There’s already a review on Bachtrack of Sir Mark Elder conducting Mahler’s Fifth Symphony this summer, and there could have been several more. As his tenure in charge of the Hallé draws to its close, Mahler 5 is the work that Elder chose for his farewell tour of several venues and festivals. But however many reviews there have been of his long goodbye, this will be the last, because this performance at the Edinburgh International Festival was Elder’s very last performance as the Hallé’s Music Director; his final farewell.
He spoke movingly at the end about how delighted he was that his final performance in the role should be at this festival, and the Edinburgh audience was lucky that it came at the end of the farewell run, because the benefits of them playing this work together so many times were really clear. Elder knows the work inside out, but wears it lightly so that touches like the big climaxes were prepared but not unduly highlighted. Take the big brass chorale that appears to such effect in both the second and fifth movements: hints of it were dropped and subtly pointed up before it blazed into being in the second movement; but when it did, almost screaming with excitement, you could still hear the swirl of the violins under it, so well maintained was the balance. Then when it eventually bubbled over at the end of the finale there was as wonderful sense of consummation to the whole symphony, not just a big bang to bring down the curtain.
After a quarter century of concerts the Hallé players seem to be able to read Elder’s mind, so richly blended was their orchestral tone, and they responded with every tool in their arsenal to make this last performance special. There was the luxurious warmth of the strings, tearing through the dark energy of the first two movements and then marvellously rich in the Adagietto; there were the woodwinds that could shriek or chuckle as well as any on continental Europe; and the glowing choir of brass instruments that stole the show whenever Mahler gave them the chance.
It says a lot about Elder as a musician that in his final Hallé concert he chose to conduct what was, for him, a new work. Lili Boulanger’s setting of Psalm 130 seemed to create the abyss out of which Mahler’s symphony struggled, and the consuming darkness of the Hallé sound for it was remarkable, with gloomy double basses and dark low brass. The Edinburgh Festival Chorus barely lifted the mood when they entered, with their descending cries of lament, though the plangent tone of mezzo Anna Stéphany, brought the music closer to its final destination of forgiveness. It felt like a miniature Wagnerian music drama, where everything conspired to create a very distinctive mood. Here, however, everything was clearly delineated, never flabby, always pointed firmly towards the music’s dramatic end.
The assembled dignitaries were out in force for the big occasion, wearing their chains of office. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were in the audience too, as was Dame Janet Baker. But there was no doubt as to who the real VIP in the room was. He laid down his baton to the warmly lyrical strains of Elgar’s Chanson de Nuit, and with that, he was gone.
