CityLife

BBC Philharmonic: Matthews, Mahler

BBC Philharmonic: Mahler, Matthews
Bridgewater Hall
April 24, 2010

Of all the Mahler symphonies, the seventh is the toughest assignment. Even the composer’s fans admit it has its problems, and, at 80 minutes and five movements, it is demanding in every way.

Much of its challenge, it seems to me, lies in the fact that is a reaction against everything that had gone before – using so many of the gestures and atmospheres of the earlier symphonies, but questioning their significance. In one sense, almost every note is ironic. The literally Stygian nature of the opening theme (suggested to Mahler by the swish of an oarsman) is the key to all that follows.

Of course it needs to be supremely well played for that to communicate. It’s a measure of Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic’s achievement on Saturday that it was – and it did. From the mid-section of the first movement onwards, Noseda caught the nascent valedictoriness which swallows up the energetic and sentimental moods preceding it. 

And there was a sense of evanescence in the briskly presented waltz of the third movement, while the finale exuded false optimism, with just enough exaggeration to undermine the shrilly positive outlook apparently being expressed.

The two Nachtmusiken interludes – offering escapism that finally disintegrates – contained beautiful solo playing from the Philharmonic’s ranks, and were delicately and thoughtfully handled, a pleasure in their own right. I should also praise the incisiveness of the brass, particularly the trombone trio.

The first part of the concert was another seventh symphony – David Matthews’, receiving its world premiere. Its greatest virtue was in its solution of the problems of a short, single-movement work. Its four sections and coda, with shifting speeds, were built from a theme that began as lush, almost cinematic melody, with romantic orchestral colour and a few moments of Vaughan Williams-like string writing.

Its vicissitudes lead to a thunderous cadenza for timpani (Paul Turner), with doom-laden tocsins before a gradual return to equilibrium and the original tune. So far, so very good, though I felt that David Matthews had rather over-egged the Mahlerian pudding, not so much by his rich orchestration but by his decision to make it end with a huge major-key affirmation, which seemed simply out of proportion to all the rest.

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