two in the finale to smudge the sheen.
The excellent HDs relay left nothing out either, but I found the slight drop in level for the last few bars a little odd given the dynamic splendour of that last, summational climax. After the extraordinary orchestral and musical precision of the reading, I guess this can only have been a conductor's decision - "that's all, folks!"

(Worth checking this on iPlayer later, and hall reports would be useful).

[Nick Armstrong]

Listening on my little personal DAB radio as I walked the dogs was maybe not and ideal way to listen,and yet it was,by the river,in the dark,somehow.

That'll do !

[Zucchini]

Still some tickets available at Symphony Hall tomorrow (Fri 15 Nov)

[teamsaint]

That'll do !

sounds cool , ER.

I managed to have my listening interupted a few times, and took the opportunity to try

FM on my main system
Hi quality online R3
Another ( possibly?) R3 online feed.
ipod with headphones
MP3 player FM with same headphones

Not a record, but not ideal for judging anything really. As somebody else said, though, the start sounded ropey (on ordinary FM) !!