The orchestras in the north and east of the country both have something withMahler in December. Phion, ‘orchestra of Gelderland and Overijssel’, programsa symphony every year around Christmas, this year with conductor Claus PeterFlor and the gigantic Third. Permanent guest conductor Antony Hermus isworking on a cycle of all symphonies with the Noord Nederlands Orkest. Thisyear he did Tenth , of which Mahler only completed the first part; Hermuschose the version completed by Deryck Cooke.
Phion’s tour started in Enschede on Friday evening. The six-piece _Third_symphony, the longest in the standard repertoire, is not an easy piece to getto grips with, with the grotesquely oversized opening movement (with Flor aneat, almost brisk 32 minutes), the alto solo, the choir, the multitude ofmusical ideas and finally the magisterial Adagio. The whole thing took justunder an hour and forty minutes.
There was something Karajan about Flor, with his gray hair, his stocky buildand his resolute broad gestures. The intended grandeur did not yet materializein the opening part, the numerous climaxes were too uniform for that and thedynamic bandwidth remained too narrow. The chamber musical moments in thefollowing movements worked much better, although the pure sound beauty wasoften missing when Mahler stops time; and therein lies the magic. There werebeautiful solo contributions from flute, oboe and violin, among others. In thecopper, a few stiff sizes stood out.
The vocal parts four and five stood proudly, thanks to Concensus Vocalis,children from the National Youth Choir and the National Boys’ Choir and mezzo-soprano Katarina Bradić, who effortlessly filled the hall with her wonderfullydark sound, even in the low register. Then followed the highlight of theevening: the seamless entry of the final movement, with that elegant, wide-ranging, lifestyle melody, by the strings. In the final, the right balance wasnot yet completely struck, but you suspected a growth potential that Phioncould realize next week.
Hermus and the NNO played the Tenth Saturday in De Oosterpoort for thesecond and last time. Mahler died before he could complete the orchestrationand the symphony was therefore considered unperformable for a long time, butsince the 1960s various musicologists have created a playable score. Cooke’sversion (who was blessed by Alma Mahler) is the best known. There are greatconductors who think that you should stay away from the symphony, or that youshould only play the opening movement; but why not try to catch a glimpse ofMahler’s last vision?
There was a lot to be said for this, especially at the NNO, because theperformance was rock solid. The long first part was well constructed andshowed a warm-blooded sound. The first Scherzo peaked very quickly, but theshort middle section, Purgatorio, was a great play of contrasting themes,light-footed against dark grunts. A thunderous death drum heralded thecaptivating final movement. After the last sounds faded, Hermus held thetension wonderfully and there was silence for almost a minute—a catharticsilence, during which the music became even more beautiful.
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