M8 in Boston
I think I can now say with certainty that M8 is my least favorite Mahler symphony. It's the only Mhler Symphony I have not her liv as it is not frequently performed in large part due to the personnel requirements. (It's not called the "Symphony of 1000" for no reason.) Or maybe I was just not thrilled by Nelsons and the BSO last night. I’ve seen more than my share of conductors but although the Bostonites will condemn me for saying this, Nelsons just didn’t impress me. (The last time I was at the Hall decades ago, I saw Ozawa). Nelsons is not particularly animated and maybe Mahler is just not his thing (as is Shostakovich), but it just felt to me like a tired and worn performance that he could have phoned in, with some exceptions. I was also not particularly impressed by the BSO as good as they are, as there were many glitches in surprising places such as first violin. The horns, particularly French horns, were wonderful. Woodwinds were very good. The double bass were good but for a hall renowned for its acoustics, the bass sound doesn’t compare to Musikverein, Carnegie or Geffen. The lower brass did not impress me in particular. The organ however, knocked me out. Probably the best organ in a hall I’ve ever heard with the possible exception of Meyerson in Dallas. The Children’s choir was exceptional!
The one thing that was most disappointing were the sight lines from the orchestras parquet. Virtually all halls use staggered seating so you can look between the 2 people in front of you. Not a Symphony Hall. The tallest guy in Boston sat right in front of me so I had to lean around one side or the other to see the stage from excellent mid/rear orchestra seats. Inexcusable. Very good sonics as everyone knows, but no comparison to Musikverein (on which it was modeled; same proportions only slightly larger). I actually prefer Carnegie and Geffen, at least from my usual seats. Seat location always matters. And speaking of seats, what idiot designer decided to install the most uncomfortable seats ever made into that hall? It’s like they want you to leave before the performance is over. If I heard Yuja Wang do all 4 Rach concertos there instead of Carnegie last year, I’d have to be hospitalized for backpain by the 3rd concerto.
As far as M8, I was troubled throughout. Part 1 was really very good, and received separate applause before the BSO began Part 2. But I couldn’t help thinking that in Part 1, all the praise for God and Jesus came from the liturgy chosen by a Bohemian born Jew who probably made a conscious decision to write a piece that would appease the vehemently antisemitic mayor of Vienna. But it obviously didn’t work as they fired his ass from the Vienna Phil anyway despite his conversion to Christianity. (Mahler then moved to the US in 1908 to lead the Metropolitan Opera and then the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra which eventually became the Ny Philharmonic, before returning to Austria to die in 1911.) The music was rich and beautiful as only Mahler can be although it didn’t have his usual themes (song of the Wayfarer, military marches, Viennese dances). Still gorgeous and inspirational at times. No surprise. After all, it’s Mahler. Part 2 however was a wrecking ball. Some beautiful orchestration but the lyrics? I couldn’t figure out the Faust story at all. What I got was a homage to the “eternal feminine who uplifts us” which was not only a reference to the Virgin Mary, but to Mahler’s wife Alma, to whom the piece was dedicated. In the meantime, at the time M8 was written, she was having an affair with the architect Gronius (who she eventually married). I guess that’s one way to get a symphony dedicated to you.
What impressed me the most was looking at Nelsons, who was a rather obese guy the last time I saw photos of him. I think my Lilly stock went up solely because of him and possibly Oprah. Semaglutides really are miracle drugs.
Now that Boston Symphony Hall is off my bucket list, the only halls in the US I want to visit are Disney in LA in Verizon in Philly. I’m looking forward to going to Concertgebouw in January to hear the wunderkind Klauss Makela.
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