Sir Mark Elder bows out with Mahler 5 in Edinburgh

Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé

The Hallé and Edinburgh Festival Chorus

By Simon Thompson, 18 August 2024

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“not just a big bang to bring down the curtain”

Reviewed at Usher Hall, Edinburgh on 17 August 2024

Boulanger, Psalm 130 “Du fond de l’abîme”

Mahler, Symphony no. 5 in C sharp minor

Elgar, Chanson de Nuit

Anna Stéphany, Mezzo-soprano

Edinburgh Festival Chorus

The Hallé

Sir Mark Elder, Conductor

James Grossmith, Choirmaster / chorus director

Tarmo Peltokoski conducts the Hallé in Mahler and Vaughan Williams

Leighton Jones, 16th April

Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder provide an apt, if somewhat unexpected, partner to Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.

****1

Concertos – for violin and for orchestra – from the Hallé

Peter Connors, 22nd March

Viktoria Mullova is a superb soloist in Brahms' Violin Concerto, while an orchestra full of soloists play Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra with Kahchun Wong presiding.

*****

Nico Muhly’s vision of the end of the world comes to Sheffield

Phil Parker, 15th March

Doom – both personal and cosmic – and its aftermath are the focus of Alpesh Chauhan’s Hallé concert at Sheffield’s City Hall.

****1

Avant-garde echoes meet minimalist soundscapes in Hallé concert

Pwyll ap Sion, 26th February

Jonny Greenwood’s genre-defying music is given a powerful performance by violinist Daniel Pioro and members of The Hallé Orchestra under Hugh Tieppo-Brunt.

****1

Celestial journeys with Kahchun Wong and the Hallé

Rohan Shotton, 19th February

Kahchun Wong returns to The Hallé for Holst and Unsuk Chin, with a postscript from Colin Matthews

***11

The Hallé brings Salonen, Grieg and Sibelius to Sheffield

Phil Parker, 23rd January

Dazzling young German pianist Julius Asal and stand-in conductor Duncan Ward breathe new life into the familiar in repertoire by Grieg and Sibelius.

****1

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Simon Thompson

Simon lives and works in Edinburgh, and teaches History and Modern Studies at a local high school when he is not writing about music. Born an Irishman, he is an enthusiastic adopted Scot, and has lived in the capital for fifteen years since university days, making the most of its many avenues for classical music. He spends his spare time enthusing about music, theatre, art and literature to anyone who will listen, including his long-suffering students, who have no choice.

Sir Mark Elder bows out with Mahler 5 at the Edinburgh International Festival