Last Night's Mahler Sixth: a Real Review
John GibbonsSome Guy irately complained about my irrelevant, sophomoric, and esoteric “non-review” of last night’s performance of Mahler 6, and requested — nay, demanded — that I write a “real” review. To this reproach I can only say “Touche.” So, here is my Official Review, translated into Standard Written Criticalese:
MAESTRO Haitink led a LUCIDLY INFORMED READING of the Mahler Sixth Symphony last night at Symphony Center. IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT, as the ERSTWHILE Concertgebouew leader AMPLY DEMONSTRATED. Classical RESTRAINT was combined with romantic ELAN in a performance that combined URGENCY with METICULOUS PRECISION. KUDOS to the fine playing of Concertmaster Chen, principal horn Clevenger and especially to that finest of trombonists, Jay Friedman. But if I take my hat off to them, I put it back on again when I consider the antics of that percussionist who kept walking on and off the stage. We go to the concerts to see the music as well as hear it, you know!
The tempi were SPACIOUS, but not OVER-BROAD, while the articulations ADMIRABLY combined FINESSE and a sense of stylistic APPOSITENESS with a POWER that NEVER SEEMED FORCED. VELVETY LEGATO GAVE WAY WHEN NECESSARY TO BRUTAL FORCE, and the extreme emotional states evoked by this TRAGIC LANDMARK [Actually this is only too true. -JG] CONFRONTED the listener WITH A SENSE OF HIS OWN MORTALITY. [True, again. -JG]
Anyway, this is the way criticism oughtta be written, pal. And to my irate interlocutor, may I pose the immortal question first posed by the eminent critic Carl Showalter from the movie Fargo: “Happy now, A———?”
Here are some favorite Mahler 6 recordings.
Reader Comments (4)
John,
I know you can do better than complaining about a percussionist walking on and off the stage. Maybe they were sick and did not want to cough on stage? Are you serious that the only negative was a overly mobile percussionist? It must have been one heck of a show!
I'm not surprised about your experience. From what I hear, the CSO musicians are enjoying Haitink quite a bit and i'ts pretty much a sure thing when you hear the CSO play Mahler or Bruckner. You can't say that about all composers but the CSO really seems to have a great deal of ability when it comes to Anton and Gustav.
First of all, Rye, the "review" was totally fabricated. It is not sincere, it was meant as a send-up of newspaper reviews. Second of all, ironically,the walking on and off really did bug me, although I made it into a joke, that was meant to be not indicative of my true feelings. How did you know that although I pretended to be joking about something, as an example of inappropriate critical commentary, I really was annoyed? Weird.Thirdly, I heard the percussionist really was sick. Hope she gets better soon. No fabrication.
Actually in the 6th, Mahler called for off stage bells to be played with the cowbells on stage. When you see the percussionist go off stage, that's because she had to go play those bells behind that opened stage door.
Thanks for the comment, Ming...but the percussionist went on and off over a half dozen times. Turns out she was sick. There are indeed off-stage bells, whose intended tone of "similar, but unharmonious" character Mahler meticulously describes in the score. But I don't think good ol' Gustav meant for a player to have to dart backstage. Hope the percussionist is feelin' better. Being sick is a drag, and she was kinda cute.