Tokyo Performances

Barshai's Mahler's 10th

On April 27 the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra performed Rudolf Barshai’s “reconstruction” of Mahler’s 10th Symphony, under the baton of the reconstructor himself.

I am interested that this version is termed a reconstruction, since it seems to be more of a construction than a reconstruction. I recall being in the Grand Kremlin Palace once and asking about some work being done to restore two large halls which had been gutted by Stalin to create a utilitarian, and singularly characterless, meeting hall. The woman I was speaking to took great pains to point out that it wasn’t a restoration at all but a reconstruction, being as the original rooms had been completely destroyed. So I think it would be more fitting to call it the Barshai version of Mahler’s 10th.

Being an inveterate Mahler fan, I had eagerly awaited this chance to hear another version of Mahler’s last, incomplete work. I have heard the Cooke version performed and have a recording of the Mazzetti version, so this was my third experience of a monumental undertaking – to complete a five movement symphony in which some movements were only sketched out by Mahler before he died.

Leonard Bernstein disliked the idea of anyone trying to recreate what Mahler had envisioned; and he recorded only the first movement, the only one which I believe Mahler had been able to completely orchestrate. Of course, no one knows if he might not have made some changes in this movement once the others had been completed. In any event, the design was to be five movements forming an arch – the outer two movements long adagios, the second and fourth scherzos, and the third a brief transitional movement.

Barshai, who studied with Prokofiev and was a friend of Shostakovich, had apparently always been interested in this work and decided to give completing it a go. The results were pleasing and at times exciting. But, in the second and fourth movements, the ones which Mahler left the most incomplete, the tunes sounded Mahlerian but the orchestration reminded me more of Shostakovich than Mahler – overly heavy on percussion. Still I was surprised by how similar the structures of the movements are between the versions I’ve heard. It seemed that the orchestrations are the defining differences. And I must say that Barshai’s was as much fun as any of the others.

The YNSO is not Tokyo’s finest ensemble, in my opinion, and some of the passages were out of balance. And I tend to feel this was not the fault of the conductor. Barshai, who at an age over 80 can be forgiven one of the most seriously atrocious comb-overs I’ve witnessed, conducted with passion and intensity which was matched by the orchestra more often than not. Still, it would be more illuminating to have heard him conduct this work with a really great ensemble.

It was a memorable evening nonetheless.

posted by Larry Wells @ 6:59 PM