EIF: RSNO: Mahler’s Third Symphony

Usher Hall – 23/08/22

Marvellous Mahler

It’s been a long time since I heard Mahler’s monumental Third Symphony live, and this performance by the RSNO with their principal conductor, Thomas Søndergård, was magnificent, both in concept and realisation. The longest of his symphonies, it is also his most optimistic, and sweeps the audience along in its breath-taking sound world. What a year 1902 was, with world premieres of “Pelléas et Mélisande” and Mahler’s Third Symphony! The Debussy created the biggest storm, but perhaps the Mahler was the most extraordinary. Unleashed on the unsuspecting citizens of Krefeld (the German equivalent to Airdrie, with all due respect to Airdrie), this vast symphony, following on from the also vast Second Symphony, made a lot of people notice Gustav Mahler for the first time as a composer, rather than just as a great conductor who wrote a few tunes.

The concert started with an extra piece, written by Sir James MacMillan, to honour the memory of Zoe Kitson, the RSNO’s principal cor anglais player from 2006-2014, who recently died at the very young age of 44. This poignant piece for cor anglais, string quartet and harp was a fitting tribute to a fine player and much-loved colleague who died far too soon.

Mr Søndergård held the end of the MacMillan piece movingly, and then launched into the glorious opening of the Mahler, whose first movement is longer than many Mozart symphonies! The composer famously considered sub-titles for each movement, and, although he discarded the ideas, there is no doubt that they help us to understand the structure. ‘Summer marches in’ was the moniker for the first movement, and one can identify suggestions of awesome alpine majesty, the sounds of nature in bird calls and rustic folk songs, and the jaunty swagger of a marching band. Growing up in the garrison town of Jihlava in Bohemia, Mahler will have heard daily military music from the barracks. I have been to Jihlava, and it’s now a sleepy Czech town with an enormous town square, where you can imagine trumpets and bugles playing at all times. A special shout out goes to the beautiful trombone playing of Simon Johnson in this movement.

A very well-behaved audience managed not to clap the boisterous end of the first movement, and soon we were transfixed by the lovely minuet of the second movement (‘what the flowers of the meadow tell me’), and ushered into the scherzo (‘what the animals of the forest tell me’). Here, the jolly games of the forest creatures are interrupted twice by a mysterious off-stage post horn, lovingly played by Mark O’Keefe.

At this point, Mahler introduces the human voice for the first time in the symphony, as the alto soloist sings Nietzsche’s enigmatic verses about man’s struggles to make sense of the world around. This deeply moving movement was sung by the American dramatic soprano, Linda Watson, a fine singer strangely miscast, her voice lying at odds with the music.

The next, fifth movement introduces the female chorus (Edinburgh Festival Chorus) and the children’s chorus (RSNO Youth Chorus) in the delightful ‘morning bells’ section, where the alto soloist and choir look for repentance for St Peter’s betrayal of Jesus.

Finally, the wondrous sixth movement (‘what love tells me’) unfolded in all its magisterial splendour, the overlapping melodies growing ever more splendid, the strings taking us to emotional highs and ecstasies, crowned by the glorious major finale with all the instruments at their most expressive, and both sets of timpani (Paul Philbert and Paul Stoneman) thundering out their message of hope and love.

In a world where everything seems to be going wrong, this was an affirmation that music and love will triumph. With special mentions due to the magnificent woodwind section, the delightful violin solos of the leader, Maya Iwabuchi, and the fabulous nine strong horn section, led by Christopher Gough, it was the control and total commitment of Thomas Søndergård which dominated this marvellous concert, his balletic, flowing conducting style providing an elegant and positive vision of Mahler’s great symphony. An unforgettable Festival concert!

Cover photo: Andrew Perry