Yannick conducts Mahler and Hilary Hahn (2nd review)

Unlike the critics Dan Rottenberg refers to in his recent BSR review, I was never puzzled by the hodgepodge of moods and orchestral effects in Mahler's First Symphony (and most of his others). On the contrary, that hodgepodge is one of the qualities that attracted me to Mahler.

I reacted that way, I think, because I'm a reader who grew up in a time when writers had realized that modern audiences value economy and pace. We don't need transitions. Just type in a line break and hop us to the next interesting bit.

That doesn't mean that every scene must involve a car chase or a gunfight. The next bit can be a touch of comedy, a character portrait or a glob of sentimentality. Just make it interesting. And different. As Mahler usually does.

Dan hears Mahler's First Symphony as a forecast of the tragedy that hit Europe in 1914. There's no reason why he shouldn't think of it that way, but I'm content with a less specific viewpoint. I've always preferred the idea that Mahler's symphonies create whole worlds, in the same way a sprawling novel captures all the moods and contradictions that form the untidy panorama of human life.

Why Europe imploded

I would also disagree with Dan's contention that the old European order fell because it was afflicted with a "rotting infrastructure beneath the surface grandeur." Many people felt life was getting better in the Belle Époque, and they had every reason to think the forward movement would continue. It was derailed by a military catastrophe that took place for many reasons.

One of the most important was the long period without a general European war, from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 to the mobilization of 1914. Without the firsthand experience of such a war, the political and intellectual leaders of the period found it easy to glamorize war and convince themselves it would be quick and cheap.

As American military officers like to put it, they had never seen a sucking chest wound.

Beyond the brass

Interesting as all that is, I didn't leave the Kimmel Center pondering Mahler's worldview. For me, the most interesting aspect of that Philadelphia Orchestra program was Yannick Nézet-Séguin's conducting.

Most conductors can wow the audience with the symphony's big finish, in which the reinforced brass section stands at the back of the stage, sailing fanfares across the rest of the orchestra. Yannick proved once again that he can lead the orchestra through the parts of Mahler's landscape that require sensitivity and precision.

Mahler wrote for big orchestras, but he didn't use them merely to make loud noises. He used them as a big palette that offered him an infinite number of combinations. In the second movement, for example, Yannick displayed a clear grasp of the way Mahler mixes basses, winds and violins.

The Philadelphia Orchestra needed an exciting young conductor, and Yannick is surely filling the demand. But Orchestra patrons should all be grateful that the management signed a musician who can provide something more than sizzle.

Hahn's odd choice

Any concert that features a Mahler symphony automatically becomes a major event. Add an appearance by the violinist Hilary Hahn and you get two major events on one ticket.

In this case, Hahn's choice of concertos produced an event that was a bit less major than it could have been. In his after-concert chat with the audience, Yannick said Hahn gave him a choice of three concertos, and he picked Korngold's because he felt it fit with the rest of the program. It's a difficult piece, Yannick said, and Hilary Hahn has been championing it.

Korngold wrote the concerto in 1945, after a long period as a top movie composer. It's a good piece and Hahn, as I expected, got as much out of it as any soloist could. But it follows a predictable arc, like a script that includes everything the audience expects. I would have been happier if Hahn had played something with more bite and individuality, like one of the Shostakovich concertos.

For me, the high point of Hahn's appearance was her encore: a slow movement from one of Bach's pieces for unaccompanied violin. I've never heard anyone play Bach that lyrically, and she did it without adding anything that sounded false or excessive.♦


To read another commentary on this concert by Dan Rottenberg, click here.