With Robert Moran last night for Mahler 7 with The Philadelphia Orchestra, at the recently-rechristened Marian Anderson Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Bob likes to get there early and, last night anyway, sit close, so here we are, all alone, in our “box” in the third tier, like Statler and Waldorf, overlooking the stage and waiting for the auditorium to fill. The vantage is not my preference, but it is within my price range, and – pleasant surprise – the sound did not suffer at all for it. The orchestra performed magnificently under its music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, but the brass players, in particular, must have had their super-serum. Everything was so immediate, which in my experience has not always been the case in this hall. Of course, Mahler, he does write big.
The 7th has fun, outlandish touches in the orchestration, including parts for acoustic guitar, mandolin, and cowbells, for the pastoral “Nachtmusik” movements (there are two of them framing a central scherzo in a five-movement structure, which is why you will sometimes hear the work referred to as “Song of the Night”), and enormous, pendulous chimes for the rousing finale.
The crowd, which included many young people, a number of whom looked like they were bused in together as part of a sizeable group, roared its approval, and a smiling Yannick, who looked all the world like a diminutive angel on the podium, as I gazed down on his blond hair, went from section to section to genuflect before all the principals. Percussionist Don Liuzzi was clearly an audience favorite for his thrilling mastery of the timpani.
The orchestra will take its act to Carnegie Hall tonight at 8:00, but will return to Philly for two more performances, Saturday at 8:00 and Sunday at 2:00. You may not think that the 7th is anyone’s favorite Mahler, but if the orchestra plays with the energy and commitment it did last night, you could change your mind.
Tickets and information here:
https://www.philorch.org/performances/our-season/events-and-tickets/
Don Liuzzi timpani teaser
Look closely at the bird’s-eye, and you’ll see the guitar and mandolin on the left, next to the harps
