Normally reluctant to provide programmatic explanations to his work, Gustav Mahler described his five-part Seventh Symphony to a Swiss critic as “three night pieces with the finale representing bright day, and a first movement as a foundation for the whole”. Despite its “simple”, symmetrical structure, the symphony has been considered problematic by many renowned interpreters due to the awkwardness of its last movement (viewed by Deryck Cooke, a veritable champion of Mahler’s oeuvre, as a case of Kappelmeistermusik – bland, “correct”, lacking inspiration). It is the least performed of Mahler’s major works. Truly successful performances that can make this finale a culmination of the eighty minutes of music are rare.
On Saturday night at Carnegie Hall, a rendition by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Mariss Jansons was not very far from such an ideal performance. The tumultuous Allegro ordinario didn’t seem a negation of the music heard in prior movements but a valid extension. The colorful mixture of brass chorales, peasant dance tunes or references to Wagner’s Meistersinger and Lehár’s Merry Widow didn’t seem out of place. As he attempted in the first movement, Jansons threw light on every little detail of an outstanding orchestration. All instrumental voices, from the high-pitch piccolo to the low contrabassoon were individually audible.
Mahler’s score is defined by contrasts: dark vs light; clarity vs tumult; misty, dreamlike landscapes vs fanfares; the symmetry of the overall structure against the many abrupt shifts in mood and tempi. The biggest drawback of this version was the lack of sufficient emphasis on all these polarities. Mariss Jansons smoothed out many of the score’s edges. Arguably the most audacious and forward-looking of Mahler’s opuses (the one that allegedly converted Arnold Schoenberg into a true believer) the seventh is full of daring dissonances that should not be edulcorated. The gentleness of the central Scherzo, with its plethora of sound effects, was fully conveyed but less so the sinister, spooky character of the score. For a great interpreter of Shostakovich, the satire imbuing this music should have been easier to capture.