Opera reviews: mahler’s symphony no 7 and bach reconstructed

Before getting down to the strenuous business of an evening’s conducting Mahler’s 7th Symphony and Berg’s Violin Concerto, Noseda attended a reception to celebrate the release of the LSO

Live recording of Verdi’s Requiem that he had conducted at the start of the Barbican’s 2016/17 season.  It was particularly pleasing, he said, to know a concert that had worked well on stage

could remain there for many years in its live recording. In comparison with Verdi’s assertive operatic score of the Requiem, Gustav Mahler’s 7th Symphony is an introspective, many layered

work, often known as Mahler’s “problem symphony” because of its disparate structure. The impressive first and last movements are at variance with the middle three movements. You could say

that it illustrates the composer’s belief that a symphony “must be like the world. It must embrace everything.” The score brings in unusual instruments, including mandolin, guitar and

cowbells. Noseda and the LSO  took the first movement at a forceful pace, before exploring the intricacies of the haunting Nachtmusik I and II and the strangely disturbing Scherzo. The

symphony was preceded by Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, which has a connection with Mahler in that it was written by Berg as a requiem on the death of 18-year-old Manon Gropius, daughter of

Alma Mahler by her second marriage to the architect Walter Gropius.  Subtitled “To the memory of an angel” the Concerto was designed to show Manon’s high spirits and love of dancing, before

she fell ill to polio. Consummately played by violinist Janine Jansen, the final long drawn out elegiac note brought a tear to the eye. The Academy of Ancient Music’s Bach Reconstructed

presented four of Bach’s works from the 1720s to 1730s – a time when the composer was taking up demanding administrative posts in Leipzig and had in addition to prepare and perform cantatas

for every Sunday service.  It is no wonder that some recycling of music went on, but as was evident from last week’s concert at Milton Court, Bach chose only the music that he rated highly.

With director Robert Howarth conducting at the harpsichord, the programme was made up of Cantata No. 42, Sinfonia from Cantata No. 49, and Orchestral Suite in D major, culminating in Bach’s

Mass No. 3 in G minor. Superb singing from the four soloists heightened the joy of an evening of pure Bach. Soprano, tenor Samuel Boden, and bass Matthew Brook are all highly regarded

exponents of baroque. They were joined by an American countertenor new to me, Reginald Mobley, whose purity of tone and involvement in the music makes me hope we’ll hear a great deal more

from him. VERDICT: 4/5 Mahler’s Symphony No 7/Berg’s Violin Concerto London Symphony Orchestra/Noseda/JansenBarbican Hall, London EC2 (One night only: lso.co.uk ) Bach Reconstructed Academy

of Ancient Music/Howarth Milton Court Concert Hall, London EC2 (London/Cambridge dates: aam.co.uk )