Prom 62: Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko – Mahler’s Seventh (3.09.22)

[pastoralguy]

Yes, Daniel not entrusted with this, just the Bruckie.

I was unfortunate enough to hear Harding conduct a Bruckner symphony with the LSO at the Barbican. I’m sure the timpanist had been instructed to leave his sticks at home and pick up a couple of half bricks from a building site. Incredibly unmusical!

[Prommer]

I always think the start of the fourth movement is pure Coates or Walton...!

(Sacrilege to say so, I know)

[edashtav]

I always think the start of the fourth movement is pure Coates or Walton...!

(Sacrilege to say so, I know)

Quite a tribute: Mahler got there, 15 years earlier than his British colleagues.

P.S. Tonight’s performance of the finale is wonderful : the Mastersingers high on acid!

[Prommer]

Quite a tribute: Mahler got there, 15 years earlier than his British colleagues.

P.S. Tonight’s performance of the finale is wonderful : the Mastersingers high on acid!

I know, I know! They just were ripping old Gustav off...

That was absolutely FABULOUS.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I know, I know! They just were ripping old Gustav off...

That was absolutely FABULOUS.

The energy they generated at the start of the finale was absolutely extraordinary…..lovely swaggering performance.

[edashtav]

I know, I know! They just were ripping old Gustav off...

That was absolutely FABULOUS.

Phantasmagorical

[edashtav]

The energy they generated at the start of the finale was absolutely extraordinary…..lovely swaggering performance.

Yes, absolutely extraordinary and the hectic impulsion and momentum was not only sustained but bullt on until the very end.

[bluestateprommer]

Who says?

Well, for one, I do, even if I am an American :) . From hearing Mahler 7 live 3 times (once at the RAH; 2016, Berlin Phil & SSR) and hearing several recordings, IMVHO, Mahler 7 is by far the least coherent and the most ramshackle of the 9. I have orchestra friends who give me the "WTF?" look, especially about the finale, when I've talked with them about Mahler 7. Not every work by every great composer is solid gold, flawless in every way, never to be questioned. Great composers have their off days, just like the rest of us ordinary folk. Mahler 7 is, to my amateurish opinion at least, one of those off days, in the context of his body of work. (FWIW, one of the recordings that makes the finale works as well as I've ever heard it is a perhaps slightly left-field choice, Kirill Kondrashin with the Leningrad Philharmonic.) I was also subconsciously primed, maybe, from seeing the Berliner Festspiele video of Mahler 6 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Klaus Makela, for this afternoon's proceedings.

However, even Mahler on a lame day has something of interest to hear. If an orchestra and conductor are going to play Mahler 7, they pretty much have to go for broke. That is exactly what the Berlin Philharmonic & Kirill Petrenko did here. This Mahler 7 was wonderfully stupendous. Besides what I thought was a slightly wavering trumpet moment in the finale, the BPO and KP were on fire. At the very end, KP did just what Haitink did at the 1986 Kerstmatinee in Amsterdam, namely drag out the penultimate fading chord as long as possible, before slamming home the final chord. The audience roar (credit to them for no applause between movements, rightly saving it all for the end) showed that they realized what they got tonight.

It'll be interesting to see the set-up for KP at the podium tonight from the pics on Twitter when/if they go up, in the context of KP's recent injury that's forcing him to cut back on conducting concerts on this tour. I hope that he's not putting undue strain on his foot, granted that the details of his condition are clearly not public and a private matter.

BTW, for a "compare and contrast" review of the Berlin Phil on tour, with KP and Harding (Google Translator may be required):

https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/news-kritik/kritik-salzburger-festspiele-petrenko-harding-berliner-philharmoniker-100.html

The Berlin PO and KP are scheduled to visit Chicago in mid-November. Assuming that KP doesn't have new health issues from his foot by then, I may have to make plans now.....

Also, on EA's one point early on: I recall that the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill P. were supposed to return to The Proms in 2020, but obviously COVID was too much of a risk at the time, pre-vaccines, and it didn't happen. That would have been their 2nd visit to The Proms. Oh well.

BTW, here are Proms stats on the Mahler symphonies:
#1 = 31
#2 = 20
#3 = 15
#4 = 31
#5 = 32
#6 = 22
#7 = 14
#8 = 9
DLvdE = 20
#9 = 16
#10 (Cooke) = 7

[Nick Armstrong]

It'll be interesting to see the set-up for KP at the podium tonight from the pics on Twitter when/if they go up, in the context of KP's recent injury that's forcing him to cut back on conducting concerts on this tour. I hope that he's not putting undue strain on his foot, granted that the details of his condition are clearly not public and a private matter.

Here’s one from someone I know who was there. The stool tells the story…

[King_Ouf_I]

Here’s one from someone I know who was there. The stool tells the story…

Stool also had a footrest… but he only sat on it between movements and never put his foot up! He also walked on and off stage without a stick.

[RichardB]

Mahler 7 is by far the least coherent and the most ramshackle of the 9.

What you think of as incoherence and ramshackleness might alternatively be thought of as a composition in the form of a many-coloured mosaic that contains enormous diversity within itself, which refuses to be pigeonholed into one or another category of expressiveness, something very modern.

[makropulos]

Yes, absolutely extraordinary and the hectic impulsion and momentum was not only sustained but bullt on until the vety end.

What an absolutely stunning performance! The finale was utterly thrilling.

[edashtav]

What you think of as incoherence and ramshackleness might alternatively be thought of as a composition in the form of a many-coloured mosaic that contains enormous diversity within itself, which refuses to be pigeonholed into one or another category of expressiveness, something very modern.

‘MOSAIC’ ! Exactly: something new.

[smittims]

Can anyone tell me what instrument played the part designated inthe score as 'tenor horn'? In my experience it can be a euphonium, tenor saxhorn or tenor wagner-tuba (all in Bflat).

Confusingly, in England 'tenor horn ' is the common name of the alto saxhorn, in E flat, played in brass bands.

[edashtav]

In the roll call after the perfirmance I think the instrument was identified as a Euphonium but, given that the orchestra was the BPO, I doubted that was correct. ‘Tenor saxhorn’, said my ears