SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Tishchenko, Mahler: Tim Hugh (cello), London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (conductor): Barbican Hall: 22nd November, 2007 (AVE)

This much hyped ‘Gergiev’s Mahler’ cycle brought a packed audience to the Barbican Hall but it turned out that we heard  a rather rugged and sensational Gustav Mahler’s ‘Tragic’ Sixth Symphony; sounding far closer the Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

The LSO’s programme began with a rarely heard account of Tishchenko’s twenty-five minute Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 23 (1963) in Shostakovich’s imaginative orchestration. However LSO Principal Cellist Tim Hugh simply seemed out of his depth throughout,  failing to have a rapport with the work's impending doom and anxiety. Hugh played in a rather detached manner,  out of tune with the composer's meandering moods. The tone of his instrument which  often  felt scrawny and sour sounding and his indistinct and disinterested voice was often lost amongst the orchestral strings. Yet the highly distinctive LSO woodwind played with style and panache with the voice of Shostakovich clearly shining through.

This series was rightly billed as ‘Gergiev’s Mahler’ and it most certainly was just that:   I have never heard Mahler conducted so ferociously and forcefully before. Throughout,  Valery Gergiev  often over emphasised the brass.  making it sound like a parody of military music bringing out a raw brutalism or what Jim Pritchard rightly perceived as: “A reign of terror from beginning to end”  (see review.)

Gergiev’s Mahler Sixth simply lacked a sense of subtlety as Ivan Hewett observed: “Having now been blistered in the heat and fury of his performance of Mahler's 6th, I can assert with some confidence that Gergiev's Mahler cycle will not be notable for its orchestral suavity or Viennese charm. The sound was often harsh.”  (The Daily Telegraph, 28.11.2007).

Arguably, Gergiev’s harsh, brute and hard driven ‘Tragic’ merely masked a mature and subtle understanding of the score’s dynamic contrasts, complex structure, and subtle scoring that necessarily demand many years of studying.  Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer both professed as to: ‘not understanding’ Mahler’s 6^th and never conducted it yet Klemperer would have been the ideal conductor in grasping the vast structure of the last movement with granite like strength and measured rock-steady assurance. Klemperer said to Peter Heyworth: ”I played the celesta at a performance conducted by Oscar Fried in Berlin, and I think Mahler was present; yes, he was. It’s a great work.  But I must honestly say that I don’t understand it.”  (Conversations with Klemperer, Peter Heyworth, Victor Gollancz, 1973). 

Mahler was well aware of the pitfalls involved in interpreting his works which are essentially conceived of as conductor’s music in the sense that they are choreographed for the conductor -  with strict instructions from the composer -  whilst also demanding and even insisting that a conductor should make cuts or even re-orchestrate if need be.  Indeed,  Scherchen made cuts to the 5^th Symphony whilst Mitropoulos made cuts to the 3rd Symphony  both of which are necessary in my view. Mahler actually said: “The trouble is I cannot orchestrate…If, after my death, something doesn’t sound right, then change it. You have not only the right but the duty to do so.” (Conversations with Klemperer, Peter Heyworth, Victor Gollancz, 1973).  Gergiev certainly takes heed to Mahler’s advice and gives the score an unleashed savagery I have never heard before. We have all seen those publicity stills of an unshaven Gergiev looking rather rough and  rugged and this savage stance came across in his wild and manic Mahler.

The first movement Allegro energico was far too fast with Gergiev ignoring Mahler’s ma non troppo  marking. Thus he failed to articulate the slightly dragged and heavy accented down beat march rhythms with the double bases lacking body and weight. Double bases and cellos are so essential in this movement and must be prominent as they help to project the ongoing march like thread. Gergiev seemed to give them scant attention (unlike Barbirolli who articulated an appropriate gutsy heaviness here (see further listening). From beginning to end everything was articulated in the same harsh and brutal manner resulting in orchestral textures often sounding smudged and congested with essential detail being lost. Throughout,  Gergiev lacked a sense of dynamic contrasts or subtle shifts of mood or tempi and all was reduced to sheer brute noise that often hurt the ears. However, what were subtle were the correctly subdued cowbells which had the sensation of sounding on distant hills.

The placing of the serene Andante moderato  straight after the first movement (where Mackerras puts it) makes more sense than having a further repetition of the relentless pounding march just heard (and which sadly is most often done that way today). What let this potentially moving movement down was the lacklustre, wiry and thin LSO strings with the violins sounding rather undernourished : I simply remained unmoved. However, not all was lost since the horn solo and raucous woodwind played with a pointed and poetic elegance. The central climax was also far too loud however with the bass drum in the central climax sounding absurdly comic and out of place.

The Scherzo was also  too loud and hard driven and certainly did not sound like what Alma Mahler claimed to be the “un-rhythmic games of their children”.  Once again.  everything was 'in your face' and over inflated. The timpanist produced an ugly reverberant tone producing a slight after echo that was annoying; Gergiev seems to have no control over the timpanist’s tone or dynamics with players in a sort of free for all and do your own thing: an anarchy of uncontrolled noises destroyed this Mozartean movement.

The real test of any conductor is the colossal 30 minute plus Allegro moderato last movement, which really needs a Klemperer, Kubelik, Rosbaud or Gielen to  grasp  its colossal structure, dynamic range and subtle orchestration: this music is actually often very chamber-like and not all mere Sturm und Drang bombast.

Gergiev took the last movement too fast once again and seemed unable the set  steady tempi and pulse. Lacking a sense of architectural line and structural grasp resulted in the movement sounding fragmented and becoming a disconnected series of scenes rather than  one ongoing saga of continuous struggle. The two hammer blows simply had no effect at all for they were completely lost amongst the loudness of the orchestra: this is the first time I have heard the hammer blows sound so effete and ineffectual largely because they were swamped. (When I saw Karajan conduct the Mahler 6^th with the Berlin Philharmonic at the RFH the hammer blows had a nailing metallic intensity: exactly how Mahler wanted it to sound).

The brass threnody in the closing passages should have sounded  more mellow and brooding but simply had no sense of expiring and melting away into nothingness (as Kubelik’s Bavarian Radio account achieves so well by making the brass section sound really weary  as they should, This is uncannily akin to the mellow melancholic brass in the closing of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathetique’ Symphony; something that one might reasonably have expected   Gergiev to notice).

While Mahler’s music invites a plurality of interpretations, I felt that Gergiev’s savage  ‘Tragic’ did not offer any really radical new insights from this highly complex and colossal score. Today Mahler is conducted far too often and often far too badly and I would argue that rather than performing yet more marathon Mahler symphony cycles,  it is high time that the under rated and under played symphonies of Allan Pettersson (1911-1980) - which are as relevant and as important as Mahler’s symphonies - were performed instead. Mahler once said: “My day will come.” It did. It is now time for Petterrsson’s day.

This concert will be broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on January 31st 2008.

Alex Verney-Elliott

Further listening:

Mahler: 6^th Symphony: New Philharmonia Orchestra, Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, London Symphony Orchestra; Sir John Barbirolli: EMI Classics: GEMINI: 3 65285 26: 2 CDs.

Mahler: 6^th Symphony; Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra: SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden & Freiburg, Michael Gielen: HÄNSSLER CLASSIC CD 93.029: 2 CDs.

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