With Prom 67, Andris Nelsons returned to the Royal Albert Hall, London with part of his old band, the CBSO Chorus and CBSO Youth Chorus, and his current band, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in a superb performance of Mahler Symphony no 3 in D minor. Like all organizations whose strength is the people within, orchestras need motivation and leadership. The BSO sounds transformed since their last visit to London in 2015 (please read more here), and infinitely more alive than their previous visit eleven years ago. The brass and celli in particular sound rejuvenated. Warming up for this Prom, I'd been listening to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra where Nelsons is now Chief Conductor, marvelling how the brass there sounds golden and resonant, rarely "brassy". There's a lot of brass in Mahler 3 but it's not a symphony where brassiness or flash exists for its own sake. Nelsons understood why the brass sections matter and how they contribute to the whole symphony in context. In any case, bringing some of the Leipzig glow to any other orchestra is quite an achievement.
This was an excellent Mahler 3 because it was sensitive, respecting the subtitles which Mahler used as a kind of scaffolding as he built the symphony. Notice those titles : "What the Flowers in the Meadow tell me", "What the Animals in the Forest tell me" and "What the Angels tell me". Flowers, animals and angels can't speak: you have to listen on a much deeper level to understand. Thus Mahler withdrew the "scaffolding" so audiences would have to pay proper attention. In a world where muzak values are replacing music values, this is even more pertinent.
The first movement in itself is as long as some entire symphonies, but Nelsons understands the inner structure, which progresses in peaks and planes. Again and again, trumpets lead forward, percussion marking emphatic endings, yet the second theme emerged quietly, heralded by muffled timpani. Very airy-sounding violin and woodwind figures lit the way for the return of the "march" theme, where trombones added darker colours. Yet quieter details mattered, like the hushed diminuendo before the whirlwind of woodwinds, livening the brisk marching pace. Now, sassy, sweeping brass made joyous entry. "Pan awakes", revealing vast panoramas full of promise. The horn call, though, was more restrained, appropriately, for in the mountains, horns are designed to reach over long distances. Thus the solo violin, gentle pizzicato, and harps suggesting perhaps the human world beneath the horizon. A well shaped "wild descent", and a moment to reflect before the next "peak" where percussion and brass interacted : a march though not a funeral march other than in the sense of marking the end of the first stage in this journey. Thus the muted "marching" celli and strings, and the expansive flourish that followed.
After this invigorating first movement, the sweetness and delicacy of the second made complete sense. Again and again in Mahler images of meadows in summer recur as symbols of happiness, won after struggle or remembered during struggle. Mahler was a man who hiked and biked and knew the rhythms. A nice perky start to the third movement, the woodwinds imitating birdsong, a direct quote from the Wunderhorn song Ablösung im Sommer ("Kuckuck ist tod!") . The posthorn, heard from afar, might evoke many things, such as distance, or the inevitable change of time. Yet no lingering, Nelsons keeping the pace exuberant, so the return of the distant posthorn felt suitably poignant, the orchestra an afterglow before the finale, where the brass led a hurtling climax.
This set the mood for the mysterioso movement. "O Mensch, gibt ach !" sang Susan Graham. "What Man tells me", might be an eternal cycle of suffering and rebirth. "Tiefe, tiefe Ewigkeit!". Graham's timbre is lighter than many others, some of whom bring out the Herculean Earth Mother depth in the song, but this works well with this more lively interpretation of the symphony, introducing the glorious highlight of the fifth movement. Excellent interplay between the voices of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Youth Chorus, and Miss Graham, which reflects to some extent the interplay between brass and percussion in the first movement. The Youth Chorus’s voices were exceptionally fresh, the bimm bamm's ringing with angelic purity.
Whatever the final movement may signify, its long lines stretch into the distance : the strings and brass doing what the post horn did earlier but now present directly within the orchestra. The jaunty march at the beginning of the symphony gives way to what might seem serenity, but may be more complex. Again the brass lead the orchestra into crescendo, suggesting that the march remains, operating as a pulse behind the swathes of orchestral colour. The brass again called forth, percussion crashing : a wonderful moment of near silence from which the solo voice of the violin sang clean and clear. The finale an anthem of confidence, repeating like the march that went before, and ending with emphatic timpani-led tutti.
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